It's Official. Research Proves Internet Explorer Users Are Dumb

Have you been using Microsoft Internet Explorer to surf the web lately? If the answer is 'yes', then according to a report from the ApTiquant Psychometric Consulting Co., you may have a deficiency of intellectual acuity, or in simpler words, you have a low IQ! 

Of course, no one wants to be labeled 'unintelligent' for no reason, and rightly so. But here’s what the researchers down at ApTiquant did to arrive at this result: A Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (IV) test was given to 101,326 people over a period of four weeks. All the subjects were randomly chosen from English-speaking countries over Internet search engines. These subjects then had to undergo a Verbal, Performance and Full Scale IQ test. From the results that were computed, it was observed that most of the individuals who obtained a low IQ score were found to be using Microsoft Internet Explorer.

The proof

All IE (Internet Explorer, we mean) users out there, undoubtedly are up in arms after this apparent insult to their intelligence but wait; the humiliation doesn't end there. According to the same report (see graph above), the lower the version you’re using, the lesser your IQ level, with IE version 6, users being the least smartest in the lot. Clicking the upgrade button already? Talk about adding insult to injury or vice versa. Firefox, Chrome and Safari users seem to be well in a league above IE users. Those using Opera, Camino for Mac OS and plug-ins on their IE with the Chrome Frame seem to have the smartest of IQs.

Does this really mean IE users are unintelligent?!

The second analysis calculated the results in a different dimension. An assessment was made to see how the choice of browser changes, as we go from one end of the IQ scale to the other. The percentage usage of all the top ten browsers was also calculated. It was seen that at the lower end of the IQ level, the number of IE users were maximum. In contrast, barely anyone with a high IQ level used Internet Explorer. Also, Camino and Opera users started off with a relatively high IQ level, as compared to the other browsers.

A simple cross correlation between these two findings simply seemed to confirm that Internet Explorer users didn't seem to express the same amount of intelligence as those using other browsers.

The test was conducted in person and only through invites. If you're looking to prove these guys wrong, you'd either need to be invited or you could opt to pay a fee, which run into hundreds of dollars to take the tests. Whether or not this data can be taken for granted is left up to you. The tests were quite conclusive, though and the bottom line was simply: a majority of those with lower IQ tend to use some version of Internet Explorer.