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Karen J. Prager, Ph.D., A.B.P.P. Professor of Psychology and Program Head for Gender Studies Diplomate in Family Psychology The University of Texas at Dallas |
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More Information About Dr. Prager's work Processes in Couple Relationships Teaching and Professional Practice Selected Papers and Publications
For Students:
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Click here to return to the Psychology of Gender syllabus
LECTURE OUTLINE COGNITIVE GENDER DIFFERENCES Tested for gender-related patterns: Intellectual aptitude Memory Analytic skills Verbal abilities Quantitative abilities Visual-spatial abilities Questions to consider: Are there significant sex differences? Statistical significance vs. practical significance How do limitations in measurement affect findings? Construct validity Under what circumstances? & In which populations? Interactions & moderating variables Meta-analyses & the file-drawer problem
THE FINDINGS & THE QUESTIONS I. Overall intellectual aptitude II. Memory III. Analytic skills IV. Verbal ability Which verbal skills? Sex differences, verbal skills & time? Effects of using the SAT V. Quantitative Ability What are the interaction effects (i.e., which moderating variables augment or reduce the difference?) Effects of using the SAT (Construct validity) VI. Visual-spatial ability On which tests? Spatial perception Mental rotation In which populations? Difference increases after puberty Biological Explanations: 1. Prenatal androgens Girls with AGS (adreno-genital syndrome) sometimes perform better than other girls on visual-spatial tasks. Boys with higher testosterone levels? The same or poor performance than other boys. Conclusion? Not much evidence. 2. Lateralization of brain functions Spatial abilities dominated by right hemisphere. So are boys more "right-brained?" Analytic & verbal skills dominated by left hemisphere. Are girls more "left-brained?" Women: larger corpus callosum & less lateralization? Women: less affected by single hemispheric damage suggesting less specialization of function. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows: Men doing language tasks showed left hemisphere activation; women showed both hemispheres activated. Not all studies support & some contradict Gender accounts for 1-2% of individual variations in brain lateralization Conclusion? Evidence is there. Significance is small. Spatial abilities & social factors? Experience with spatial tasks? Stereotyping of tasks? Children’s interests? Restriction of movement? Varies across cultures and predictions relative spatial abilities of girls vs. boys (e.g., Eskimo societies). Conclusion? Evidence is there but more studies are needed. |