Welcome back Finish Hormonal and Reproductive Connections Chapter 6 –Perceptual and Cognitive...

• Welcome back

• Finish Hormonal and Reproductive Connections

• Chapter 6 –Perceptual and Cognitive differences

• Chapter 10 - Sex and Gender and Childhood

GENDER DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES IN PERCEPTUAL AND

COGNITIVE ABILITIES?

• WHY IS THIS AN IMPORTANT QUESTION?

• WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE BASED ON?

• BIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS?

• DISCONFIRMING EVIDENCE

– SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS?

– SOME INTERACTIONS?

Do Men and Women Differ in Their Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities?

In chapter 6, we ask:

• Is one sex more variable than the other with

respect to cognitive abilities?• Are there male-female differences in general

intelligence?• Do women and men differ in aspects of sensation,

perception, or motor skills?• How do women and men compare in their verbal

performance?

Do Men and Women Differ in Their Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities?

Chapter 6 Overview continued:

•What about mathematics and quantitative

performance?• Is one sex better than the other at learning and

memory?• Do the sexes differ in their visual-spatial

performance?• How can we explain the differences that have

been observed?

WHAT CAN BE SAID• Earlier beliefs

• BUT NOW

• Many cognitive abilities show no consistent gender differences– General Intelligence– Memory– Complex cognitive tasks

• Verbal skills: gender differences are minimal

The Gender Similarities Hypothesis - handout

• What are the skills that we’re talking about?– Sensation, Perception, and Motor SkillsSensation, Perception, and Motor Skills– Learning and MemoryLearning and Memory– Performance on Verbal TestsPerformance on Verbal Tests– Quantitative PerformanceQuantitative Performance– Visual-Spatial PerformanceVisual-Spatial Performance

• What is the evidence?What is the evidence?

Sensation, Perception, and Motor Sensation, Perception, and Motor SkillsSkills

• Perceptual speed and accuracy…

• Sensitivity to touch…• Sensitivity to sound…• Forming visual

images of words…• Attending to different

kinds of stimuli (faces vs. objects)…

© 2004 Slide Design by H. Lips & W. Andrew

Learning and MemoryLearning and Memory

• Many studies show no female-male differences on memory tests

• Some researchers report a female advantage on tests of verbal memory

• Gender differences can often be traced to differences in familiarity or interest in topic

• Do women remember emotionally intense stimuli better than men do?

Performance on Verbal TestsPerformance on Verbal Tests• Small consistent gender differences favoring

females • Most evident on specific tests, such as

anagrams, speech production• PISA study of 15-year-olds in 43 countries found

girls outperforming boys in reading and literacy in all countries (2003)

• But … males have been scoring higher than females on the SAT-V for many years. Why?


Quantitative PerformanceQuantitative Performance

• There is a tendency for males to outperform females on mathematics tests

• Early studies showed between 1% and 5% of the variance in performance was associated with gender

• This gap seems to be decreasing


• Yet, in mathematics studies give mixed messages. However, there are minimal differences over all

– Girls generally have higher marks in math courses while boys often excel in problem solving after junior high.

• Girls can be high achievers in mathematics• Newspaper article, Toronto Sun, Monday Feb. 12, 2007,

(GTA Schools Report Card p. 1)

Visual-Spatial PerformanceVisual-Spatial Performance

• Spatial visualization– …

• Spatial perception– …

• Mental Rotation– …

• Spatiotemporal ability– …

Figure 6.2 Examples of Drawings Used in the Embedded Figures Test

• Spatial skills: Generally boys and girls get the same scores, but not always. – Those differences that are evident, often

disappear after training

• What are the implications of the belief that females do not do well with spatial skills?

Overview: Female/male Differences in Intellectual Performance

Area of intellectual performance

Research findings on differences/similarities

General intelligence

•No differences between females and males

Sensation and perception

•Starting in childhood, females do better on tests that require fast, accurate processing of information•Females are more sensitive to pressure on hands and other parts of the body•Males are more visually sensitive females to changes in light intensity




Sensation and perception: continued

•Males may have more trouble than females forming a visual image when listening•Males and females, from infancy onward, may differ in the kinds of stimuli to which they pay most attention

Learning and memory

•Some research finds women better than men at verbal memory; however, this may be because women are better than en at describing what they remember




Learning and memory: continued

•Both women and men learn and remember “gender-appropriate” information better than “gender-inappropriate” information

Verbal •Overall, gender differences are small and, when they appear, favor females•Female-male differences in particular verbal skills may be larger. For example, women perform significantly better than men on tests of verbal fluency, and boys are more likely than girls to be stutterers.




Quantitative •Researchers report a small and decreasing tendency for males to out perform females.•Differences are largest in the most select samples

Visual-Spatial •Gender accounts for more performance differences in some types of visual-spatial ability than others•No reliable gender differences in spatial visualization




Visual-Spatial: continued

•Beginning at age 8, males show a small advantage over females in spatial perception. This difference is greater in older respondents.•Large gender differences favoring males are found in speed of mental rotation•There are some reports of superior male performance on tests of spatiotemporal ability

EXPLAINING THE DIFFERENCES

• (A) Biological Explanations– NOT a sign that they are inevitable– A predisposition

• (1) Genetics

• (2) Hormones

• (3) Brain organization

Overview: Biological Explanations for Cognitive Differences

Possible Cause Research Support

Circulating Level of sex hormones (such as testosterone or estrogen) circulating in the bloodstream affects cognitive performance.

•Some research finds differences in women’s performance on certain cognitive tasks during different parts of the menstrual cycle•Some research finds correlations between levels of certain sex hormones and performance on cognitive tasks among elderly women•Seasonal fluctuations in performance on some spatial tasks has been observed in men

Hypothesis


Possible Cause

Research Support

Brain•Prenatal exposure to different levels of sex hormones causes sex differences in brain organization (e.g., differences in hemispheric specialization).•Some researchers have zeroed in on the idea that men’s brains are more lateralized than women’s brains. •Such differences in organization lead to female-male differences in cognitive performance.

•Research on brain-damaged patients does not provide strong support for the idea that men’s brains are more lateralized than women’s

Hypothesis


Possible Cause

•Studies of auditory and visual laterality conclude that men are, to a small degree, more lateralized than women•Studies of “handedness” suggest that women are more lateralized than men on this dimension•There is conflicting evidence about whether the corpus callosum is larger in women

Hypothesis

Brain

Research Support

Explaining Differences (Cont’d)

• (B) SOCIAL AND AFFECTIVE EXPLANATIONS• What are they?

– (1) Training and Experience– (2) Gender-role Socialization– (3) Achievement Motivation– (4) Self-confidence– (5) Attributions?

Social/Affective ExplanationsSocial/Affective Explanations

• Training and experience (Do boys’ toys and activities give them better training in visual-spatial skills?)

• Gender role socialization (Is math thought of as a masculine domain?)

• Self-confidence (Stereotype threat?)• Motivation (Are we more motivated to

succeed when we see success as both possible and useful?)

Training and Experience

• What types of training and experience?– …– ...– E.g., Spatial

• Video games

(2) Gender-role Socialization

• What is gender-role socialization?– …

• How can it affect performance in skills?– …

• What are the implications of gender-role socialization?– …

• How can these effects be minimized?– …

(3) Achievement Motivation

• Fear of Success?

• Achievement motivation– How measured– Differences? Similarities?

(4) Self-confidence

• Some studies suggest that men are sometimes more self-confident about their ability than women are.

• BUT!• The research typically shows that conditions of the task

can influence the results (Matlin, 2000, p. 163)• …• …• …

(5) Attributions

• Success is attributed to

– ability

– effort

– task easiness

– luck

• in the 70’s several studies suggested that

– men attributed success to their effort

– women attributed success to explanations other than ability

• Current research

– two meta-anlyses “concluded that gender differences in attributional patterns are minimal

Theory of Subjective Task Value and Achievement (adapted from Wifield &

Eccles, 1992According to subjective task value theory, four aspects of

task value contribute to the likelihood that an individual will engage in a particular task. People tend to engage in tasks they positively value and avoid tasks they negatively value. Individual’s likelihood of doing a task (such as taking advanced mathematics courses)

• Interest – enjoyment of the activity• Attainment Value (Importance of doing well on the

task for confirming the person’s self-view• Utility Value (Importance of the task for future goals)• Cost (Negative aspects of engaging in the task)

Implications

• Are there hormonal and genetic causes for lower intelligence?

• Are there interactions?

DO THEY PROVE GENETIC AND HORMONAL CAUSES FOR LOWER INTELLEGENCE?

ARE THERE PERHAPS ANOTHER REASONS?

XYY CHROMOSONES - MALES

TURNER’S SYNDROME - FEMALES

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES

Conclusion

• Interaction– May be a genetic disposition– Most often socially learned behaviour

• What are the implications of these theories, research and findings?– …– …– …– …– …

Sex & Gender & Childhood

Chapter 10

Constructing Gender

In Emphasizing the Social Forces that Contribute to the Gendering of Children’s Conceptions of Themselves and the World

Chapter 10 asks :

• How do parents contribute to children’s early gender learning?

• What role do the media play in teaching children about gender?• How does our use of language reinforce these

messages about gender ?

In Emphasizing the Social Forces that Contribute to the Gendering of Children’s Conceptions of Themselves and the World

Chapter 10 asks :

• Are boys and girls encouraged to construct different kind of “selves”?• Is the process of forming friendships gendered?• Are girls and boys encouraged to take different

approaches to choosing and achieving goals for themselves?

Sources of Early Gender LearningSources of Early Gender Learning

• Family– Parents: the first source of children’s gender learning

• They hold and communicate different expectations for boys and girls

– Siblings– Extended family members

• Media– TV, video games, the printed word all reinforce

gender stereotypes

• Language– Contains built-in biases about gender

Overview:Overview: Parents and Gender RoleParents and Gender Role Socialization Socialization

• Parental expectations for girls and boys begin to differ even before the child is born

• On many dimensions there are only small and insignificant differences in the ways parents treat their sons and

daughters. However, they do treat boys and girls differently in areas specifically associated with gender expectations, such as toys, clothing, and participation in house hold tasks.• Some research shows that parents interact differently with sons and daughters: talking more to daughters and playing more actively with sons• Ethnicity and race interact with gender in the ways parents

socialize their children•Siblings •Extended family members are also important

MediaMedia

• By age 20, the typical American adolescent has watched some 600,000 television commercials

• Commercials convey stereotypic messages; for example, female characters are more likely than males to have beautiful bodies and wear skimpy clothing

• Female characters in prime-time TV shows are twice as likely as male characters to receive comments about their bodies

• TV viewing is related to gender stereotypic attitudes among children and teenagers

• Next week we’ll see the video, Killing Us Softly III

Overview:Overview: Gender and Children’s Gender and Children’s Friendships Friendships

• Beginning in early childhood, children tend to separate into same-sex play groups that reinforce different relational styles: a constricting style for boys and an enabling style girls

• Boys tend to have larger friendship groups with whom they share activities; girls are more likely to have fewer, more intimate friendships. These patterns continue into

adolescence• For both girls and boys, peers of the other sex become more

important at adolescence

Classroom Lessons in Self-Classroom Lessons in Self-ConfidenceConfidence

• Teachers allow boys to talk and to interrupt more than girls

• Teachers tend to punish girls and boys for different kinds of behavior—boys for being unruly and girls for academic mistakes

• A boy giving the wrong answer is more likely than a girl to be encouraged to keep trying until he gets it right

• These differences encourage a sense of mastery in boys and an entity approach to abilities in girls

• Next week• Video

• Physical and Mental Health

Welcome back Finish Hormonal and Reproductive Connections Chapter 6 –Perceptual and Cognitive...

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