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Topic: Gender differences in cognition (Read 1547 times) |
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David Lucifer
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Gender differences in cognition
« on: 2003-06-26 11:31:38 » |
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Title: Gender Differences in Cognition: Myths & Facts
Author: Gina Lynne LoSasso, PhD
Source: Ubiquity
Men are smarter than women
False: We all know this one's patently false, so let's bury it straight away. The fact is that the gals are every bit as smart as the guys are, and if the truth be told, the average guy would be quite reluctant to trade the intelligence and wisdom of the women in his life for increased cognitive interaction with other men.
The varied intelligences and sensibilities of the sexes complement each other. This is due to the blending of basic similarities and the unique perspective that emerges when a human being develops into a gendered individual.
Women score lower on IQ tests
False: While the average scores on standardized IQ tests for males (as a group) tend to be slightly higher than for females, the difference is negligible. IQ tests are designed to minimize bias in order to be able to make sensible comparisons between individuals within a larger population. For that reason, items that are biased against a particular group - a group distinguished, for example, by gender or race - are eliminated.
More boys are assessed as mentally retarded than girls
True: While male and female IQ test performance is statistically equivalent on average, the male and female score distributions are quite different. There are more men scoring at both the upper and lower extremes of the normal distribution curve. This reflects a greater variability of scores within the male population and results in a preponderance of males at both tails of the bell curve.
But for the smaller size of female brains, male and female brains are the same
False: While female brains are slightly smaller than male brains, the difference is negligible. There are other structural differences between the male and female brain that may play greater roles in accounting for differences in cognitive functioning. These differences include neuronal density, number of synapses, lateralization and localization of functioning, and the relative sizes of the lobes, hemispheres, and corpus callosum.
Hormones exert a significant effect on cognition
True: Not only do hormones exert a profound influence on emotional behavior, but there is strong evidence of the relationship between hormone levels and cognitive functioning. This includes support for a curvilinear relationship between testosterone levels and spatial ability, and a linear relationship between estrogen levels and verbal skills. This effect is profound enough in some females to diminish the left field advantage, or cause a shift to right field superiority, when female hormone levels fall to a minimum during the premenstrual phase.
Additionally, healthy young males given an injection of female hormones not only showed reduced practice effects on a spatial task, but significant increases in verbal fluency.
If we gave girl babies more "boy's toys" they'd develop the same skills as boys
False: The truth is that babies are fed similar fare in the toy department, with the possible exception of color-coding. Pink mobiles and rattles work just as well to exercise spatial and motor coordination as blue ones. However, certain behavioral factors, such as attitudes and expectations, can affect a child's intellectual performance. Whether these factors are internal and self-imposed or external, like the expectations of parents, teachers and peers, they act to limit or enhance cognitive ability and performance regardless of sex.
Homosexual men tend to score in a pattern similar to females on IQ tests
True: From the limited studies that have been undertaken on this topic, findings suggest that homosexual men tend to have patterns of cognitive performance more similar to those of women than to those of heterosexual men.
Women who are masculine in appearance and personality usually exhibit a pattern of cognitive ability more similar to males than to females
True: This is a well-known effect relating to hormonal influences. To add to the complexity of the situation, left-handed individuals tend to possess a pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses more similar to right-handed individuals of the opposite sex! li
Most historical geniuses have been male
True: But while historical figures of genius have typically been male, there are very strong social, political and cultural factors that determine who goes down in our history books...and indeed, what goes down in history, period. The fact that women's achievements have been routinely underrepresented in classroom texts is a matter of record.
For a look at some truly marvelous contributions from women of genius and spirit, visit:
http://www.undelete.org
Men are better at arithmetic than women
False: Women excel in skills involving basic arithmetical calculation. As a group, their performance is superior to that of men.
In discussions of individual differences, it is important to note that there is typically a substantial overlap of male and female score distributions in a particular skill even when there is a statistically significant inter-gender difference in that skill. So generalizations are of limited predictive value on an individual level; when all you know about a person is gender, it is impossible to meaningfully speculate about his or her cognitive abilities.
Men have better spatial skills than women
True: This is particularly true regarding tasks that require mental rotation, a right hemisphere task. This finding is robust and consistent. However, it does not follow that men are stronger in right hemisphere functioning in general. For example, women are distinctly better at recognizing facial expressions, and some studies show that women have superior ability to distinguish melodic sound patterns. Since these too are right hemisphere tasks, it would be incorrect to say that either gender is better at right hemisphere tasks. It would be more correct to say that each gender excels in different kinds of right-hemisphere tasks.
Women have greater focus and are able to stick with a task longer
False: The opposite is true. This appears to be primarily related to testosterone levels. Automatization, or perseverance while engaging in behaviors that do not require excessive physical or mental exertion (like standing guard or working on an assembly line), is also related to testosterone levels.
Women have better verbal skills than men
True: The greatest female advantage appears with respect to measures of general verbal ability, anagrams, and quality of speech production. The advantage increases with the introduction of a memory or learning component that raises task complexity.
Males have faster processing speed
False: Women consistently outperform men on tests of psychomotor speed and accuracy based on visual stimuli. The difference is very pronounced in young children. While the female advantage persists into adulthood, it gradually becomes less prominent.
Men are better mathematicians
True: Although the gap has narrowed with the equalization of opportunity between genders, there is a persistent male advantage in mathematical performance (at least as it stands today). This is particularly true in the more advanced realms of theoretical mathematics and physics.
The differences in ability between the sexes comes down to genetics
False: There are many factors that contribute to observed inter-gender differences in cognitive ability. These include, but are not limited to, biological, environmental, psychological, hormonal, and socio-cultural factors.
Roles, opportunities, attitudes and expectations have an extremely significant effect on the development of skills and talents. These factors are all the more significant because, in our roles as teachers, parents, peers and self-actualizing beings, we can modify and control them in order to maximize the actualization of human potential.
Disclaimer: Contrary studies may exist. The author has done her best to present some of the most robust, consistent, and up-to-date findings on these issues. consistent current findings.
Reading List:
Rita Carter Mind Mapping
Pierce J. Howard The Owner's Manual for the Brain
Arthur Jensen The g-factor
Kandel, Schwartz & Jessell Principles of Neural Science
Muriel Lezak Neuropsychological Assessment
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Rhysenn
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Re:Gender differences in cognition
« Reply #3 on: 2003-08-13 16:48:41 » |
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the genetics part is true, but if something goes wrong in gene expression you can have a baby that is XY but has female exterior sex organs. This cannot happen in the reverse case. In other words, female is the default sex until/unless a Y chromosome is expressed.
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Kid-A
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Re:Gender differences in cognition
« Reply #4 on: 2003-08-13 21:07:31 » |
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Finally a post I know something about.
The formation of the genitals is also decided by hormone levels. Many eggs fertilized as XX can form male organs during the maturing of the embryo, for example if the child is exposed to a higher level of testosterone during development this can occur, and also the reverse is true. Not only can the absence or overproduction of hormones affect devlopment but also their temperament, a person with fully developed male organs will take on the appearance and temperament of a female, and vice versa.
<snip>
For instance, in Turner's syndrome, there is only a single X chromosome, or a normal X combined with a second partially complete X. The result is a child, definitely female in appearance and personality, but who needs hormone therapy to grow properly into adulthood.
You will also get babies that are half way in either direction, often meaning they will be sterile, but not always.
--
Discovered by Dr. Klinefelter, and aptly named Klinefelter's syndrome, you also get extra chromosomes in a few, where the sperm cell will divide during or just before fertilization or multiple sperm manage to fertilize the egg which is usually stopped by a chemical coating around the egg, forming such matches as XXY and XYY when fertilized.
Those men with XXY chromosome pairing may form breasts and underdeveloped genitals.
Those with XYY often have behavioural problems and are quite agressive in nature. Both however are sterile.
Many studies have been carried out as to whether a persons sex is defined at fertilization or during the maturation of the baby, both however would appear to be true.
The effects of hormones during the development also affect areas of the brain, which in some cases can lead to homosexuality later on in life because a persons brain is more hardwired to be male than female even though they have fully developed female genitals.
DR3W
P.S I may go into more detail later if i'm not too tired or hanging myself over my exam results 
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Rhysenn
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Re:Gender differences in cognition
« Reply #5 on: 2003-08-14 08:25:24 » |
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yes, that is all true. what i meant was, female is considered the default sex because without the presence of any hormones, the exterior sex organs will develop as female.
...again, correct me if I'm wrong, I learned this in an anatomy class a few years ago and might be missing something.
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Kid-A
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Re:Gender differences in cognition
« Reply #6 on: 2003-08-16 09:54:02 » |
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No you were right about that, i was just trying to show that no matter how many statistics you have about the minds of both the male and female of the species, they will always be very closely related as we are all exposed to certain amounts of testosterone during our development, and so you will always have the two extremes of all of the different skills mentioned in Lucifers post, and a very large amount that are in the middle region, and so the difference will be negligable, as the majority of men and women have the same level of skills, and only a few excel in other areas but will lack in others.
DR3W
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Kid-A
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Re:Gender differences in cognition
« Reply #7 on: 2003-08-27 08:54:52 » |
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Whoah dude....i'm a Cenobite now.....grooovy maan.
*wonders what all this means*
lol
taken from dictionary.com
Cenobite
\Cen"o*bite\, n. [L. coenobita, fr. Gr. koino`bios; koino`s common + bi`os life: cf. F. c['e]nobite.] One of a religious order, dwelling in a convent, or a community, in opposition to an anchoret, or hermit, who lives in solitude. --Gibbon.
nevermind eh Hermit
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You're probably wondering why i'm here, well so am I, so am I.
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David Lucifer
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Enlighten me.
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Re:Gender differences in cognition
« Reply #8 on: 2003-08-27 09:01:08 » |
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Quote from: David Lucifer on 2003-06-26 11:31:38
More boys are assessed as mentally retarded than girls
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I'm surprised this point wasn't more controversial. The flipside is that more boys are assessed as mentally gifted than girls, which could explain the dominance of males in historical geniuses which ameliorates the need to postulate a male conspiracy to suppress female geniuses.
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localroger
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Never!
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Re:Gender differences in cognition
« Reply #9 on: 2003-09-14 09:53:26 » |
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Quote from: David Lucifer on 2003-06-26 11:31:38
... The flipside is that more boys are assessed as mentally gifted than girls, which could explain the dominance of males in historical geniuses which ameliorates the need to postulate a male conspiracy to suppress female geniuses.
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Then again the two are not mutually exclusive. You only have to look at, to take one very random example, the shitty way Lise Meitner was treated by history to realize that when a woman of remarkable talent does emerge, even if she is less common than here male counterpart, she may also be subject to a male conspiracy to suppress her accomplishments.
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