Intelligence - Sex Differences

Question 1

Gender differences in general intelligence - tests

Answer 1

-Terman-> Stanford Binet Test found No difference
- Spearman -> girls slightly higher then boys on g
- Cattell -> fluid + crystalised intelligence No difference
-Makintesh ->Raven’s matrices no difference
- Anderson -> WAIS No difference

Question 2

Gender differences at different ages

Answer 2

• Lynn + Irwing
  -Meta-andlysis
• under 15 no difference
  -15-19 -> men score 2 points higher
• undergrads -> men score 3 higher
  -Adults -> males scored 5 points higher

Question 3

specific Intelligences

Answer 3

-Maccoby + Jacklin
-men perform better on spatial
ability (small to medium effect size)
-women perform better on verbal ability (very small effect size)

Question 4

Gender Difference is closing

Answer 4

• 13:1 ratio for top achievers has reduced to 3:1 (Blackburn)
  -steady since early 1990s (Wai et al)

Question 5

Nature Debate-Brain Size

Answer 5

-Males brains are 10% larger but only after adolescence
-girls brain mature faster in adolescence
-Pietsching et al: link is small + overused

Question 6

Nature Debate- Brain structure -hemispheres

Answer 6

• Tasks solved more effectively when carried out by 1 side of brain
  -females are bilaterally organised so tasks are more evenly distributed between hemispheres = isn’t Most effective way

Question 7

Nature Debate-Brain function

Answer 7

-males use right hemisphere when completing mental rotation task, females use both = less efficient (slower)
-Haier et al :
> women with higher IQ have more white Matter vol (info transfer) Men have more grey matter (info processing)
> grey Matter volume correlates with intelligence

Question 8

Nature Debate-Hormones

Answer 8

-Hooven et al :
> testosterone level neg correlated with error rate + response time in Male college students
- Choi + Silverman : > women use relative directions + landmarks to learn routes whereas men Use distance + cardinal directions
> among men testesterone level is pos related to using male-biased route learning strategies

Question 9

Nature Debate- Evolutionary

Answer 9

-Males need spatial ability: hunting large areas, warfare + Max reproductive success
-Jones et al: Males with greater spatial ability more likely to win wars, supply food, More attractive

Question 10

Social env impacts spatial ability -tribe study

Answer 10

-Hoffman et al
-spatial Ability in 2 genetically related tribes
-overall females take longer
-patrilineal (father passes things down to son) tribe has bigger male VS femAle performance difference
-matriliniel have no difference
-suggests social env ( organisation) impacts spatial ability

Question 11

Nurture debate -3 stereotypes origin

Answer 11

-Reinforcement (Langlois + Down): parents reinforce sex appropriAte + discourage sex inappropriate beh
- Modelling: children observe same sex models + gain stereotypes= gender identity
-socialisation of boys (Entwistle et al): boys given freedom to explore =spatial ability

Question 12

Nurture Debate: stereotypes in education

Answer 12

-subject choice:
> females less likely to choose STEM as stereotyped as masc So less likely to dev spatial skills
talented children encouraged to dev skills - > increases self-esteem -> study more
-Moss-Racusin et al: apply for lab manager in STEM identical application given Male or female name rate men as more competent + hierable
-Interactins - self-fulfilling Prophecy:
> stereotype threat = stereotype makes performance worse due to fear
- Spencer et al:

Question 13

Nurture Debate - stereotypes out of ed

Answer 13

-Toy choice :
> boys play with toys encouraging spatial skills
> Campbell et al toy preference in Children as young as 9 months
> Sidorowics + Lunney: adults chose toy Assoc with stereotypical view to play with child
> Alexander + Hines- monkeys show similar sex differences in toy choice to humans

Question 14

Nature + Nurture: Measurement of inteIligence -mental rotation task

Answer 14

• Olsen et al
  -mental Rotation task
  -men faster on small screen
  -females faster on large
  -men solve using holistic strategy
• women use step like approach

Question 15

Emotional intelligence

Answer 15

-females have better socio- emotional abilities:
> emotion recognition
> empathy
> emotional intelligence

Question 16

Technology influences spatial intelligence

Answer 16

-kirby + Boulter: 1 factor predicting success at visual stimuli task (technology) was spatial ability before task, weak spatial ability disadvantaged by complex visual stimuli used as teaching method

Question 17

socioeconomic status influences spatial skills in classroom

Answer 17

-Levine et al:
- Boys from middle + high socioeconomic status do better than girls on spatial tasks
- low socioeconomic status group didn’t differ in performance because engage less with activities promoting spatial intelligence: using computes, being out in neighborhood