Chapter 7 11 12 Intelligence and Cognitive Abilities History Intelligence Fri Mon Wed March 1st 4th 6th Prevailing belief women are not as intelligent as men o Cross cultural believe except South Africa o IQ scores are almost exactly equal No empirical evidence of this assumption Both men and women judge people this way even when judging own or people they are close to intelligence Intelligence Testing intelligence o Turman did not have belief in gender superiority on o 1916 Stanford Binet adapted for use in US Still used today not most widely used though Found no gender differences o Most popular intelligence test Wechsler tests WPPSI WISC 4th or 5th edition adult version 16 Wechsler sub categories Verbal vs Performance subtests Women score higher on verbal men on performance Combined scores full scale IQ no difference o Men rate masculinity tend to score themselves on math and reasoning higher not good at social and emotional reasoning o Measuring what you learned or social stereotypes Verbal versus Math Scores Verbal o Related to language reading and writing o Women have small advantage 1 variability attributed to gender 99 of variability in scores is attributed to something other than gender Female advantage in writing performance Might be experience not ability Women spent a lot of time on writing language arts so everyone could be the same Math Quant Testing bias o Before age 13 slight advantage for girls then slight advantage for boys o Boys scores about 1 higher than girls by 12th grade o Girls tend to think of math as a boy thing o ACT SAT predictor on how well one will do in college SAT over predicts men s and under predicts women s college performance in math o Women s grades in college on math exams are usually higher than men s Could the Problem be in Our Heads Creating perception of ability possibly o Perceptions possibly change performance How we perceive our children o Gender what society believes about that gender stereotype mothers perception of child s ability child s perception of ability Draw conclusions from tests without drawing conclusions from perceptual behaviors Spatial Performance Four types of spatial tasks o Special Perception Identify and locate planes Piaget s water task Rod and frame task Small effect for males doing better than females by adulthood large effect for males doing better than females o Mental Rotation Take figure which is rotated etc Speed and accuracy men better If change to computerized version versus pencil and paper eliminate gender o Spatial Visualization Disembedding Find shaded figure in space without shading the shape Get rid of effect size by telling women it is a task related to empathy they will do better Particularly if they rate themselves as highly feminine Tell women spatial reasoning if they rate themselves more masculine they do better Tell men special reasoning they will do better o Spatiotemporal Ability Tracking objects through space Some show men and some show women better Tasks Favoring Women Rapidly identify matching items Remember locations of objects Answer to spatial abilities questions Training decreases gender effects o Argues against biology effect Other Cognitive Abilities Navigation o Women and men do use different navigation strategies but no differences in ability to find their way places Men orient to directions and form abstract map of area Women more likely to use landmarks No consistent gender related difference in o Memory o Creativity o Musical ability o Non verbal communication Model of Social and Cognitive Abilities Predicting Academic Performance Figure 11 1 Age sex and SES have most impact on home environment o Sex differentiated cognitive skills vs sex typed behavioral style and social skills Sex differentiated pattern of academic performance The Role of Schooling Early Years Many female few male teachers o Perpetuates stereotypes in itself Little kids more nurturing women are more nurturing so that is why they teach those kids o Males aware they need to provide nurturing experiences Required to provide stereotypical and counter stereotypical behaviors o Early education meets girls needs more than boys needs o Girls getting educated on skills that they are coming into school with Most girls already know how to read Overemphasis on early education skills and reading skills underemphasizes science skills and math skills Practicing skills we already have and failing to provide with needed education o Males socialized to be active and then told to do the opposite counter stereotypical ways o Not doing good job at meeting needs of either gender Curriculum concentration o Skills difficult for boys but girls have already developed o Ignore skills needing development in girls Are their achievement differences o Where differences exist girls favorite SES makes more of a difference than gender If ask if teachers treat differently o Do not perceive as treated differently The Role of Schooling Middle School Gender differences emerge o Related more to attitudes than achievement abilities Achievement may be same but attitude is different o Girls show less interest in math science boys less in reading Society believes math science male and language arts is for female o Gender equity education efforts Two forms Equitable treatment within coed classrooms Same schools but tell teachers to not treat genders differently Single sex classrooms Benefits that might improve are little small effect sizes No predictive quality for later achievement Athletic performance o Gender segregated starting in middle school years o Attitude shift Push girls away and boys toward certain activities Girls away from active Confidence levels o Both boys and girls experience a decline in confidence in academic abilities o Material gets difficult as body changes as well o May affect boys more strongly High School More changes o Career focus and social activities o More independent from parents More choices Girls more strongly identify that family consideration has to be a part of family considerations More belief and understanding of family interest and commitment how will it effect others Boys identify family as being something that they have to work into their educational plans less o Physical appearance and athletic ability Girls believe appearance is more important than athleticism several years Substantial increase in girl athleticism in past Girls larger decrease in math science computer confidence than boys o Not suggested