Lecture 7 - Sex differences in intelligence

Question 1

Scottish mental surveys and sex differences?

Answer 1

• huge sample, approx 40k females and 40k males
• no difference in average intelligence of females and males at 11 years
• however there were sex differences in the spread of IQ scores
• more girls have IQ scores around the mean
• boys IQ scores more distributed at the lower and higher levels of intelligence

Question 2

National longitudinal survey of youth 1979?

Answer 2

• used opposite sex siblings to look at sex differences
• took part in the Amed forces qualification test
• general intelligence score was calculated
• males show small but significant advantage on the g factor
• males were at the lower and higher extremes but overall means were the same

Question 3

Cognitive ability tests (CAT)?

Answer 3

• favoured girls by 3/4 of an IQ point
• greater proportion of girls around the middle and greater proportion of boys at the extreme scores

Question 4

Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM)?

Answer 4

• concluded there were no male-female differences in RPM
• issue with using this though is that scores contain a significant visuospatial reasoning component

Question 5

What are the 3 cognitive domains of CAT tests?

Answer 5

1. verbal reasoning
2. quantitative reasoning
3. non-verbal reasoning

Question 6

What sex differences did they find in cognitive abilities?

Answer 6

• girls did better than boys in verbal ability
• more girls at the higher end and boys at the lower end
• boys did better than girls in quantitive reasoning
• girls did better than boys in non verbal reasoning
• on average, women do better than men in tests of reading comprehension, perceptual speed and associative memory
• on average, men do better than women in tests of mathematics and visuospatial reasoning
• men score higher on spatial abilities = the ability to visualise spatial relationships and to mentally manipulate objects
• women do better on verbal ability

Question 7

Biological explanations for sex differences in cognitive abilities - Schattmann & Sherwin?

Answer 7

• PCOS = disorder associated with elevated levels of free testosterone
• women with PCOS demonstrate worse performance on tests of verbal fluency
• also reveal poorer performance on cognitive tests that show a female advantage

Question 8

Evolutionary perspectives and sex differences in spatial ability?

Answer 8

• hunting
  -> men are responsible due to having greater physicality
  -> required to track prey (constantly changing orientation)
• foraging
  -> women more responsible
  -> concerned with remembering locations and landmarks
• warfare
  -> men are more responsible
  -> need better spatial abilities for ambushes etc.