Week 8 - Cognition, Language, Communication and Emotion Flashcards
Cognitive abilities
Mental skills such as attention, reasoning, memory, problem-solving, and language use
What historical belief was tied to intelligence testing?
Early IQ tests were used to support claims of male superiority
What did Terman (1916) find regarding intelligence scores?
He found no sex differences in intelligence scores
What stereotype did Bian et al (2017) study?
The belief that high-level intelligence is more associated with men
What age do girls begin to show stereotype-affected beliefs about intelligence?
As early as 6 years old
What did eugenicists promote in the late 19th and early 20th century?
Breeding of genetically “superior” individuals and hindered reproduction of those considered genetically “inferior”
Who were the targets of eugenic practices?
Immigrants, people of colour, the poor, disable individuals and those deemed unintelligent
What did psychologist Henry Goddard do in the early 20th century?
He misused IQ tests to identify mentally deficient individuals and advocated for forced sterilization
What can cause sex differences in specialized cognitive abilities?
Complex nature-nurture interactions
What are three cognitive areas that show sex differences?
Verbal, quantitative and visual-spatial
Which cognitive domain shows the most consistent male advantage?
Visual-spatial ability, especially in mental rotation tasks
What is spatial visualization?
The ability to mentally manipulate 2D or 3D objects
What are the verbal sex differences?
Depends on the area (vocab, reading, writing) but moderately favour girls
What are the quantitative sex differences?
Little difference in average math performance, small differences favouring boys in complex math problem-solving
How does gender equality influence math performance differences?
In more gender equal countries the gap often disappears
What are the visual-spatial sex differences?
Larger and more consistent differences favouring boys
What do visual-spatial sex differences depend on?
Task, age, time pressure and prior experience
What is the male variability hypothesis?
Males show greater variability in cognitive abilities, especially at the extremes
What is a contradiction to the male variability hypothesis?
Girls are often the top scorers on the SAT verbal test
Sex differences in racial and ethnic groups
Inconsistent findings among people in every racial and ethnic group
What contextual factors affect math achievement?
Home environment, maternal education, teachers gender stereotypes and discrimination
How do global comparisons oversimplify sex differences?
They ignore disparities in resources access and education as well as achievement gaps
What is feedback sensitivity
The degree to which an individual is influenced by feedback, positive or negative
What is achievement motivation?
The internal drive and desire to achieve success and overcome challenges
What are cultural differences in learning styles?
Eastern cultures emphasize effort-based learning, Western emphasize interest-based
What is effort-based learning focused on?
Emphasizes the amount of time and energy students dedicate to mastering a subject
What is interest-based learning focused on?
The approach leverages students natural curiosities, passions and preferences to drive learning
What are the hypotheses related to the under representation of women in STEM?
Discrimination, preference for communal jobs and division of labour
What is a contradictory finding for the idea that women aren’t interested in STEM?
Comparable hiring rates among girls valuing science-intensive courses
What is gendered language?
Language that reflects or reinforces gender stereotypes and biases
What kind of word choice is more common in women?
More question marks and more emotionally intensive adjectives
What kind of word choice is more common in men?
Words expressing independence like first-person singular pronouns
What is the generic masculine?
The tradition of using male-gendered terms to refer to people (mankind, freshmen)
What is the Whorfian hypothesis/ linguistic relativity hypothesis?
The idea that language shapes how people perceive the world
Consequences of gendered masculine language
Can make women feel excluded and less motivated and produces gender biased thoughts in adults and children
What is grammatical gender?
A language feature where nouns are classified as masculine or feminine (sometimes neutral)
Consequences of gendered language
Some experimental research shows that gendered language can increase sexist beliefs
What is a diminutive in language?
A form of a word used to indicate a smaller, less powerful version (pig vs piglet)
How does gendered language impact the perception of violence?
It can minimize harm and shift blame in descriptions of domestic/sexual violence
What is gender-fair language?
Language designed to reduce gender discrimination and bias
What are strategies for gender-fair language
- Language neutralization (using gender neutral terms)
- Language feminization (incorporating feminine forms)
- Self-awareness and objectivity (reflecting on biases)
Why does gender-neutral language matter?
It helps breaks the unconscious gender binary
What is the difference cultures approach?
The belief that boys and girls are socialized to use language styles so differently, they may as well come from different cultures
What does the different cultures approach presume?
Presumes girls to develop and affective (emotional) communication style and boys to develop an instrumental communication style
What is the issue with research on gendered communication?
Rooted in the sex binary, overlooking non-binary and unique attributes and experiences
Sex differences in gossip
Men and women tend to gossip the same amount, but on different subjects
What is women’s communication style on social media?
They use more affiliative and tentative speech and self disclose more
What is men’s communication style on social media?
Men use more assertive speech and self-disclose less
What is code switching?
Switching between language styles depending on cultural context or identity
Why do people code-switch?
For survival, identity expression or to navigate cultural spaces
What are nonverbal communication differences in smiling?
Women smile more and maintain mutual eye contact, men use eye contact for dominance
What are posture and gait differences by gender?
Men show expansive posture, women more restrictive
What are display rules?
Cultural norms that dictate how and when emotions should be expressed
What emotional expressions are more common in women?
Affiliative and vulnerable emotions
What emotional expressions are more common in men?
Anger and pride
What is encoding/decoding accuracy?
The ability to express and interpret nonverbal emotions
Who typically has better emotional decoding skills?
Women, possibly due to gendered socialization
How does empathy differ by gender?
Women score higher on empathy and emotional intelligence
What cultural factor affects emotion expression?
Individualistic cultures allow more expression
What is the principle of coverture?
A historical practice of referring to married women only by their husband’s name
How do stereotypes affect career aspirations?
They discourage underrepresented groups from pursuing certain careers
What was Lawrence Summers’ controversial claim?
He suggested that women are underrepresented in STEM due to natural aptitude
What is the IQ test?
A standardized score comparing an individuals intelligence to same-age peers
What was phrenology?
A discredited method of linking skull shape to mental traits
What is essentialism?
The belief that traits stem from biological qualities
How have IQ tests changed regarding gender?
They are made to minimize sex differences
What is verbal fluency?
The ability to generate words under category or letter constraints
Who tends to have better verbal fluency?
Girls, with a small to moderate effect size
What is the biopsychosocial model?
An approach integrating biological, psychological and social influences
What is education debt?
A cumulative lack of investment in low-income and minority students
What can reduce stereotype threat in math performance?
High working memory, confidence and stereotype affirming interventions
How do parents impact children’s math performance
Math-anxious parents can pass anxiety to children
