The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

118 Chapter 4

Sex Comparisons in Social Domains

Cognitive abilities are assessed by standardized

tests and measures. Social abilities are a little

trickier. How do we judge which sex is more

helpful, more sexual, more empathic, or more

aggressive? Should we rely on self-report mea-

sures? Do people know their own abilities, or

will they distort their abilities in the direction of

the ability they ought to have? Perhaps observ-

ing behavior is a better method to assess social

abilities. But observers could be biased in their

perceptions and interpretations of a behavior.

climate may contribute to a greater publi-

cation of studies that show no differences.

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ In many cognitive domains, males’ scores are more

variable than females’ scores.

■ One way cognitive sex comparisons have been captured

is that women are better at tasks that involve verbal

abilities and diffuse attention, whereas men are bet-

ter at tasks that require rotating objects and focused

attention.

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6

4

2

 2

0

Rotation-Verbal

 4

 6

 8

 6  4  2

Focus-Diffusion

0246

FIGURE 4.10 Women (indicated by the darker dots) score higher than

men on abilities that are verbal and require diffuse attention, whereas men

(indicated by the lighter dots) score higher than women on abilities that

require spatial rotation and focused attention.

Source: Johnson and Bouchard (2007).

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