Journal article
Sex and sex-role differences in specific cognitive abilities
Intelligence (Norwood), Vol.54, pp.147-158
01/2016
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Source: InCites
Abstract
Sex differences in cognitive abilities are a controversial but actively researched topic. The present study examined whether sex-role identity mediates the relationship between sex and sex-typed cognitive abilities. Three hundred nine participants (105 males and 204 females) were tested on a range of visuospatial and language tasks under laboratory conditions. Participants also completed measures of sex-role identity, used to classify them into masculine, feminine, androgynous and undifferentiated groups. While sex differences were found for some but not all measures, significant sex-role differences were found for all spatial and language measures with the exception of a novel 2D Mental Rotation Task. Masculine sex-roles partially mediated the relationship between sex and a composite measure of spatial ability, while feminine sex-roles fully mediated the relationship between sex and a composite measure of language ability. These results suggest that sex-role identity may have greater utility in explaining individual differences in cognitive performance than biological sex alone.
•We examined sex differences in visual–spatial and verbal abilities in an adult sample.•Sex differences were observed for some but not all visual–spatial and verbal tasks.•Performance on visual–spatial tasks was mediated by masculine sex-role identity.•Performance on verbal ability tasks was mediated by feminine sex-role identity.•Masculine and feminine personality traits predict specific cognitive abilities.
Details
- Title
- Sex and sex-role differences in specific cognitive abilities
- Creators
- David Reilly - School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Queensland, AustraliaDavid L. Neumann - Gold Coast HealthGlenda Andrews - Griffith University
- Publication Details
- Intelligence (Norwood), Vol.54, pp.147-158
- Publisher
- Elsevier Inc
- Identifiers
- 991013095113702368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Health
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article