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LAB REPORT 2
INTRODUCTION
It has frequently been stated that women attain a higher performance in a variety of verbal tests (e.g., Burton, Henninger & Hafetz, 2005; Kolb & Whishaw, 2001; Mildner, 2008; Weiss et al., 2003). Despite the aforementioned reports, gender differences in language abilities
remain a controversial topic, as not all of the research carried out supports the
assumption of higher verbal abilities in women. Hyde and Linn (1988), for example,
conducted a meta-analysis of 165 language studies involving both children and
adults and including a broad range of language tests (vocabulary, analogies,
anagrams, reading comprehension, speaking or other verbal communication, essay
writing, the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT )-Verbal, and general verbal ability tests).
Results were mixed: forty-four (27%) of the studies reported that females
outperformed males, 109 (66%) found no significant gender differences, and 12 (7%)
found males outperforming females. The authors concluded that “the magnitude of
the sex difference in verbal ability is currently so small that it can effectively be
considered to be zero” (Hyde & Linn, 1988, p. 64). Recently, Wallentin (2009)
performed an extensive review of gender differences in language among children,
which reached the conclusion that, “A small but consistent female advantage is found
in early language development. But this seems to disappear during childhood. In
adults, sex differences in verbal abilities and in brain structure and function related to
language processing are not readily identified. If they exist, they are not easily picked
up with the research methods used today” (p. 181).
FURTHRMORE, Sex differences in cognitive abilities have also been related
to environmental influences, educational background, and cultural idiosyncrasies
(e.g., Quaiser-Pohl & Lehmann, 2002). Ostrosky et al. (1985, 1986) reported that
gender differences in the cognitive abilities that are usually measured in
neuropsychological tests show a significant interrelation with educational levels: The
differences in test scores between men and women appear only in subjects with low
educational levels, disappear progressively as educational levels increase, and
cease to appear in subjects with approximately 10 years of schooling or more.
According to Ostrosky and colleagues, in participants with limited education or no
schooling whatsoever, men outperform women in virtually all of the cognitive domains
(including language) studied. In participants with medium or higher levels of
education, performance in different cognitive domains (including spatial abilities) is
identical in the two genders. This interaction between gender and educational level
has been found persistently in a variety of studies carried out in Mexico and
Colombia (e.g., Ostrosky et al., 1985; Ostrosky-Solis, Ardila & Rosselli, 1999;
Rosselli & Ardila, 2003). Although no clear explanation for this interaction has yet
been advanced, it has been suggested that in conditions of low educational levels
men are exposed to a significantly richer environmental stimulation. Whereas
women frequently remain at home where they care for their children and do the
cooking and cleaning, men participate in diverse activities that require moving around
the city, handling money, interacting with a variety of people and receiving a constant
flow of information on many social and political events.
IN ADDITION, Nichelli, Bulgheroni and Riva (2001) presented developmental
data for verbal and spatial memory tasks (Corsi's block-tapping test and Luria's
verbal learning test) for 275 children aged from 5 years-4 months to 13 years-
months. No significant sex difference was found, though a slight trend in verbal span
favoring female subjects was present. Ardila and Rosselli (1994) used a
neuropsychological battery (Boston Naming Test, Token Test, verbal fluency,
Wechsler Memory Scale, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, and recognition of
superimposed Poppelreuter-type figures) in a study of 233 normal children aged from
5 to 12 years. No evident gender differences were reported.
PSY102 Practical Session 1 2016 - 2017
- What type of data did we collect? Ratio Your Hypothesis: THERE WILL BE AN EFFECT OF GENDER ON VERBAL SCORES RESULTS
Method Participants Total participants = 79 Males = 17 Females 62
participated in this experiment. They were recruited through a convenience sampling during a psychology practical lesson. Materials and Apparatus The material used in this investigation were a pc for every participant, a stopwatch, a data collection sheet and an overhead projector. In the first one was asked to write down the 2th digit data and 4 th^ digit data of the preferred hand and calculating their ratio. Furthermore, it was also asked to specify gender, age, writing hand, mental rotation task results.
Procedure
First year Abertay University student were asked to complete three different tasks for a psychology experiment: verbal, recall, mental rotation. The first task was to write down many words as possible with a letter of the alphabet that was given by the experimenter except proper names and same names with different ending, for example: eat and eating. The conditions were three, therefore the task was conducted for three different letters: A, F and S, where
PSY102 Practical Session 1 2016 - 2017
every student participated in every condition and every task lasted 60 seconds. This task is called “coat fats”.
On the other hand, the second task was to write down in two minutes the items recalled after having seen them on the PC in 60 seconds. There were ten objects representations and ten words.
In addition, the third task asked to do a mental rotation task. The instruction explains to associate a target shape to two different other shapes behind a black line. Just one of the two figure below the black line was equal to the one above. (Superlab).
35 slides were presented for every participant where they have to click q or p for the right shape.
To conclude, the participants had to fill a schedule where they had to write down their gender, their age, the total number of words created in the first task and the number of items correctly recalled in the second task.
To conclude, the experimenter asked students to choose one independent variable and one dependent variable to analyze.
RESULTS
BAR CHART, independent t-test
GRAPH: Gender has an effect on verbal scores results
DISCUSSION
Finally, to help you with the assessment, please complete the following.
- Was your hypothesis supported? The hypothesis is supported
- Summarise in simple terms without numbers or reference to tests etc. what you found.
- Is this similar to what has been found previously?
- How can the behaviour you observed be explained?
- Thinking about the experiment we carried out, were there any methodological flaws (e.g. were instructions clear, did the software run properly).
- If you were to run a similar study in future what would you do differently and why? Yes, the percentage for the participants should be 50% males and 50% females.
- Summarise what you did, what you found then say what can be concluded from your findings.
References
Burton, L. A., Henninger, D., & Hafetz, J. (2005). Gender differences in relations of mental rotation, verbal fluency, and SAT scores to finger length ratios as hormonal indexes. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28 (1), 493-493. doi: 10.1207/s15326942dn2801_
Coolican, J., & Peters, M. (2003). Sexual dimorphism in the 2D/4D ratio and its relation to mental rotation performance. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24 (3), 179-183. doi: 10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00010-
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.abertay.ac.uk/ehost/results? sid=67a5f521-e724-4651-8303-5a4397973d98% 40sessionmgr4006&vid=0&hid=4109&bquery=(SO+(Psychological +bulletin))AND(DT+1988)AND(TI+gender+differences+in+verbal +ability)&bdata=JmRiPXBkaCZ0eXBlPTEmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4129348/
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Gender-Differences-on-Verbal-and-Non- Verbal-F3CCJSYNBC
PSY102 Practical Session 1 2016 - 2017
