Gender Based Cognitive Differences

1. Gender Based Cognitive Differences Sex~Gender Raiha Aftab National Institute Of Psychology QAU Islamabad.

2. Cognition (samjh boojh) • The thoughts, knowledge, or all mental processes involved in the act of knowing • It includes • perception • Thinking • Attention • Language • Reasoning • Classifying • Problem solving • Creativity

3. Research believe that the humans are born with equal capabilities of cognition in their mind. • Differences seen in people are due to • “stimulation” and “growth opportunities” • Cultural and sociological factors • Sex role typing • Attention • Opportunities • Chance • Being in the right place at the right time • Achievement vs. Aptitude

4. 14 years of age In Pakistan the trends are marred by lack of national testing and the extreme gender role disparity For example ---Pervez and Naeem’s

5. In the world of knowledge fewer women have come to the surface • The underlying reasons are cultural, societal and some biological constraints which do not allow women to concentrate as men do. • Over all test indicate non significant differences • Girls generally score higher than boys on tests of intelligence up-to adolescent. But if tests are controlled for the types of abilities tested, the differences are nullified • During adulthood males have a slight advantage over females regarding intelligence

6. Ability-wise Differences Verbal Memory Numerical/Mathematical abilities Creativity and problem solving Perceptual processes Spatial and mathematical aptitude Artistic and musical aptitude Manual dexterity

7. VERBAL ABILITIES Females males • Superior from infancy to adulthood • Then it remains constant • Say first word sooner • Clear pronunciation • Sentence structure is complex • Opposites, analogues, sentence completion, story completions , and comprehension • Boys tend to have more stuttering and stammering disorders • Men use more verbs, implements and utensils, abstracts and occupation.

8. Memory • Females excel in memory at all ages • Repetition • Reproduction of designs • Social context related memory is better in women • School classmates names and faces

9. Numerical/Mathematical Ability • Boys excel in all ages • The difference signifies from childhood to early adolescence • Reasoning, ingenuity, induction • Numerical or arithmetic reasoning ~ males • Females score high on speed and accuracy • Multitasking • Relational Thinking • logical reasoning

10. Creativity and Problem Solving • Men seems to be superior when the problem requires the ability to break, reset, or restructure a problem • Convergent thinking tasks • The ability to give answer to questions that do not require creativity • Current events, study skills, problem solving judgment and analogues • Male dominance • Divergent thinking tasks • It’s a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions • Object uses, word uses, pilot titles, expressional fluency, subject improvement • Females dominance

11. Convergent thinking Divergent thinking

12. Perceptual Process • Perception is the process by which organisms interpret sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world. • Perceptual of details • Perception functions concerned with spatial orientation • Females tend perform better on Perceptual of details • because it relates to rapid perception of detail and frequent shifts of attention. • Males tend to be better at spatial orientation, • Figure and ground abilities • Disregarding visual cues

13. Spatial and Mechanical Aptitude • Males have been found to be superior • Artistic and musical ability • Females have superiority • Manual Dexterity • Females have superiority • Analytical ability • Males are favored • Conceptual formations • Females are favored

14. Questions ?