Are males always better than females in mental rotation? Exploring a gender belief explanation

By Angelica Moè. 2009

146 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Males outperform females in the Mental Rotation Test (MRT) for biological, strategic and cultural reasons. The present research tested a motivational explanation with the hypothesis that females could do better when induced to have positive beliefs and expectations. All-female and all-male samples were divided into six groups, each having listened to different instructions: 1. men are better than women at this task; 2. women are better than men; 3. control instructions with no gender reference. Each group was further allocated to either the easy or the difficult task expectations condition. Experimental manipulation affected performance differently in relation to gender. Women's performance was affected by positive instructions about gender. Men were affected by instructions about the task difficulty. Women improved performance and reached men's scores in the MRT when they were led to believe they were better than men.

Subfields: Automotive Engineering, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Education

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/dd6886beb107f05ada45534845e462a639aff034

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In Automotive Engineering

  1. Yukiko Maeda
  2. So Yoon Yoon
  3. Kerrie Anna Douglas
  4. Ș. Purzer

In Developmental and Educational Psychology

  1. Yukiko Maeda
  2. So Yoon Yoon

In Education

  1. Yukiko Maeda
  2. So Yoon Yoon

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