Nurture affects gender differences in spatial abilities

Abstract

Women remain significantly underrepresented in the science, engineering, and technology workforce. Some have argued that spatial ability differences, which represent the most persistent gender differences in the cognitive literature, are partly responsible for this gap . The underlying forces at work shaping the observed spatial ability differences revolve naturally around the relative roles of nature and nurture. Although these forces remain among the most hotly debated in all of the sciences, the evidence for nurture is tenuous, because it is difficult to compare gender differences among biologically similar groups with distinct nurture. In this study, we use a large-scale incentivized experiment with nearly 1,300 participants to show that the gender gap in spatial abilities, measured by time to solve a puzzle, disappears when we move from a patrilineal society to an adjoining matrilineal society. We also show that about one-third of the effect can be explained by differences in education. Given that none of our participants have experience with puzzle solving and that villagers from both societies have the same means of subsistence and shared genetic background, we argue that these results show the role of nurture in the gender gap in cognitive abilities.

Causes of Gender Differences in Accounting Performance: Students’ Perspective

“…A recent study conducted by Hoffman, Gneezy, and List, (2011) in two Indian tribes which are substantially alike except how they treat women, revealed once again the effect of culture on academic attainment. The study tested the ability of students in solving a spatial puzzle in less than 30 seconds.…”

Comparison of Spatial Ability Between Male and Female Athletes

“…10 Spatial ability was one aspect of academic, so that higher education level would result in higher spatial ability. 10 Beside of education level, type of education might also influence spatial ability. It is known that spatial ability correlates more with natural science especially with mathematics.…”

“…7 Examples of environmental factors include education level, economical state, culture, use of medication, marital status, and stress. 7,10,14 It is recommended to control those factors in further studies.…”

“…Several studies had reported differences and other studies had reported no differences at all. 8,[10][11] However, it is not known whether occupation or daily activities influence spatial ability, such as what is happened to in athletes.…”

Importance of accurately measuring spatial abilities

“…Hoffman et al (1) suggested that identifying the cultural foundations of sex differences in spatial abilities may uncover the reasons why women tend to be underrepresented in fields of science, technology, and engineering. The authors ingeniously selected their sample from two tribes from Northeast India that appear to differ little in terms of genetic heritage but live in patrilineal and matrilineal societies, respectively.…”