1914
DOI: 10.1086/212287
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Variability as Related to Sex Differences in Achievement: A Critique

Abstract: Psychology (I9IO), p. 35. 5IO VARIABILITY AND SEX DIFFERENCE IN ACHIEVEMENT 5II only in raising the average intelligence and happiness of the race. We shall not expect any increase from this source in the number of eminent individuals, nor in achievement of that high order which forces knowledge and wisdom farther. Thorndike' states the implications for pedagogy thus: This one fundamental difference in variability isjmore important than all the differences between the average male and female capacities .... a … Show more

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Cited by 78 publications
(51 citation statements)
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“…They found no evidence of greater variability in males than in females, though they acknowledged that this conclusion about physical measures in neonates said little about relative amounts of variability in mental abilities. Hollingworth also pointed out that the arguments for the variability hypothesis to date (and most of Perspectives on Psychological Science -November 2008 -In Press those since then) relied on the assumption that mental abilities are normally distributed in both sexes (Hollingworth, 1914). This assumption is important because it implies that any difference in variability dictates an associated difference in range, and the argument that greater male variability implies greater numbers of males at the highest levels of ability rests on the existence of this difference in range.…”
Section: History Of the Variability Hypothesismentioning
confidence: 99%
See 1 more Smart Citation
“…They found no evidence of greater variability in males than in females, though they acknowledged that this conclusion about physical measures in neonates said little about relative amounts of variability in mental abilities. Hollingworth also pointed out that the arguments for the variability hypothesis to date (and most of Perspectives on Psychological Science -November 2008 -In Press those since then) relied on the assumption that mental abilities are normally distributed in both sexes (Hollingworth, 1914). This assumption is important because it implies that any difference in variability dictates an associated difference in range, and the argument that greater male variability implies greater numbers of males at the highest levels of ability rests on the existence of this difference in range.…”
Section: History Of the Variability Hypothesismentioning
confidence: 99%
“…But few data about the degree to which the distributions of abilities were actually normal were available then (or have become available since then). Hollingworth (1914) demonstrated hypothetically that, even without altering the normal distribution's property of symmetry, deviations from the normal distribution's kurtosis, or the thickness of the tails of the distribution, could produce very different results with respect to the relative numbers of males and females at the highest levels of abilities while still maintaining greater overall male variability. In particular, the conclusions depended highly on whether or not the range of scores was actually greater in males than in females.…”
Section: History Of the Variability Hypothesismentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Questionando uma das ideias centrais da época, a autora também demonstrou que a população com defi ciência intelectual era semelhante entre mulheres e homens. Ao analisar a idade dos moradores nas instituições da cidade de Nova York, Hollingworth (1914) constatou que, embora houvesse maior número de meninos do que de meninas, o número de mulheres internas aumentava a ponto de se equivaler ao de homens conforme a sua idade avançava. Para Hollingworth, não havia explicações determinísticas para esse fenômeno.…”
Section: Mantenimiento De Desigualdades En La Evaluación De Género Enunclassified
“…One of the most vocal scholars to address the question in the field of gender differences was the psychologist Leta S. Hollingworth, who, like Lowie, trained at Columbia University (Shields, ). In “Variability as Related to Sex Differences in Achievement,” Hollingworth () argued that scholars had neither produced any data that showed that the distribution of mental abilities formed a Gaussian (normal) distribution—which is one of the preconditions to equate greater range with greater variability—nor showed that either range or variability differed between men and women in any meaningful way. For Hollingworth, the issue had a somewhat personal connotation.…”
Section: Individual Variationmentioning
confidence: 99%