Women and ‘the philosophical personality’: evaluating whether gender differences in the Cognitive Reflection Test have significance for explaining the gender gap in Philosophy

Abstract

The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) is purported to test our inclination to overcome impulsive, intuitive thought with effortful, rational reflection. Research suggests that philosophers tend to perform better on this test than non-philosophers, and that men tend to perform better than women. Taken together, these findings could be interpreted as partially explaining the gender gap that exists in Philosophy: there are fewer women in Philosophy because women are less likely to possess the ideal 'philosophical personality'. If this explanation for the gender gap in Philosophy is accepted, it might be seen to exonerate Philosophy departments of the need to put in place much-needed strategies for promoting gender diversity. This paper discusses a number of reasons for thinking that this would be the wrong conclusion to draw from the research. Firstly, the CRT may not track what it is claimed it tracks. Secondly, the trait tracked by the CRT may not be something that we should value in philosophers. Thirdly, even if we accept that the CRT tracks a trait that has value, this trait might be of limited importance to good philosophising. Lastly, the causal story linking the gender gap in CRT score and the gender gap in Philosophy is likely to be far more complex than this explanation implies.

Lower Levels of Directed Exploration and Reflective Thinking Are Associated With Greater Anxiety and Depression

“…To assess each of the hypothesized relations between exploration, cognitive reflection, and depression/anxiety symptoms, we ran JZS Bayes factor analyses with default prior scales in R [BayesFactor package (35,36)] comparing null (intercept only) models to the space of models that included all combinations of main effects of age, sex, IQ, and the predictor of interest (and interactions between sex and the predictor of interest) on the relevant target variables. Interactions with sex were included because sex differences have been observed in both cognitive reflection measures (37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42) and symptoms of emotional disorders (43)(44)(45)(46)(47). Age was included due to previous work showing changes in exploratory behavior across childhood and adolescence (48,49).…”

Postsecondary Instructors’ Reflective Teaching Practices Pertaining to Gender Differences and Teaching Experience

“…The primary hypothesis here is that expert knowledge is generally produced and controlled by male authorities, putting females in a subordinate role (p. 19). Reflection is further viewed as a more feminine approach that was forced behind the rise of the reflective movement in education (Easton, 2018).…”

Reflective Intuitions about the Causal Theory of Perception across Sensory Modalities

“…The reflection defense is closely related to the better known "expertise defense" (e.g. Williamson 2007;Ludwig 2007), as reflective ability is a skill that is associated with philosophical expertise: Livengood et al (2010), see also Easton (2018), discovered that participants with some graduate training in philosophy had a mean CRT score triple that of participants with no training. The reflection defense is distinct from the expertise defense, however, because the CRT is designed to identify "reflective" individuals who are able to override initial "gut" responses in favor of responses that demonstrate more careful thought, whatever their academic background.…”