Magnitude of sex differences in spatial abilities: A meta-analysis and consideration of critical variables

Psychological Bulletin

Volumn 117, Issue 2, 1995, Pages 250-270

  Voyer, Daniel ^a   Voyer, Susan ^a   Bryden, M P ^b  

^a ST FRANCIS XAVIER UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

APTITUDE; ARTICLE; CLINICAL TRIAL; DEPTH PERCEPTION; DISCRIMINATION LEARNING; EPIDEMIOLOGY; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; META ANALYSIS; NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TEST; ORIENTATION; PATTERN RECOGNITION; PSYCHOMETRY; SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT;

APTITUDE; BIAS (EPIDEMIOLOGY); DISCRIMINATION LEARNING; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS; ORIENTATION; PATTERN RECOGNITION, VISUAL; PSYCHOMETRICS; SEX CHARACTERISTICS; SPACE PERCEPTION; SUPPORT, NON-U.S. GOV'T;

EID: 0029263003     PISSN: 00332909     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.117.2.250     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. **Abravanel, E., & Gingold, H. (1977). Perceiving and representing orientation: Effects of the spatial framework. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. 23, 265-278.
2. *Allen, M. J. (1974). Sex differences in spatial problem-solving styles. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 39, 843-846.
3. *Alien, M. J., & Hogeland, R. (1978). Spatial problem-solving strategies as functions of sex. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 47, 348-350.
4. *Andrieux, C. (1955). Contribution a l'étude des differences entre hommes et femmes dans la perception spaciale. L'année Psychologique. 55, 41-60.
5. Baenninger, M., & Newcombe, N. (1989). The role of experience in spatial test performance: A meta-analysis. Sex Roles. 20, 327-344.
6. *Balistreri, E., & Busch-Rossnagel, N. A. (1989). Field independence as a function of sex, sex-roles, and the sex-role appropriateness of the task. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 68, 115-121.
7. Barrait, E. S. (1953). An analysis of verbal reports of solving spatial problems as an aid in denning spatial factors. Journal of Psychology, 36, 17-25.
8. *Beatty, W. W., & Duncan, D. (1990). Relationship between performance on the everyday spatial activities test and on objective measures of spatial behavior on men and women. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 28, 228-230.
9. Bennett, G. K., Seashore, H. G., & Wesman, A. G. (1947). Differential Aptitude Test. New York: Psychological Corporation.
10. *Bergan, A., MacManis, D. L., & Melchert, P. A. (1971). Effects of social and token reinforcement on WISC Block Design performance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 32, 871-880.
11. *Bernard, M. E., Boyle, G. J., & Jackling, B. F. (1990). Sex-role identity and mental ability. Personality and Individual Differences. 11, 213-217.
12. ences in spatial ability: Mental rotation of three dimensional objects. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 31, 122-130.
13. **Taylor, L. J. (1977). Sex and psychological differentiation. Psychological Reports. 41, 192-194.
14. *Thompson, E. G., Harris. L. J., & Mann, I. (1981). Relationships among cognitive complexity, sex, and spatial task performance in college students. British Journal of Psychology, 72, 249-256.
15. Thurstone.T. G. (1958). Manual for the SRA Primary Mental Abilities. Chicago: Science Research Associates.
16. *Tracy, D. M. (1990). Toy-playing behavior, sex-role orientation, spatial ability, and science achievement. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 27, 637-649.
17. *Treagust, D. F. (1980). Gender-related differences of adolescents in spatial representational thought. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 17, 91-97.
18. *Van Blerkom, M. L. (1987). Haptic lateralization, field dependence, and sex. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 64, 907-914.
19. *Vandenberg, S. G., & Kuse, A. R. (1978). Mental rotation, a group test of three-dimensional spatial visualisation. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 47, 599-604.
20. *Vandenberg, S. G., Kuse, A. R., & Vogler, G. P. (1985). Searching for correlates of spatial ability. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 60, 343-350.
21. **Van Leeuwen, M. A. (1978). A cross-cultural examination of psychological differentiation in males and females. International Journal of Psychology. 13, 87-122.
22. *Vaught, G. M. (1965). The relationship of sex role identification and ego-strength to sex differences in the rod-and-frame test. Journal of Personality. 33, 271-283.
23. *Very, P. S. (1967). Differential factor structures in mathematical abilities. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 75, 169-207.
24. *Voyer, D., & Bryden, M. P. (1990). Mental rotation: A study of gender differences and sex role identity. Canadian Psychology, 31(2a), 253.
25. *Voyer, D., & Bryden, M. P. (1993). Masking and laterality effects in a lateralized rod-and-frame task. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. 47, 26-37.
26. *Voyer, D., & Chisholm, B. D. (1992). Factors affecting performance in a lateralized embedded figures task Poster presented at the 33rd meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, MO.
27. Waber, D. P. (1976). Sex differences in cognition: A function of maturation rate? Science. 192, 572-574.
28. *Waber, D. P., Carlson, D., & Mann, M. (1982). Developmental and differential aspects of mental rotation in early adolescence. Child Development. 53, 1614-1621.
29. **Walker, J., & Krasnoff, A. (1978). The horizontality principle in young men and women. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 46, 1055-1061.
30. Wechsler, D. (1946). The Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale. Form II. New York: Psychological Corporation.
31. Wechsler, D. (1949). The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. New York: Psychological Corporation.
32. Wechsler, D. (1955). Manual for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. New York: Psychological Corporation.
33. Wechsler, D. (1974). Manual for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.
34. Wechsler, D. (1981). Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. New York: Psychological Corporation.
35. *Weinberg, S., & Rabinowitz, J. (1970). A sex difference in the Wechsler IQ vocabulary scores as a predictor of strategy in a probabilitylearning task performed by adolescents. Developmental Psychology. 3, 218-224.
36. *Willemsen, E. W. (1974). Judgment of the vertical as a function of stimulus characteristics, age, and sex. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 38, 1344.
37. *Willemsen, E., & Reynolds, B. (1973). Sex differences in adults' judgments of the horizontal. Developmental Psychology. 8, 309.
38. *Willoughby, R. H. (1967). Field-dependence and locus of control. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 24, 671-672.
39. *Wilson, J. R., DeFries, J. C., McClearn, G. E., Vandenberg, S. G., Johnson, R. C, & Rashad, M. N. (1975). Cognitive abilities: Use of family data as a control to assess sex and age differences in two ethnic groups. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 6, 261-276.
40. **Wilson, J. R., & Vandenberg, S. G. (1978). Sex differences in cognition: Evidence from the Hawaii family study. In T. E. McGill, D. E. Dewsbury, & B. Sachs (Eds.), Sex and behavior: Status and prospectus (pp. 317-336). New York: Plenum.
41. *Witkin, H. A. (1950). Individual differences in ease of perception of embedded figures. Journal of Personality, 19, 1-15.
42. Witkin, H. A., & Asch, S. E. (1948). Studies in space orientation. IV. Further experiments on perception of the upright with displaced visual fields. Journal of Experimental Psychology. 38, 762-782.
43. *Witkin, H. A., Goodenough, D. R., & Karp, S. A. (1967). Stability of cognitive style from childhood to young adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 7, 291-300.
44. **Wittig, M. A., & Allen, M. J. (1984). Measurement of adult performance on Piaget's water horizontality task. Intelligence. 8, 305-313.
45. Wolf, F. M. (1986). Meta-analysis: Quantitative methods for research synthesis. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
46. *Yen, W. M. (1975). Sex-linked major-gene influences on selected types of spatial performance. Behavior Genetics, 5, 281-298.
47. *Yeo, R. A., & Cohen, D. B, (1983). Familial sinistrality and sex differences in cognitive ability. Cortex, 19, 125-130.