Poster #187 - Spatial ability and self-perceived masculinity are positively related in women but not in men

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Sex, Gender

Integrative Statement

Gender and its development is multidimensional (Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum, 2006), but much is still unknown about the links among dimensions. For instance, the under-investigated gender-role mediation hypothesis (Nash, 1979) suggests that a masculine self-concept leads to better performance in cognitive domains that show male-favored sex differences, particularly spatial skills. Although a recent meta-analysis (Reilly and Neumann, 2013) of the association between masculinity and mental rotations supported this in both men (r=.3) and women (r=.23), few studies existed and many had small sample sizes. It is also unclear if findings generalize to other spatial skills. Therefore, the aim of this are to replicate the positive relation between masculinity and mental rotations performance in a large sample, and to examine the association between masculinity and three other spatial skills.

Participants were 366 young adults (237 women) between 18 and 24 years old who completed a monitored online survey and cognitive tests in a research laboratory. The Sex Role Identity Scale (Storms, 1979) assessed the extent to which participants felt masculine and feminine in general, dress, and actions. Items were combined to create a single dimension with high scores reflecting greater masculinity. Four spatial skills were assessed: the widely-used Vandenberg and Kuse (1978) 3D Mental Rotations test (used to replicate the meta-analytic results), a test of knowledge of international locations (Geographical Knowledge; Snyder and Harris, 1996), a test requiring the recall of the locations of previously seen objects (Object Location Memory; Silverman & Eals, 1992; Silverman, Choi & Peters, 2007), and a test that requires participants to infer the water level in tilted bottles with respect to a flat surface (Water Level; Piaget & Inhelder, 1956; L. Harris, personal communication). Intelligence was also measured using the Advanced Vocabulary test (Ekstrom et al., 1976; Sattler and Ryan, 2009). Regressions were used to examine the relation between self-perceived masculinity and each of the four spatial skills, separately for each sex, with age and general intelligence as covariates.

Final model results are shown in Table 1. For women, masculinity positively predicted Mental Rotations and Geographical Knowledge. Masculinity did not predict any of the spatial scores for men. Figure 1 is a scatterplot showing the zero-order correlation between Mental Rotations and masculinity, with a positive trend line for women but not for men.

Study results are consistent with meta-analytic findings regarding the link between masculinity and Mental Rotations for women, but not for men. Results also extend to other spatial skills, specifically Geographical Knowledge, again for women, but not for men. Possible reasons for the discrepant findings are power and measurement. The current study was larger than all in the meta-analysis and used a gender identity measure, whereas most others gendered personality measure. It is important to note, though, that this study does not permit inferences about the direction of the relation between masculinity and spatial skills: It is possible that women with better spatial ability perceive themselves to be more masculine because of their skillset. Longitudinal data, especially in children and adolescents, are needed.

Authors

• Dominic Kelly, University of Michigan
  Presenting Author

• Adriene Beltz, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author