Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-25wd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T15:58:10.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Cognitive Contributions to Sex Differences in Math Performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

By
James M. Royer  and
Laura M. Garofoli
Edited by
Ann M. Gallagher  and
James C. Kaufman
James M. Royer
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Laura M. Garofoli
Affiliation:
Dr. Franklin Perkins School
Ann M. Gallagher
Affiliation:
Law School Admissions Council, Newton, PA
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
California State University, San Bernardino
Get access

Summary

This chapter offers an explanation, or a set of explanations, for how sex differences in cognitive abilities result in sex differences in math performance, and particularly differences in performance on high-level math tests. By high-level math tests, we mean tests such as the SAT-M, ACT-M, or GRE-M that are commonly used for competitive selection decisions. Our chapter is not about sex differences in math in general. Therefore, there are interesting differences between males and females in areas such as math self-concept, math anxiety, and so on that we do not discuss. We make this distinction because the general area of sex differences in mathematics is large, unwieldy, contradictory, and ultimately, in our opinion, not explainable by a common set of factors. We do, however, briefly examine some of the areas encompassed under the general topic of sex differences in mathematics because research in those areas serves to constrain explanations for sex differences in high-level math test performance. We now examine some of those areas of research.

GRADES IN MATH CLASSES

Reviews of the literature examining sex differences in math grades indicate that girls generally receive better grades than boys, especially after junior high school (Dwyer & Johnson, 1997; Kimball, 1989). Kimball concluded that junior high and high school girls received better grades than their male peers in specific courses and had a higher overall math grade point average.

Type
Chapter
Information
Gender Differences in Mathematics
An Integrative Psychological Approach
 , pp. 99 - 120
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Benbow, C. P., & Stanley, J. C. (1982). Consequences in high school and college of sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability: A longitudinal study. American Educational Research Journal, 19, 598–622CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benbow, C. P., & Stanley, J. C. (1983). Sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability: More facts. Science, 222, 1029–1031CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bridgeman, B., & Lewis, C. (1996). Gender differences in college mathematics grades and SAT-M scores: A reanalysis of Wainer and Steinberg. Journal of Educational Measurement, 33, 257–270CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, M., & Davis, H. (2001). Gender differences in strategy use: A function of skill and preference. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 26, 330–347CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carr, M., & Jessup, D. L. (1997). Gender differences in first-grade mathematics strategy use: Social and metacognitive influences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 318–328CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carr, M., Jessup, D. L., & Fuller, D. (1999). Gender differences in first-grade mathematics strategy use: Parent and teacher contributions. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 30, 20–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casey, M. B., Nuttal, R. L., & Pezaris, E. (1997). Mediators of gender differences in mathematics college entrance test scores: A comparison of spatial skills with internalized beliefs and anxieties. Developmental Psychology, 33, 669–680CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cleary, T. A. (1992). Gender differences in aptitude and achievement test scores. In Sex equity in educational opportunity, achievement and testing: Proceedings of the 1991 ETS invitational conference. Princeton NJ: Educational Testing Service
Dwyer, C. A., & Johnson, L. M. (1997). Grades, accomplishments and correlates. In W. A. Willingham & and N. S. Cole (Eds.), Gender and fair assessment (pp. 127–156). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates
Garofoli, L. M. (2003). Early gender differences in arithmetic strategy proficiency. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts
Geary, D. C. (1996). Sexual selection and sex differences in mathematical abilities. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 19, 229–247CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geary, D., Saults, S. J., Liu, F., & Hoard, M. K. (2000). Sex differences in spatial cognition, computational fluency and arithmetical reasoning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 77, 337–353CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halpern, D. E., & LaMay, M. L. (2000). The smarter sex: A critical review of sex differences in intelligence. Educational Psychology Review, 12, 229–246CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harnisch, D. L., Steinkamp, M. W., Tsai, S. L., & Walberg, H. J. (1986). Cross-national differences in mathematics attitude and achievement among seventeen-year-olds. International Journal of Educational Development, 6, 233–244CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hummel, J. E., & Holyoke, K. J. (1997). Distributed representations of structure: A theory of analogical access and mapping. Psychological Review, 104, 427–466CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyde, J. S., Fennema, E., & Lamon, S. J. (1990). Gender differences in mathematics performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 139–155CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, E. S. (1984). Sex differences in problem solving. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 1359–1371CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Just, M. A., & Carpenter, P. A. (1985). Cognitive coordinate systems: Accounts of mental rotation and individual differences in spatial ability. Psychological Review, 92, 137–172CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimball, M. M. (1989). A new perspective on women's math achievement. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 198–214CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kintsch, W., & Greeno, J. G. (1985). Understanding and solving word problems. Psychological Review, 92, 109–129CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langenfield, T. E. (1997). Test fairness: Internal and external investigations of gender bias in mathematics testing. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 16, 20–26CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Law, D. J., Pellegrino, J. W., & Hunt, E. B. (1993). Comparing the tortoise and the hare: Gender differences and experience in dynamic spatial reasoning tasks. Psychological Science, 4, 35–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, A. B. (1989). Training students to represent arithmetic word problems. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 521–531CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, A. B., & Mayer, R. E. (1987). Students' miscomprehension of relational statements in arithmetic word problems. Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 363–371CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lummis, M., & Stevenson, H. W. (1990). Gender differences in beliefs and achievement: A cross-cultural study. Developmental Psychology, 26, 254–263CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masters, M. S., & Sanders, B. (1993). Is the gender difference in mental rotation disappearing? Behavior Genetics, 23, 337–341CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayer, R. E. (2003). Mathematical problem solving. In J. M. Royer (Ed.), Mathematical cognition (pp. 69–92). Greenwich, CT: Infoage Publishing
Mayer, R. E., & Hegarty, M. (1996). The process of understanding mathematics problems. In R. J. Sternberg & T. Ben-Zeev (Eds.), The nature of mathematical thinking (pp. 29–53). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Mills, C. J., Ablard, K. E., & Stumpf, H. (1993). Gender differences in academically talented young students' mathematical reasoning: Patterns across age and subskills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 340–346CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, M. S., Greeno, J. G., & Heller, J. I. (1983). Development of children's problem-solving ability in arithmetic. In H. P. Ginsburg (Ed.), The development of mathematical thinking (pp. 153–196). New York: Academic Press
Robinson, N. M., Abbott, R. D., Beringer, V. W., & Busse, J. (1996). The structure of abilities in math-precocious young children: Gender similarities and differences. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 341–352CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Royer, J. M., Rath, K., Tronsky, L. N., Marchant, H., & Jackson, S. (2002). Spatial cognition and math fact retrieval as the causes of sex differences in math test performance. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA
Royer, J. M., Tronsky, L. N., Chan, Y., Jackson, S. J., & Marchant, H. (1999). Math-fact retrieval as the cognitive mechanism underlying gender differences in math test performance. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 24, 181–266CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Royer, J. M., Wing, R. E., Rath, K., Jackson, S., & Marchant, H. (in press). Spatial cognition and math fact retrieval affect different stages on the math problem solving process
U.S. Office of Education. (2001). The digest of education statistics (2001). http://www.ed.gov/
Vandenberg, S. G., & Kuse, A. R. (1978). Mental rotation, a group test of Three-dimensional spatial visualization. Perceptual and motos skills, 47, 599–604CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilder, G. Z. (1997). Antecedents of gender differences. In W. W. Willingham & L. M. Johnson (Eds.), Supplement to gender and fair assessment. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing ServiceCrossRef
Willingham, W. W., & Cole, N. S. (1997). Gender and fair assessment. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×