Spatial Abilities

Topic: Spatial Abilities
Title: Cognition, 10th Edition*
Author: Matlin & Farmer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 978-1-119-49166-8
Part I – from Chapter 7
https://www(dot)nytimes(dot)com/2005/02/18/education/furor-lingers-as-harvard-chief-gives-details-of-talk-on-women.html?_r=0
Gender differences between men and women in STEM fields have been the subject of great debate. Notably, in 2005, then-President of Harvard Lawrence Summers proposed that the reason why there aren’t more women in top science positions may be due to “issues of intrinsic aptitude.” (Links to an external site.) More recently, in August of 2017, Google engineer James Damore wrote in a now-viral memo (Links to an external site.) that “the distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership.”
Let’s say you find yourself in a conversation with someone who tells you, “Men just have better spatial skills than women.” Based on your textbook reading this week, and perhaps from the scholarly article in the Supplemental Materials in this module entitled “The Gender Similarities Hypothesis,” how would you construct an evidence-based argument in response to that claim that is in line with these resources?
Part II – From Chapter 8
In the section on Schemas and Memory Integration in Chapter 8, gender stereotypes are addressed. For Part II of the Discussion Board, take an Implicit Association Test on gender and science. Go to the Project implicit website at https://implicit(dot)harvard(dot)edu/implicit/ (Links to an external site.) and select “Project Implicit Social Attitudes.” Click that you understand their terms, and then select the test entitled “Gender-Science IAT.” There will be some demographic questions at the beginning – you can skip all those questions if you like. In addition, you do not need to create an account to take the IAT – you can take it as a guest. Start at the screen that reads, “Implicit Association Test.”
For the discussion board, just provide a reflection on any aspect of the IAT that you took. You do not need to reveal your results (unless you want to). Let us know what you think of such an assessment and whether you think the test produced valid results. In addition, if you have any questions about the methodology of the IAT, start a discussion with you classmates here. You might also connect what you learned about implicit associations with the willingness of some people to overestimate gender differences in the STEM fields. https://implicit(dot)harvard(dot)edu/implicit/