Evolution of Sex Differences in Math: BBS Call for Commentators

Below is the abstract of a forthcoming target article on: SEX DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICAL ABILITY by David C. Geary This article has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be current BBS Associates or nominated by a current BBS Associate. To be considered as a commentator for this article, to suggest other appropriate commentators, or for information about how to become a BBS Associate, please send email to: bbs(a)ecs.soton.ac.uk or write to: Behavioral and Brain Sciences Department of Psychology University of Southampton Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ UNITED KINGDOM http://cogsci.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/bbs.html gopher://gopher.princeton.edu:70/11/.libraries/.pujournals ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/BBS To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, please give some indication of the aspects of the topic on which you would bring your areas of expertise to bear if you were selected as a commentator. An electronic draft of the full text is available for inspection by anonymous ftp (or gopher or world-wide-web) according to the instructions that follow after the abstract. ____________________________________________________________________ SEXUAL SELECTION AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN MATHEMATICAL ABILITIES David C. Geary Department of Psychology 210 McAlester Hall University of Missouri at Columbia Columbia, MO 65211 psycorie(a)mizzou1.missouri.edu KEYWORDS: sexual selection, sex differences, mathematical ability, spatial ability, sex-role stereotypes, social style ABSTRACT: The principles of sexual selection were used as an organizing framework for interpreting cross-national patterns of sex differences in mathematical abilities. Cross-national studies suggest that there are no sex differences in biologically primary mathematical abilities, that is, for those mathematical abilities that are found pan-culturally, in nonhuman primates, and show moderate heritability estimates. Sex differences in several biologically secondary mathematical domains (i.e., those that emerge primarily in school) are found throughout the industrialized world. In particular, males consistently outperform females in the solving of mathematical word problems and in geometry. Sexual selection and any associated proximate mechanisms (e.g., sex hormones) appear to influence these sex differences in mathematical performance indirectly. First, sexual selection appears to have resulted in the greater elaboration of the neurocognitive systems that support navigation in 3-dimensional space in males than in females. Knowledge implicit in these systems appears to reflect an understanding of basic Euclidean geometry, and thus appears to be one source of the male advantage in geometry. Males also co-opt these spatial systems in problem-solving situations more readily than females, which provides males with an advantage in word problems and geometry. Moreover, sex differences in social styles and interests, which also appear to be related, in part, to sexual selection, result in sex differences in engagement in mathematics-related activities, which further increases the male advantage in certain mathematical domains. A model that integrates these biological influences with sociocultural influences on the sex differences in mathematical performance is presented. -------------------------------------------------------------- To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for this article, an electronic draft is retrievable by anonymous ftp from ftp.princeton.edu according to the instructions below (the filename is bbs.geary). Please do not prepare a commentary on this draft. Just let us know, after having inspected it, what relevant expertise you feel you would bring to bear on what aspect of the article. ------------------------------------------------------------- These files are also on the World Wide Web and the easiest way to retrieve them is with Netscape, Mosaic, gopher, archie, veronica, etc. Here are some of the URLs you can use to get to the BBS Archive: http://www.princeton.edu/~harnad/bbs.html http://cogsci.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/bbs.html gopher://gopher.princeton.edu:70/11/.libraries/.pujournals ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/BBS/bbs.geary ftp://cogsci.ecs.soton.ac.uk/pub/harnad/BBS/bbs.geary To retrieve a file by ftp from an Internet site, type either: ftp ftp.princeton.edu or ftp 128.112.128.1 When you are asked for your login, type: anonymous Enter password as queried (your password is your actual userid: yourlogin(a)yourhost.whatever.whatever - be sure to include the "@") cd /pub/harnad/BBS To show the available files, type: ls Next, retrieve the file you want with (for example): get bbs.geary When you have the file(s) you want, type: quit ---------- Where the above procedure is not available there are two fileservers: ftpmail(a)decwrl.dec.com and bitftp(a)pucc.bitnet that will do the transfer for you. To one or the other of them, send the following one line message: help for instructions (which will be similar to the above, but will be in the form of a series of lines in an email message that ftpmail or bitftp will then execute for you). -------------------------------------------------------------