Gender differences in category-specificity do not reflect innate dispositions.
It is well established that certain categories of objects are processed more efficiently than others in specific tasks; a phenomenon known as category-specificity in perceptual and conceptual processing. In the last two decades there have also been several reports of gender differences in category-specificity. In the present experiments we test the proposition that such gender differences have an evolutionary origin. If they do, we would expect them to emerge even when the population tested comprises young individuals raised in a gender-equality oriented society. Contrary to this expectation we find no evidence of gender differences in category-specificity in a relatively large sample (N = 366) drawn from such a population; and this despite the fact that both tasks applied (object decision and superordinate categorization) gave rise to reliable category-effects. We suggest that a plausible account of this discrepancy is that previous reports of gender differences may have reflected differences in familiarity originating from socially-based gender roles.
Department of Psychology, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark. Electronic address: cgerlach@health.sdu.dk.
Christian
C
Gerlach
Center for Neuropsychological Research and Department of Neurosciences, Institute of Neurology Policlinico Gemelli, Catholic University of Rome, Italy; Department of Clinical and Behavioral Neurology, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy.
Guido
G
Gainotti
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010551:Personality / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult
Category-effects; Evolution; Gender differences; Semantics; Visual object processing