Sexuality and mental rotation

Jun 04, 2007 08:22

Judy Skatssoon (6/4/2007), writing for news.com.au, says that the University of Warwick has "dealt heterosexual women a final indignity." Skatssoon is referring to research by Michael Tlauka that found differences in mental rotation ability, with straight men scoring the highest while straight women scored the lowest. However, although the news ( Read more... )

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Comments 6

astrogeek01 June 4 2007, 14:25:34 UTC
Oh, I'm *really* good at those tasks. Like, really really good. I've learned to be good, because it's fairly useful in my field of work. I didn't find it too hard to learn, though. I tend to be better at it than many men.

This kind of "test" really makes me wonder mostly about the socialization - since it was so easy for me to learn, because I needed to and wanted to, I wonder how much of it is that men are encouraged to be builders vs other things. When you're putting together car parts or building something out of wood, you start to naturally begin to see how things fit together.

I would be curious to see if women who sew their own clothes without using a pattern also develop this ability - I certainly know that it's useful to me both when I'm making something AND when I sew, as well as in my work.

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astrogeek01 June 4 2007, 14:25:56 UTC
(better than many men, even in my field. nyah!)

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differenceblog June 4 2007, 14:39:57 UTC
Interesting. I wonder if there's a confound between sexuality and career -- that seems stupid, but there may be a grain of truth to the job-choice-stereotypes.

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amberite June 12 2007, 07:50:57 UTC
On mental rotation, I'm kinda so-so. I have in fact turned maps upside down to read them, though only when I'm in a town where north is downhill and south is up. I find that the degree to which map-reading is easy for me is linked to the degree to which the territory is on a flat plane ( ... )

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amberite June 12 2007, 08:02:36 UTC
Ooh... adding to this, looking at the article and talking to one of my partners about it, I think the flippantly suggested explanation "Little boys are also more likely to be put on a soccer or football field than their sisters" -- is probably really accurate, because:

Boys are strongly expected to play sports
Girls are not.

Girls who have an interest in masculinity are likely to play sports.
Boys who have an interest in femininity are likely to evade sports, but not always completely.

It pretty much checks out on every level.

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