Gender and Its Relation to Cognitive Processes Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Introduction

Cognitive issues speak of factors such as intelligence quotient, memory, problem solving, reasoning, mental arithmetic and other such issues. There is an argument that gender influences the IQ of a person and that men have more intelligence than women. This issue has raised considerable debate with supporters and detractors both arguing their line of view. This paper examines the issue of gender and how it is related to cognitive processes.

Main body

There were arguments that men have more brain mass and so they are more intelligent and the fact is true that while men’s brains are about 1 kilogram more heavier than women. To test this argument Haier (2004) conducted brain-scanning tests on volunteers to find out if grey matter content in the brain had any influence on the cognitive skills of men and women. The researchers used to sets of volunteers, 23 people from University of Mexico with 14 women and 9 men and 24 volunteers from university of California with 13 men and 11 women. General intelligence ability for the people was tested using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale to ascertain the non verbal and verbal mental abilities.

WAIS Full Scale IQ score was found out for each subject and then each was subjected to a full MRI scanning. The volume and depth of grey and white matter in the brain were mapped for each volunteer in about 50 locations and the percentage of grey matter and white matter was calculated. The study concluded that intelligence had no relation to the gender of the subjects. Differences in the volumes of grey and white matter in smaller number of areas that are distributed in the brain are the main reason for variation in intelligence. The results also showed why structural differences in grey and white matter volumes in specific regions define why people with the same IQ have different cognitive weakness and strengths.

Colom (2002) performed a test on 703 women and 666 males to find out if the gender has any difference in the IQ and cognitive ability of people. The author subjected the volunteers to 14 tests based on the WAIS-III sub tests. The tests that were performed were: vocabulary, similarities, arithmetic, digit span, information, comprehension, letter number, picture completion, coding, block design, matrices, picture arrangement, symbol search and object assembly. Based on the analysis of the g loading it was concluded that there was nothing of statistical significance that showed that men are more intelligent than women. The only reason for the variation could be attributed to group factors and test specificity and that the scores as seen in the test showed negligible difference.

The two journal articles have researched the contribution of gender to the cognitive abilities of people and the influence it has on the intelligence. The study by Haier (2004) examined the relation between brain size, proportion of grey and white matter on intelligence. The study used MRI scan on 47 volunteers from different locations and the study showed that while cognitive abilities are influenced by the proportion of grey matter, there is no relation to the mass of the brain and the gender of the volunteer. The second study by Colom (2002) conducted on 703 women and 666 males to find out if the gender has any difference in the IQ and cognitive ability of people. The author concluded that there was no basis on which IQ could be related to the gender. The paper thus concludes that gender has no impact on the cognitive abilities of a person.

References

Colom. Roberto, 2002. Null Sex Differences in General Intelligence: Evidence from the WAIS-III. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 5(1), pp. 29-35.

Haier. Richard J., Jung. Rex, 2004. Structural brain variation and general intelligence. NeuroImage, 23, pp. 425–433.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2021, November 17). Gender and Its Relation to Cognitive Processes. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-related-cognitive-issues/

Work Cited

"Gender and Its Relation to Cognitive Processes." IvyPanda, 17 Nov. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/gender-related-cognitive-issues/.

References

IvyPanda. (2021) 'Gender and Its Relation to Cognitive Processes'. 17 November.

References

IvyPanda. 2021. "Gender and Its Relation to Cognitive Processes." November 17, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-related-cognitive-issues/.

1. IvyPanda. "Gender and Its Relation to Cognitive Processes." November 17, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-related-cognitive-issues/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Gender and Its Relation to Cognitive Processes." November 17, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gender-related-cognitive-issues/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1