Spatial Anxiety and Self-Confidence Mediate Sex/Gender Differences in Mental Rotation

Autor/inn/en	Arrighi, Linda; Hausmann, Markus
Titel	Spatial Anxiety and Self-Confidence Mediate Sex/Gender Differences in Mental Rotation
Quelle	In: Learning & Memory, 29 (2022) 9, S.312-320 (9 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Arrighi, Linda) ORCID (Hausmann, Markus)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1072-0502
Schlagwörter	Spatial Ability; Anxiety; Self Esteem; Gender Differences; Undergraduate Students; Foreign Countries; Visualization; Psychological Patterns; United Kingdom (England); Vandenberg Mental Rotations Test + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Räumliches Vorstellungsvermögen; Angst; Self-esteem; Selbstaufmerksamkeit; Geschlechterkonflikt; Ausland; Visualisation; Visualisierung
Abstract	A recent meta-synthesis study with a sample of >12 million participants revealed that the male advantage in mental rotation (MR) is the largest cognitive sex/gender difference found in psychological literature. MR requires test takers to mentally rotate three-dimensional cubic figures under time restrictions. Previous studies have investigated how biological and social factors contribute to cognitive sex/gender differences in tasks of this type. Spatial anxiety and self-confidence in MR tasks have received less attention. The present study investigated the contribution of these psychological factors to sex/gender differences in MR performance. Participants (n = 269) completed two MR tasks that differed in task difficulty. Participants also indicated their self-confidence (for each item) and spatial anxiety. The results revealed that pronounced sex/gender differences in spatial anxiety and self-confidence mediate sex/gender in MR performance, especially when task demands are high. The current findings suggest that task-irrelevant factors that are not spatial cognitive in nature contribute largely to the well-known medium to large sex/gender differences in MR. Future studies should further explore mechanisms underlying cognitive sex/gender differences within a biopsychosocial approach. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 500 Sunnyside Boulevard, Woodbury, NY 11797-2924. Tel: 800-843-4388; Tel: 516-367-8800; Fax: 516-422-4097; e-mail: cshpres@cshl.edu; Web site: http://learnmem.cshlp.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01