Comparing the Sexes on Spatial Abilities: Map-Use Skills

Abstract

Studies by psychologists suggest that males are more proficient than females in performing many types of spatial tasks. There is no information, however, as to whether the results of psychological research are relevant and applicable to geography. This paper summarizes psychologists' views of spatial skills, discusses them from a geographical perspective, and reports the results of five map-use experiments that were analyzed for sex-based differences among participants. Two of the studies, one with fourth-grade students and one with undergraduates, tested the students' ability to use cartographic illustrations as an aid to learning geographic information. The remaining experiments investigated how well male and female children and adults could perform typical map-use tasks such as route planning, symbol identification, visual search and estimation, and rightheft orientation. In both sets of studies, the main sex-based differences were found in the younger age groups, where boys' performance was superior to girls'. Among college students, map-use scores for females and males were almost identical. These results suggest that the findings of psychologists regarding sex-based and developmental patterns in spatial abilities may not be directly transferable to geography.

A Comparison of Animated Maps with Static Small-Multiple Maps for Visually Identifying Space-Time Clusters

“…This result is unusual, for although modest gender differences have been commonly reported for some mapreading tasks associated with navigation (e.g., Montello et al 1999;Malinowski and Gillespie 2001;Lloyd and Bunch 2005), they have not been commonly reported for thematic map reading (e.g., Gilmartin and Patton 1984;Evans 1997). There was no significant difference in the amount of time it took males or females to identify patterns.…”

Cognitive maps: What are they and why study them?

“…Saarinen et al (1988) have noted that females consistently performed below males on the NCGE Geographic Competency Test and in their sketch map experiments. Other researchers have noted similar such differences (Kail et al, 1980;Jahoda, 1979;Moore, 1979;Brown & Broadway, 1981;Spencer & Weetman, 1981;Gilmartin, 1984;Matthews, 1986;Brewster & Blades, 1989;Downs & Liben, 1991) but others have found none or expressed reservations and unhappiness with the findings (Feldman & Acredolo, 1979;Liben & Golbeck, 1980;Gilmartin & Patton, 1984;Webley & Whalley, 1986;Allen, 1988;Garling, 1989;Blades, 1990;Self et al, 1992). The reasons for this are a contentious issue and a large debate is currently in progress centring around the spatial ability literature (for possible reasons see Table 3).…”

“…The first is concerns how we literally perceive the map and integrate this knowledge into the cognitive map, with the aim of teaching these skills more effectively. Much of this work focuses around improving map reading and interpretation skills, and spatial ability (Thorndyke & Statz, 1979;Gilmartin & Patton, 1984).…”

Are There Sex Differences in Geographic Knowledge and Understanding?

“…He suggests that androgen alone may not be responsible for spatial ability but rather the body's balance of oestrogen-androgen. Additional evidence comes from studies of hormonal and chromosomal deficiency conditions and other research concerning androgen and spatial ability (Gilmartin and Patton, 1984 Matthews (1986) argues that this is the direct result of socialization, stereotyping and upbringing. Indeed, Gilmartin and Patton (1984) suggest that males and females are 'programmed' by society to conform to accepted, traditional gender roles, leading to differing patterns of spatial behaviour.…”

“…Additional evidence comes from studies of hormonal and chromosomal deficiency conditions and other research concerning androgen and spatial ability (Gilmartin and Patton, 1984 Matthews (1986) argues that this is the direct result of socialization, stereotyping and upbringing. Indeed, Gilmartin and Patton (1984) suggest that males and females are 'programmed' by society to conform to accepted, traditional gender roles, leading to differing patterns of spatial behaviour. As a result, women experience less interaction with the environment and receive stereotypical social and media pressure to move away from activities that build spatial and cognitive mapping abilities.…”