Publication Date
1-1-2008
Abstract
Whether males and females differ in general mental ability (GMA) remains an open question. Complicating the issue is that standardized IQ tests are constructed to minimize sex differences. We propose a potential solution whereby GMA is measured via performance on elementary cognitive tasks (ECTs). ECTs assess basic information-processing ability, yet correlate moderately highly with GMA. Toward this end, we had male (n = 218) and female (n = 226) undergraduates complete the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT), and two ECTs: inspection time (IT) and reaction time (RT). The sex difference on the WPT was non-significant (d = .17), but small differences favoring males existed for IT (d = .34), RT (d = .26), the standard deviation of RT (d = .30), and an ECT factor score (d = .38). Unlike standardized IQ tests, ECTs may be a viable research tool to help clarify and illuminate the nature of sex differences on GMA.
DOI
10.1016/j.paid.2008.05.028
Publisher's Statement
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Personality and Individual Differences. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 5, (2008); 10.1016/j.paid.2008.05.028
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International
Citation Information
Pesta, B., Bertsch, S., Poznanski, P., Bommer, W. H. (2008). Sex Differences on Elementary Cognitive Tasks Despite No Differences on the Wonderlic Personnel Test. Personality and Individual Differences, 45(5), pp. 429-431.
