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0 pointschroma10y ago0 comments

With mental rotation, there is practically no overlap. See the graph from the original study.[1]

It's a similar story for physical strength. Nobody denies that men tend to be stronger than women, but most people vastly underestimate the disparity. In a study that measured grip strength in 2,000 people[2], the weakest 5% of men were comparable to the top decile of women. Even elite female athletes were only as strong as the median untrained male.

There are more examples (propensity for violence is another big one), but it takes time to find citations. Suffice it to say that most people think the sexes are more similar than they actually are.

1. https://brothersdiamond.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/menwoman... (For more on mental rotation and testosterone's effects, see my comment downthread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10443021)

2. http://egitim.judo.gov.tr/Dosyalar/makaleler/-ENG-Hand-grip-...

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esailija10y ago

There's plenty of studies that debunk the mental rotation myth:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915080431.ht...

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angelica_Moe/publication...

There's also a study showing the field of neuroscience having a tendency to make unsupported and untested claims to confirm stereotypes http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12152-012-9169-1

no1ne10y ago

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2015/08/scien... Is this also stereotypical? Read what the researcher(a woman by the way)had to say. For 20 years, she actively avoided studying sex differences in the brain until her own data showed her that differences between females and males were real. Let science be about cold-hard facts and let it not be muddied by "feelings".

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oldmanjay10y ago

there's a pretty big difference between "debunk[ing] the ... myth" and showing the effect is real and can be reduced via training. in particular, your second link says the differences are probably real in its conclusion!

esailija10y ago

The myth is that the differences (in mental rotation ability) are innate or "biological", not that there is differences (in mental rotation ability) in the first place.

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0 pointschroma10y ago0 comments

With mental rotation, there is practically no overlap. See the graph from the original study.[1]

There are more examples (propensity for violence is another big one), but it takes time to find citations. Suffice it to say that most people think the sexes are more similar than they actually are.

1. https://brothersdiamond.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/menwoman... (For more on mental rotation and testosterone's effects, see my comment downthread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10443021)

2. http://egitim.judo.gov.tr/Dosyalar/makaleler/-ENG-Hand-grip-...

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esailija10y ago

There's plenty of studies that debunk the mental rotation myth:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100915080431.ht...

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angelica_Moe/publication...

There's also a study showing the field of neuroscience having a tendency to make unsupported and untested claims to confirm stereotypes http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12152-012-9169-1

no1ne10y ago

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oldmanjay10y ago

esailija10y ago

The myth is that the differences (in mental rotation ability) are innate or "biological", not that there is differences (in mental rotation ability) in the first place.

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse