Płeć i poznanie

by Doreen Kimura

Książka Doreen Kimury, psychologa i neurobiologa z Uniwersytetu Simona Frasera w Kanadzie, jest jedną z najlepszych i najszerzej komentowanych książek na temat różnic poznawczych między kobietami i mężczyznami. Poprzez różnice poznawcze rozumie się wszelkie zdolności i umiejętności związane z funkcjonowaniem mózgu, zmysłów, pamięci, orientacją w przestrzeni, logicznym myśleniem i zdobywaniem wiedzy. Bez stereotypów i półprawd, których tak wiele w popularnych pracach na temat związku płci i mózgu, za to czerpiąc obficie z wyników najnowszych badań naukowych i niezliczonych testów psychologicznych, autorka daje czytelnikowi możliwość zapoznania się z charakterem tych różnic oraz dostarcza szeregu możliwych wyjaśnień ich powstania i rozwoju. Szczególny nacisk kładzie na mechanizmy hormonalne i ich wpływ na rozwój ludzkiego mózgu oraz tzw. wzorców poznawczych typowych dla przedstawicieli obu płci. Książka jest znaczącym głosem w sporze o źródła zróżnicowania zdolności mężczyzn i kobiet (wyjaśnienia biologiczne kontra wyjaśnienia społeczne) oraz stanowi znakomite uzupełnienie słynnej Płci mózgu.

Genres: Psychology, Gender, Nonfiction, Neuroscience, Biology, Science

226 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Falk · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Kimura gives an unbiased overview of sex differences in cognition, and provides scientific data of how hormones act prenatally and perinatally on brain development and organization. The main bulk of the book deals with differences between men and women (and boys and girls) in cognitive abilities. The introductory chapters focuses on topics ranging from evolutionary psychology to early hormonal development and the various effects of androgens, and following this there are chapters focusing on specific subjects such as sex differences in motor skills, spatial abilities, mathematical aptitude, verbal abilities, and so on. Seasonal cycles of testosterone levels and fluctuations in estrogen levels across the menstrual cycle are also discussed in a later chapter, highlighting the finds presented earlier in the book. Further there are chapters dealing with studies on brain mechanisms in normal and in damaged brains respectively, and finally a chapter on body asymmetry and cognition. The book is magisterially written and lucidly argued. It is also refreshing to read a book by a female professor who completely eschews the grammarian’s term “gender” - there is certainly more to sex differences than grammar, to say the least - as Kimura repeatedly shows throughout this book. She writes with regard to feminist critics in the Introduction: “Why should sex differences be treated differently from other kinds of data?” - Why indeed. She goes on to show that the (much touted) environment, to the degree that it is influential, works on brains that are already differently wired from the outset.
Kimura also brings to attention something I wasn’t at all aware of until now: that “items on tests like the SAT (and many other standardized tests) change over the years, because some items go out of fashion, or even because items performed better by one sex were deleted!” (p. 69) - And further there’s a discussion of the verbal half of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), where she writes as follows: “In originally devising his IQ test, Wechsler omitted tests that yielded large sex differences (such as mental rotation tests), the intent being to equate IQ scores obtained between men and women. So it is despite this aim that there is a slight edge for men on the Verbal IQ, indicating that, popular beliefs and claims to the contrary, women are not more verbally intelligent than men.” (p. 95) – It is disturbing to know that even standard tests like these are in fact devised to conceal sex differences.
Some known sex differences are not dealt with in this book, such as the greater variance in male scores on IQ tests, with men occupying far more of the higher end of the IQ scale than women - though this is a later find I believe. On the whole, this is an excellent introduction to the field; the book is well organized with a Summary at the end of each chapter and there’s even an Appendix dealing with statistical methods.




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[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting book about how gender influences thinking and the brain. Kimura presents the scientific evidence, and you decide what to do with it. I read it for my Science & Gender class, along with Sexing the Body and Why Sex Matters.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for a class. While interesting, I found it difficult to read because it is written in a style I am not used to reading. If you are used to reading scientific journals, this would not be a problem for you.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still an important book, even if many think it is dry - it is not - it is science. Why it's it important? Like many science-based books about sex differences, they all disprove the feminist narrative. I liked this one even if some chapters were less interesting and it did become a bit of listing of study results and explaining them to a readable form. Doreen Kimura did also lots of research herself, so this is very close to real science(with that I mean, not popular science). The appendix on the bell curve was good and should maybe be read first by students reading the book. Most of the information in the book I've already got from other books or the web, so lot is common knowledge but it goes here a bit deeper. So there was little new, but it was a good refresher.

[Renee Jernigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dry as dirt

[Pushpendra Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Similarities are countable. Differences are infinite.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible book. Can NOT believe the university chose it for a Learning Differences class. It was not user-friendly for anyone outside the field of science and had no relation to classroom use, parenting, etc.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this for a graduate class, and it was SO boring--far too recondite for a non-science major.

[Piotr Mazur · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's very interesting book .i recommended this book for all people ,is very curious and reading her quickly .Płeć i poznanie is the best among psychology books .Piotr Mazur.