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Psychologie der Geschlechter. Sexuelle Identität in den verschiedenen Lebensphasen.
Book by Maccoby, Eleanor E., Jacklin, Carol Nagy
- GenresPsychology
444 pages, Hardcover
First published September 4, 1975
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September 3, 2024
THE LANDMARK 1974 SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH ON SEX DIFFERENCES
Eleanor Emmons Maccoby (born 1917) is a psychologist who was also a professor at Stanford University. She and coauthor Carol Nagy Jacklin wrote in the Preface to this 1974 book, "In this book we have assembled a large body of evidence concerning how the sexes differ, and how they do not differ, in many aspects of psychological functioning... Our objective is to sift the evidence to determine which of the many beliefs about sex differences have a solid basis in fact and which do not. In addition, we discuss the major theories of how psychological sex differentiation comes about." (Pg. vii)
They add, "we have proceeded on the assumption that before we can attempt to understand the 'why' and 'how' of psychological sex differentiation, we must have as accurate and detailed a knowledge as possible concerning the nature of existing differences and the changes these differences undergo at successive ages." (Pg. 1) They further add, "In a sense, this book is dedicated to testing the ... hypothesis that ... assigning cases to groups by sex is no more meaningful, for purposes of understanding the behavior of the subjects, than assigning them at random." (Pg. 4)
The state, "verbal content in a memory task may give some advantage to girls, but it clearly cannot be said that either sex has a superior memory capacity, or a superior set of skills in the storage and retrieval of information, when a variety of content is considered." (Pg. 59) They add, "we found no evidence ... that boys are more oriented toward vision, girls toward hearing... The allegation that girls learn best by rote processes, boys by some more advanced form of reasoning, is clearly not supported by the evidence... Nor have we been able to find evidence for the widely held belief that girls are more skillful at perceiving, learning, and remembering materials that have a 'social' content." (Pg. 61-62)
They observe, "Female superiority on verbal tasks has been one of the more solidly established generalizations in the field of sex differences. Recent research continues to support the generalization to a degree. It is true that whenever a sex difference is found, it is usually girls and women who obtain higher scores, but the two sexes perform very similarly on a number of verbal tasks in a number of sample populations." (Pg. 75)
They admit, "It is well known that men are much more heavily represented than women in the ranks of outstanding creative artists, writers, and scientists. The question is whether this results from a greater male ability... to engage in creative thinking, or whether there is something about women's life situations that reduces the likelihood of their achieving creatively even though a creative style of thought is found among them as often as among men." (Pg. 111)
They note, "boys were more likely to be more active than girls in precisely those situations where aggression may also be observed---namely, during play with other boys. It seems quite possible, then, that aggression and activity may be linked in boys in much the way that parents believe it is, although whether intense activity arises from the arousal of aggressive impulses or vice versa, we do not know... for the present the question must remain open." (Pg. 229)
They summarize, "Sex Differences That Are Fairly Well Established: 1. That girls have greater verbal ability than boys... 2. That boys excel in visual-spatial ability... 3. That boys excel in mathematical ability... 4. That males are more aggressive." (Pg. 351-352)
This comprehensive and well-balanced work is "must reading" for anyone seriously studying psychological sex differences.
Eleanor Emmons Maccoby (born 1917) is a psychologist who was also a professor at Stanford University. She and coauthor Carol Nagy Jacklin wrote in the Preface to this 1974 book, "In this book we have assembled a large body of evidence concerning how the sexes differ, and how they do not differ, in many aspects of psychological functioning... Our objective is to sift the evidence to determine which of the many beliefs about sex differences have a solid basis in fact and which do not. In addition, we discuss the major theories of how psychological sex differentiation comes about." (Pg. vii)
They add, "we have proceeded on the assumption that before we can attempt to understand the 'why' and 'how' of psychological sex differentiation, we must have as accurate and detailed a knowledge as possible concerning the nature of existing differences and the changes these differences undergo at successive ages." (Pg. 1) They further add, "In a sense, this book is dedicated to testing the ... hypothesis that ... assigning cases to groups by sex is no more meaningful, for purposes of understanding the behavior of the subjects, than assigning them at random." (Pg. 4)
The state, "verbal content in a memory task may give some advantage to girls, but it clearly cannot be said that either sex has a superior memory capacity, or a superior set of skills in the storage and retrieval of information, when a variety of content is considered." (Pg. 59) They add, "we found no evidence ... that boys are more oriented toward vision, girls toward hearing... The allegation that girls learn best by rote processes, boys by some more advanced form of reasoning, is clearly not supported by the evidence... Nor have we been able to find evidence for the widely held belief that girls are more skillful at perceiving, learning, and remembering materials that have a 'social' content." (Pg. 61-62)
They observe, "Female superiority on verbal tasks has been one of the more solidly established generalizations in the field of sex differences. Recent research continues to support the generalization to a degree. It is true that whenever a sex difference is found, it is usually girls and women who obtain higher scores, but the two sexes perform very similarly on a number of verbal tasks in a number of sample populations." (Pg. 75)
They admit, "It is well known that men are much more heavily represented than women in the ranks of outstanding creative artists, writers, and scientists. The question is whether this results from a greater male ability... to engage in creative thinking, or whether there is something about women's life situations that reduces the likelihood of their achieving creatively even though a creative style of thought is found among them as often as among men." (Pg. 111)
They note, "boys were more likely to be more active than girls in precisely those situations where aggression may also be observed---namely, during play with other boys. It seems quite possible, then, that aggression and activity may be linked in boys in much the way that parents believe it is, although whether intense activity arises from the arousal of aggressive impulses or vice versa, we do not know... for the present the question must remain open." (Pg. 229)
They summarize, "Sex Differences That Are Fairly Well Established: 1. That girls have greater verbal ability than boys... 2. That boys excel in visual-spatial ability... 3. That boys excel in mathematical ability... 4. That males are more aggressive." (Pg. 351-352)
This comprehensive and well-balanced work is "must reading" for anyone seriously studying psychological sex differences.
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