Sex Differences in Problem-Solving as a Function of Problem Context

Abstract

College students, thirty-four males and thirty-four females, were given a mathematical problem to solve. Half were given a problem with content appropriate to the masculine role and half a problem with content appropriate to the feminine role. The dependent measures were the number of Ss who reached a correct solution, the time it took them to reach it, and how difficult they perceived the problem to be. Sex differences in problem-solving speed (but not accuracy) were observed for the masculine problem but were absent for the feminine problem. Results are accounted for in terms of sex differences in perceived difficulty of the problems. Implications of the findings are discussed.