Module 41: Group Differences and the Question of Bias

How and why do the genders differ in mental ability scores?

1. Males and females tend to have the same average intelligence test scores. They differ in some specific abilities

2. Girls are better spellers, more verbally fluency, better at locating objects, better at detecting emotions, and more sensitive to touch, taste, and color

3. Boys outperform girls at spatial ability and related math, though boys and girls hardly differ in math computation. Boys also outnumber girls at the low and high extremes of mental abilities

4. Psychologists debate evolutionary, brain-based, and cultural explanations of such gender differences

Are intelligence tests inappropriately biased? How does stereotype threat affect test-takers performance?

1. There are genetically disposed racial differences in intelligence

2. There are socially influenced racial differences in intelligence

3. There are racial differences in test scores because the tests are inappropriate or biased

Two meanings of bias

Aptitude tests aim to predict how well a test taker will perform in a given situation. So they are necessarily “biased” in the sense that they are sensitive to performance differences caused by cultural experience

By “inappropriately biased”, psychologists mean that a test predicts less accurately for one group than for another, In this sense, most experts consider the major aptitude tests unbiased

Stereotype threat

a self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype