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Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities

Author : Diane F. Halpern

Publisher : Psychology Press

Page : 439 pages

File Size : 32,87 MB

Release : 2000-02

Category : Psychology

ISBN : 1135681961

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Book Description

In the third edition of her popular text, Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities, Diane Halpern tackles fundamental questions about the meaning of sex differences in cognition and why people are so afraid of the differences. She provides a comprehensive context for understanding the theories and research on this controversial topic. The author employs the psychobiosocial model of cognition to negotiate a cease fire on the nature-nurture wars and offers a more holistic and integrative conceptualization of the forces that make people unique. This new edition reflects the explosion of theories and research in the area over the past several years. New techniques for peering into the human brain have changed the nature of the questions being asked and the kinds of answers that can be expected. There have been surprising new findings on the influence of sex hormones on cognitive abilities across the life span, as well as an increasing number of studies examining how attention paid to category variables such as one's sex, race, or age affects unconscious and automatic cognitive processes. Written in a clear, engaging style, this new edition takes a refreshing look at the science and politics of cognitive sex differences. Although it is a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of scientific theory and research into how, why, when, and to what extent females and males differ in intellectual abilities, it conveys complex ideas and interrelationships among variables in an engrossing and understandable manner, bridging the gap between sensationalized 'pop' literature and highly technical scientific journals. Halpern's thought-provoking perspectives on this controversial topic will be of interest to students and professionals alike. [features used for book mailer] FEATURES: *Includes new information about sex differences and similarities in the brain, the role of sex hormones on cognition (including exciting new work on hormone replacement therapy during menopause), new perspectives from evolutionary psychology, the way stereotypes and other group-based expectations unconsciously and automatically influence thought, the influence of pervasive sex-differentiated child rearing and other sex role effects, and understanding how research is conducted and interpreted. *Takes a cognitive process approach that examines similarities and differences in visuospatial working memory, verbal working memory, long-term acquisition and retrieval, sensation and perception, and other stages in information processing. *Provides a developmental analysis of sex differences and similarities in cognition extending from the early prenatal phase into very old age. *Tackles both political and scientific issues and explains how they influence each other--readers are warned that science is not value-free. *Uses cross-cultural data and warns readers about the limitations on conclusions that have not been assessed in multiple cultures. *Includes many new figures and tables that summarize complex issues and provide section reviews. It is a beautifully written book by a master teacher who really cares about presenting a clear and honest picture of contemporary psychology's most politicized topic.



Gender Differences in Human Cognition

Author : John T. E. Richardson Professor of Psychology in the Department of Human Sciences Brunel University

Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA

Page : 198 pages

File Size : 38,81 MB

Release : 1997-08-12

Category : Psychology

ISBN : 0195354540

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Book Description

This volume in the "Counterpoints Series" summarizes and addresses the validity of research into gender differences. It also questions the ideology behind this research, and its consequences. The work is intended for researchers and students in the field of cognitive psychology and women's studies, and psychologists interested in gender issues.



The Cambridge Handbook of the International Psychology of Women

Author : Fanny M. Cheung

Publisher : Cambridge University Press

Page : 1524 pages

File Size : 19,57 MB

Release : 2020-08-06

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 1108602185

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Book Description

There is a growing knowledge base in understanding the differences and similarities between women and men, as well as the diversities among women and sexualities. Although genetic and biological characteristics define human beings conventionally as women and men, their experiences are contextualized in multiple dimensions in terms of gender, sexuality, class, age, ethnicity, and other social dimensions. Beyond the biological and genetic basis of gender differences, gender intersects with culture and other social locations which affect the socialization and development of women across their life span. This handbook provides a comprehensive and up-to-date resource to understand the intersectionality of gender differences, to dispel myths, and to examine gender-relevant as well as culturally relevant implications and appropriate interventions. Featuring a truly international mix of contributors, and incorporating cross-cultural research and comparative perspectives, this handbook will inform mainstream psychology of the international literature on the psychology of women and gender.



Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health

Author : Institute of Medicine

Publisher : National Academies Press

Page : 287 pages

File Size : 45,72 MB

Release : 2001-07-02

Category : Medical

ISBN : 0309132975

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Book Description

It's obvious why only men develop prostate cancer and why only women get ovarian cancer. But it is not obvious why women are more likely to recover language ability after a stroke than men or why women are more apt to develop autoimmune diseases such as lupus. Sex differences in health throughout the lifespan have been documented. Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health begins to snap the pieces of the puzzle into place so that this knowledge can be used to improve health for both sexes. From behavior and cognition to metabolism and response to chemicals and infectious organisms, this book explores the health impact of sex (being male or female, according to reproductive organs and chromosomes) and gender (one's sense of self as male or female in society). Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health discusses basic biochemical differences in the cells of males and females and health variability between the sexes from conception throughout life. The book identifies key research needs and opportunities and addresses barriers to research. Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health will be important to health policy makers, basic, applied, and clinical researchers, educators, providers, and journalists-while being very accessible to interested lay readers.



Hemispheric Asymmetry

Author : Joseph B. Hellige

Publisher : Harvard University Press

Page : 418 pages

File Size : 17,66 MB

Release : 2001

Category : Medical

ISBN : 9780674005594

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Book Description

Is "right-brain" thought essentially creative, and "left-brain" strictly logical? Joseph B. Hellige argues that this view is far too simplistic. Surveying extensive data in the field of cognitive science, he disentangles scientific facts from popular assumptions about the brain's two hemispheres. In Hemispheric Asymmetry, Hellige explains that the "right brain" and "left brain" are actually components of a much larger cognitive system encompassing cortical and subcortical structures, all of which interact to produce unity of thought and action. He further explores questions of whether hemispheric asymmetry is unique to humans, and how it might have evolved. This book is a valuable overview of hemispheric asymmetry and its evolutionary precedents.



Sex and Cognition

Author : Doreen Kimura

Publisher : MIT Press

Page : 234 pages

File Size : 27,30 MB

Release : 2000-07-24

Category : Psychology

ISBN : 9780262611640

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Book Description

Doreen Kimura provides an intelligible overview of what is known about the neural and hormonal bases of sex differences in behavior, particularly differences in cognitive ability. In this fact-driven book, Doreen Kimura provides an intelligible overview of what is known about the neural and hormonal bases of sex differences in behavior, particularly differences in cognitive ability. Kimura argues that women and men differ not only in physical attributes and reproductive function, but also in how they solve common problems. She offers evidence that the effects of sex hormones on brain organization occur so early in life that, from the start, the environment is acting on differently wired brains in girls and boys. She presents various behavioral, neurological, and endocrinological studies that shed light on the processes giving rise to these sex differences in the brain.



The Female Brain

Author : Louann Brizendine, MD

Publisher : Harmony

Page : 306 pages

File Size : 33,76 MB

Release : 2007-08-07

Category : Science

ISBN : 0767928415

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Book Description

Since Dr. Brizendine wrote The Female Brain ten years ago, the response has been overwhelming. This New York Times bestseller has been translated into more than thirty languages, has sold nearly a million copies between editions, and has most recently inspired a romantic comedy starring Whitney Cummings and Sofia Vergara. And its profound scientific understanding of the nature and experience of the female brain continues to guide women as they pass through life stages, to help men better understand the girls and women in their lives, and to illuminate the delicate emotional machinery of a love relationship. Why are women more verbal than men? Why do women remember details of fights that men can’t remember at all? Why do women tend to form deeper bonds with their female friends than men do with their male counterparts? These and other questions have stumped both sexes throughout the ages. Now, pioneering neuropsychiatrist Louann Brizendine, M.D., brings together the latest findings to show how the unique structure of the female brain determines how women think, what they value, how they communicate, and who they love. While doing research as a medical student at Yale and then as a resident and faculty member at Harvard, Louann Brizendine discovered that almost all of the clinical data in existence on neurology, psychology, and neurobiology focused exclusively on males. In response to the overwhelming need for information on the female mind, Brizendine established the first clinic in the country to study and treat women’s brain function. In The Female Brain, Dr. Brizendine distills all her findings and the latest information from the scientific community in a highly accessible book that educates women about their unique brain/body/behavior. The result: women will come away from this book knowing that they have a lean, mean, communicating machine. Men will develop a serious case of brain envy.



Mind Hacks

Author : Tom Stafford

Publisher : "O'Reilly Media, Inc."

Page : 398 pages

File Size : 13,66 MB

Release : 2004-11-22

Category : Computers

ISBN : 144939096X

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Book Description

The brain is a fearsomely complex information-processing environment--one that often eludes our ability to understand it. At any given time, the brain is collecting, filtering, and analyzing information and, in response, performing countless intricate processes, some of which are automatic, some voluntary, some conscious, and some unconscious.Cognitive neuroscience is one of the ways we have to understand the workings of our minds. It's the study of the brain biology behind our mental functions: a collection of methods--like brain scanning and computational modeling--combined with a way of looking at psychological phenomena and discovering where, why, and how the brain makes them happen.Want to know more? Mind Hacks is a collection of probes into the moment-by-moment works of the brain. Using cognitive neuroscience, these experiments, tricks, and tips related to vision, motor skills, attention, cognition, subliminal perception, and more throw light on how the human brain works. Each hack examines specific operations of the brain. By seeing how the brain responds, we pick up clues about the architecture and design of the brain, learning a little bit more about how the brain is put together.Mind Hacks begins your exploration of the mind with a look inside the brain itself, using hacks such as "Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Turn On and Off Bits of the Brain" and "Tour the Cortex and the Four Lobes." Also among the 100 hacks in this book, you'll find: Release Eye Fixations for Faster Reactions See Movement When All is Still Feel the Presence and Loss of Attention Detect Sounds on the Margins of Certainty Mold Your Body Schema Test Your Handedness See a Person in Moving Lights Make Events Understandable as Cause-and-Effect Boost Memory by Using Context Understand Detail and the Limits of Attention Steven Johnson, author of "Mind Wide Open" writes in his foreword to the book, "These hacks amaze because they reveal the brain's hidden logic; they shed light on the cheats and shortcuts and latent assumptions our brains make about the world." If you want to know more about what's going on in your head, then Mind Hacks is the key--let yourself play with the interface between you and the world.



Brain Gender

Author : Melissa Hines

Publisher : Oxford University Press

Page : 324 pages

File Size : 18,16 MB

Release : 2005-04-14

Category : Medical

ISBN : 0199731004

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Book Description

Do biological factors, such as gonadal hormones, determine our sexual destiny after our genes are in place? Do they make men aggressive, or women nurturing? Do they cause boys and girls to play differently or to have different interests? Do they explain differences in sexual orientation within each sex group? Do they contribute to the preponderance of men in science or women at home? Scientists working from a psychosocial perspective would answer these questions differently than those working from a behavioral neuroscience or neuroendocrinological perspective. This book brings both of these perspectives to bear on the questions, tracing the factors that influence the brain, beginning with testosterone and other hormones during prenatal life, and continuing through changing life situations and experiences that can sculpt the brain and its activity, even in adulthood. This influence has important implications for understanding the social roles of men and women in society, the different educational and emotional issues that confront males and females, the legal rights of those whose sexual orientation or gender identity do not correspond to norms, and even standards of clinical care for people born with physical intersex conditions that make it difficult to classify a person as male or female at birth. This original and accessible book will be of interest to psychologists, neuroscientists, pediatricians, and educators, as well as the general public. It is also suitable for use in graduate and undergraduate courses on the psychology of gender or on hormones and behavior.



The Brain Explained

Author : Daniel Drubach

Publisher : Prentice Hall

Page : 180 pages

File Size : 16,96 MB

Release : 2000

Category : Juvenile Nonfiction

ISBN :

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Book Description

A fascinating read for non-medical layman and allied health field professionals, this unique book on neuroscience goes beyond discussions on the morphology and physiology of the brain by presenting the central nervous system as what it is: not only a group of neurons and lobes, but an extremely complex, integrated system responsible for an extraordinarily wide scope of functions. "Holistic" in approach, it integrates data from the realms of basic sciences, psychology, psychiatry, and neurology - covering a significant amount of updated subject matter plus material rarely found in standard neuroanatomy and neurophysiology texts - such as drug abuse, nutrition, brain plasticity, dreaming, consciousness, and aggression. Presents a witty, conversational and captivating narrative, interjecting discussions of complex concepts with humor, anecdotes, philosophical discussions and clinical case studies. For professionals in such allied health fields as nursing, social work, psychology, and the rehabilitation disciplines, including physical, occupational, recreational and speech and language therapies.