Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1987

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major Professor

Patricia A. Beitel

Committee Members

Ralph O'Brien,Joy DeSensi, Mark Hector, Craig Wrisberg

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore an integrated approach to the investigation of gender related individual difference variables and the performance/experience with temporal/spatial tasks. The gender related individual difference variables were: (a) gender identity, Bern Sex Role classification; (b) spatial visualization ability, DAT Space Relation Test score; and (c) degree of lateralization, the log-odds ratio of dot enumeration test scores. The performance/experience variables were: (a) skill level, either skilled (current intercollegiate athlete in temporal/spatial sport) or unskilled (never participated in organized competitive athletics, temporal/spatial or spatial) and (b) performance of the Coincidence-Anticipation Accuracy Microcomputer Diskette, with regard to absolute, constant, and variable error. Participants were 119 college students aged 17-25, 59 males and 60 females. A 2 x 2 MANOVA (Wilks' Lambda, p = .05) was used to investigate the relationships between gender and/or skill level. The Bonferroni multiple comparisons method (p < .008) was used to evaluate all possible pairwise comparisons. Pearson product-moment correlation technique was used to determine the relationships between the dependent measures. The pattern of difference among gender, skill level, and gender identity was computed by a Chi-Square statistic.

The multivariate and univariate results indicated that: (a) skilled and unskilled males had better coincidence anticipation performance than unskilled females, (b) skilled males and skilled females did not differ, (c) degree of lateralization did not differ across gender and/or skill level, (d) unskilled males exhibited the best temporal and/or spatial performance overall, and (e) the unskilled females had the poorest performance overall. With respect to gender identity: (a) unskilled females were categorized mostly as feminine, (b) skilled females had the largest percentage of androgynous subjects, and (c) males had no significant gender identity pattern. Taken together, the major findings provided the strongest support for the theory of socialization. However, specific contributions of nature and nurture were not determined; therefore, it was concluded that an integrated approach continues to be necessary for the investigation of the complex concept of temporal/spatial task performance/experience.

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