an old snippet

I found this in an old memo system I used to use on my computer. They are notes I took after reading a pair of speeches given by Steve Pinker and Liz Spelke after the notorious statement made by the former Harvard president, Larry Summers. In re-reading I don't recall what some of the comments refer to (e.g. "Genetic Boys"), but in general I believe I simply jotted down their points of argument and some mention of the data supporting them.

Six differences that relate to under-representation of women in the sciences and engineering - according to Steve Pinker:

1) Priorities in life
- family vs. status
- work hours
2) Interest in people v. things
3) Willingness to take risks
4) 3-D mental transformations
- mental rotation
- spatial perception
- spatial visualization
5) Mathematical reasoning
6) Variance within each sex

The question is are any of these innate?

1) There are possible biological mechanisms
2) Some of these appear to be universal, or near-universal, across different cultures
- Could be a result of size difference - women always placed in certain roles because they are smaller and considered therefore the "weaker" sex
3) Stability over time
4) Similar differences can be seen in other species (polygynous)
5) Emerge in childhood
6) Genetic boys
7) Lack of differential treatment by parents & teachers
8) correlation of prenatal sex hormones with certain behaviors
9) Reports of correlation between levels of circulating sex hormones and certain aptitudes
10) Imprinted X chromosomes


Liz Spelke:
"I'm saying that when you add up all the things that men are good at, and all the things that women are good at, there is no overall advantage for men that would put them at the top of the fields of math and science."
(recasting the argument.)
She disagrees with the idea that women are born more interested in people and men are born more interested in things. In other words, they disagree on what the research is actually showing us.
Five "core" systems that are the foundation for mathematical reasoning:
1) Representation of small, exact numbers of objects (~ 5 months)
2) Discriminating approximate and large orders of magnitude (~5 months)
3) Natural number concepts (verbal counting) (~2 1/2-4 years)
4) Geometry
5) Landmarks
Sex difference emerge later in life, making the distinction between social and genetic sources murky.
Different problem solving strategies
- Boys tend to rely on geometry and girls tend to rely on landmarks
- For 3D rotations, boys tend to use holistic rotation vs. Girls who do feature by feature comparison
- Boys tend to employ ven diagram-like spatial reasoning vs. girls who tend to plug in formulas
Spelke claims that girls and boys get the same grades in math classes at the college level.
The SAT-M underpredicts the success of women in math.
Spelke also claims, and cites evidence, that parents really do perceive their children differently depending on the sex and independent of reality.
Under-representation of women occurs as a result of:
1) Biased perceptions of men and women
2) Men likely see that they have better odds than women (?)
3) Discouragement from math & science early on
4) Lack of female mentors snowball effect