Gender Roles, Not Anatomical Sex, Predict Social Cognitive Capacities, Such As Empathy and Perspective-Taking

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

1-1-2016

School

Psychology

Abstract

Sex differences have not been examined thoroughly with regard to cognitive skills of typically-developed adults in both social and non-social domains. Furthermore, studies that do examine the effects of anatomical sex rarely simultaneously examine the possible role of psychological gender role orientation. This gap in the literature exists despite commonly held notions about possible sex differences in perspective-taking, empathy, and causal reasoning. We examined the associations between sex, gender roles, and selfesteem, and aspects of social and non-social cognition (e.g., perspective-taking, empathy, emotional intelligence, social and physical causal reasoning, systemizing) in two college student samples. These indicators of social and non-social cognition were more closely associated with masculine and feminine gender roles than anatomical sex. Undifferentiated individuals (i.e., those with low levels of both masculinity and femininity) displayed deficits in social and non-social cognition. In addition, men with low levels of masculinity showed decreased perspective-taking and increased personal distress. These findings support the idea that the influence of psychological gender roles extends beyond anatomical sex with regard to social cognitive abilities.

Publication Title

Psychology and Neurobiology of Empathy

First Page

187

Last Page

209

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