Sex Differences in Verbal and Spatial Ability among Korean Young Adults

김홍근; 김용숙

doi:10.18205/kpa.2017.22.3.003

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Sex Differences in Verbal and Spatial Ability among Korean Young Adults

The Korean Journal of Woman Psychology / The Korean Journal of Woman Psychology, (P)1229-0726;

2017, v.22 no.3, pp.355-369

https://doi.org/10.18205/kpa.2017.22.3.003

& (2017). Sex Differences in Verbal and Spatial Ability among Korean Young Adults. The Korean Journal of Woman Psychology, 22(3), 355-369, https://doi.org/10.18205/kpa.2017.22.3.003

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether and to what extent Korean young men and women differ in their verbal and spatial ability. To this end, 204 Korean adults (106 men, 98 women) were tested on two verbal tests, Word Fluency and Vocabulary, and two spatial tests, Mental Rotation and Block Design. The height of each participant was also measured to compare the magnitude of sex differences in verbal and spatial ability to that of height. The main results were as follows. First, Korean young women were superior to their male counterparts in both verbal tests. The effect size for Word Fluency was d=-0.27 and that for Vocabulary was d=-0.24, approximately amounting to 1/10 of the effect size for height, d=2.51. Second, Korean young men were superior to their female counterparts in Mental Rotation but equal to them in Block Design. The effect size for Mental Rotation was d=1.35, slightly exceeding 1/2 of the effect size for height. In conclusion, sex differences in verbal ability, probed by Word Fluency or Vocabulary, are relatively small and thus may be of scientific, but not necessarily practical, significance. In contrast, sex differences in spatial ability, probed by Mental Rotation, is relatively large and thus, may be of both scientific and practical significance.

keywords: 성차, 언어능력, 공간능력, 심적회전, sex difference, verbal ability, spatial ability, mental rotation

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Article Contents

Vol.22 No.3

Sex Differences in Verbal and Spatial Ability among Korean Young Adults

Abstract

Reference

The Korean Journal of Woman Psychology