Date of Award

Fall 1983

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Abstract

It has been an accepted belief that males and females are different in respect of cognitive development. Concerning the sex differences in cognitive style, it has been thought that females have superiority on verbal tasks, while males excel at quantitative skills. As to the sex differences in achievement motivation, many studies related "fear 'Of success" to female cognitive performance. However, most of the discussion is based on studies of men and women in the United States. Only limited research investigates the problem in other societies. Little is known about whether males and females in other societies will behave in exactly the same way as they do in the American society. In the present study, a cross-cultural approach to sex-related differences .in cognitive development is analyzed in terms of the Chinese society. On one hand, it attempts to establish patterns in the behavior of men and women that can generalize beyond a single culture. On the other hand, it is expected that some variations across societies will be identified when isolate specific conditions that foster particular differences in the behavior of men and women. The major concern in this study is to investigate whether t he sex-related differences in cognitive development actually exist in the Chinese society.

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