P1+Extended+Cog+(Psy-social+question+comparison)

 One of the psychological or social questions raised from the cognitive perspective is the gender differences. Many experiments have been carried out by psychologists to measure cognitive abilities, and most of them found no gender gap in terms of overall intelligence. However, there has been some evidence to help explain the differences between males and females within certain types of cognitive functioning.   Two researches done by Collins & Kimura (1997) and Halpern (2000) both suggested that males score better on tests because of the higher spatial ability, whilst females do slightly better at language tasks and that they are better spellers. As well as this, Lubinski & Benbow (1922) found that at the end of high school, only 30% of males spell better than the average female. Females are more verbally fluent, and therefore they are more capable of remembering words and the location of objects (Halpern, 2000). In math grades the average girl typically equals or surpasses the average male (Kimball, 1989). However, males in 20 or 21 countries scored higher in math problem solving (Bronner, 1998; Hedges & Nowell, 1995). A reason for this could also be because their expectations are becoming more alike.  **__b. Compare the cognitive explanation of the question selected in part a) with the explanation offered by one other perspective you have studied for this paper. __****__[10 marks] __**  Gender differences can be explained by biological perspective as well as cognitive perspective and in fact, it is closely linked. It is believed that there are differences in brain and cognitive function between men and women and this is what creates gender differences. In favour of biological explanations, improvements in scanning techniques mean that is now possible to make accurate, quantifiable comparisons between participants in the structure and function of specific brain areas and scanning techniques have revealed a whole series of sex differences in the brain that appear to be related to cognitive and emotional processing. In 2005, using an MRI scanner, Goldstein found that relative to overall brain size, parts of the frontal cortex, which is associated with higher cognitive abilities, were significantly bulkier in females than in males. Moreover, parts of the limbic system, which process emotional responses, are also larger in the female brain. Goldstein also found that parts of the parietal cortex, which is involved in spatial awareness, were larger in male brains. In 1985, Dutch scientists uncovered an area deep within the brain that differed between men and women (Kimura, 1999). This was a part of the hypothalamus (an evolutionary ancient part of the brain involved in drives including hunger and sex), which became known as the sexually dimorphic nucleus of the preoptic area (SDN-POA). The SDN-POA in a man’s brain is, on average, twice the size of that in a woman’s brain. In addition, males are known to have more masculinising actions hormones called testosterone than women (women have more estrogens and progesterone), in which these hormones cause men to have higher percentage of sexual desire than women and they may enhance the aggression in male as well. On the other hand, i n the recent researches of cognitive perspective, there has been evidence of gender differences in the brain. Skrandies, Reik and Kunze (1999) examined brain activity whilst people perform language tasks. Activity on the left side of the brain was to be expected in the Broca region. However, more than half the women tested brain activity was found in both the left and right brain. The results showed that male and female brains tend to differ in ways that can affect language and speech. In addition, women tend to regain more of their lost speech than men when the Broca region is damaged. This is because women are able to compensate with the right side of the brain. In conclusion, the combination of different perspectives is used to understand behaviours in psychology today. Both, cognitive and biological perspectives show differences in males and females. Given that these genders have different hormones and that the some regions of female brain works better in one area than male or vice versa, this already shows that gender differences can be explained from both perspectives.
 * __a. Explain one psychological or social question (for example, aggression, or gender differences) from the cognitive perspective. __** **__[10 marks]__** 