Thinking critically about research on sex and gender

The authors first demonstrate that most of the claims about sex and gender are not well supported by research, and then provide readers with constructive critical tools they can apply to this wealth of research to come to realistic, constructive conclusions. All of this is provided in a concise, inexpensive volume by a best-selling trade author and instructor team.

Author Notes

Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D., is a clinical and research psychologist and Lecturer at Harvard University. She graduated from Radcliffe College of Harvard University and has won teaching awards from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations as a Professor at the University of Toronto and from Harvard. She is the author of ten books -- including They Say You're Crazy: How the World's Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who's Normal, Don't Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship, The Myth of Women's Masochism, Lifting a Ton of Feathers: A Woman's Guide to Surviving in the Academic World--and dozens of papers. She was a winner of a Distinguished Career Award and a Christine Ladd-Franklin Award from the Association for Women in Psychology, a Toronto YWCA Women of Distinction Award, an American Psychological Association Eminent Woman Psychologist Award, and a Canadian Association for Women in Science Woman of the Year Award.

Jeremy Caplan, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta. He received his doctorate at Brandeis University in Neuroscience. His research focuses on the behavioral and brain basis of human memory from a variety of approaches including methods of experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience and mathematical modeling. In 2008, Dr. Caplan received the prestigious Alberta Ingenuity Fund New Faculty Award to study the effects of interference on memory.

Preface to First Edition	p. xi
Preface to Second Edition	p. xiii
Preface to Third Edition	p. xv
Chapter 1 Introduction	p. 1
The Cycle of Bias	p. 1
Two Dangerous Assumptions	p. 2
A Whole New Way of Thinking	p. 4
What You Will Learn	p. 5
What Do We Mean by Sex and Gender?	p. 6
Outline of the Text	p. 9
Keeping Sex Differences in Perspective	p. 11
Chapter 2 A Brief Historical Perspective on Sex-Difference Research	p. 13
Whose History Is It, Anyway?	p. 13
The Search for Proof of Women's Inferiority	p. 14
Sociobiology and Evolutionary Psychology: Today's Social Darwinism?	p. 20
Summary of Some Problematic Patterns	p. 22
Chapter 3 Using Scientific Method to Study Sex and Gender	p. 23
Choosing What to Study	p. 24
Determining Exactly What You're Looking For	p. 24
Designing the Research	p. 25
Carrying Out the Study	p. 27
Interpreting the Results	p. 29
Meta-Analysis: Combining Studies	p. 30
Why Study Sex/Gender Differences?	p. 31
Chapter 4 Are Boys Better than Girls at Math?	p. 36
Measuring "Math Reasoning Ability"	p. 38
The Problem of Obtaining a Uniform Sample	p. 39
The Power of Suggestion	p. 40
From Specific to General	p. 41
The Unjustified Claim That Males' Superiority Is Innate	p. 42
A Recent Development	p. 44
Chapter 5 Sex Differences in Spatial Abilities	p. 46
What Are Spatial Abilities?	p. 46
Extent of Sex Differences	p. 48
Building Theories on Shifting Sands	p. 49
Chapter 6 Do Females Have Better Verbal Abilities than Males?	p. 52
What Are Verbal Abilities?	p. 53
Are There Sex Differences in Verbal Abilities?	p. 55
Problems with Test Construction	p. 56
Why Have Some People Believed in Females' Verbal Superiority?	p. 57
Chapter 7 Modern Research About Sex Differences in the Brain	p. 58
Studying the Brain: What Can and Can't We Learn from This Complementary Approach to Sex-Difference Research?	p. 58
How Brain Structure and Function Are Measured	p. 59
Laying Bare the Assumptions Underlying Brain Research About Sex Differences	p. 60
An Example: The Connection Between the Hemispheres of the Brain	p. 63
Chapter 8 Do Hormones Make the Woman-or the Man?	p. 65
What Could "PMS" Be?	p. 67
What Is Postpartum Depression?	p. 70
Is Menopause a Problem?	p. 71
Why It's Hard to Investigate Hormonally Caused Problems	p. 72
Is There a "Male Menopause"?	p. 75
The Choice of Research Question	p. 76
Chapter 9 Sexuality	p. 78
Males as the Standard	p. 78
Prototypes and Stereotypes	p. 79
Are Findings of Difference Universal? Cross-Cultural Comparisons	p. 80
Are Findings of Difference Biologically Based? Comparative Animal Studies	p. 80
Some Notes About Sexual Orientation	p. 81
Homosexuality Called a Disorder	p. 83
The "Causes" of Homosexuality	p. 84
"Gender Identity Disorder"	p. 86
Chapter 10 The Myth of Women's Masochism	p. 87
May's Study	p. 89
A New Look at Females and Masochism	p. 92
Chapter 11 Should Relational Abilities Be Called "Dependency"?	p. 94
Dependency and Emotions	p. 95
Are Females Morally Inferior to Males?	p. 97
Assertiveness	p. 99
A Revealing Pair of Studies	p. 100
Chapter 12 Sex Differences in Aggression	p. 102
Is Males' Greater Aggressiveness Innate?	p. 103
The Research on Sex Differences in Aggression	p. 106
Are Females Aggressive in Different Ways?	p. 108
Some Social and Political Consequences of Assumptions About Aggression	p. 109
Toward a More Enlightened Future	p. 110
Chapter 13 Mother-Blame	p. 111
Is Mother-Blame Either Justified or Helpful?	p. 112
Distortions of Father's Role	p. 115
Why Does Mother-Blaming Occur?	p. 116
Chapter 14 Breaking the Cycle of Bias: Becoming an Informed Judge of Research	p. 119
References	p. 121
Index	p. 137

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Table of Contents