GENDER DIFFERENCES IN SPATIAL ABILITY TAS KS - A QUESTION OF STRATEGY

This study deals with the relationship between the often reported gend er difference (i.e., males outperform females) in spatial ability and the choice of strategy. Two strategies are taken into account: A holis tical strategy in which the stimulus is transformed mentally as a whol e, and an analytical approach which concentrates on the comparison of details of the stimulus (cf. Cooper 1976). Our investigation was carri ed out to test whether males' higher spatial ability scores are due to choosing the superior (holistical) strategy, or the greater effective ness in applying the superior strategy or whether both factors contrib ute to the effect. Data from n = 403 students on the cubes-subscale fr om the IST (Amthauer 1953) were analyzed by means of the mixed-Rasch-m odel (J. Rost 1990). As expected, two latent classes applying differen t strategies (holistical vs. analytical) were identified. Moreover, re sults indicate that male superiority in spatial ability is explained b y the greater effectiveness in applying the superior strategy.