Biological substrates of field dependence: Implications of the sex difference.

Abstract

Males consistently show a more field-independent cognitive style than do females. Studies that have related this sex difference to social environmental variables have yielded equivocal results. Evidence that the sex difference in spatial ability reflects a constellation of genetic, endocrinological, and neurological factors is discussed. Since perceptual field dependence is strongly correlated with spatial ability, these biological factors probably figure in that sex difference as well. Data are also reviewed that suggest that (physically) early maturers are field dependent and late maturers are field independent, on the basis of both cognitive and personality measures. Thus, maturational rate may be an important intervening variable in the field dependence construct. Finally, interpretations of field dependence that integrate personality, cognition, and physiology are offered, and the implications for Witkin's differentiation hypothesis are discussed. As psychologists have expanded their investigation of biological mechanisms, it has become apparent that these factors often play a central, if not always obvious, role in behavioral ontogenesis. Studying biological substrates of both mental and physical activity adds new dimensions to the understanding of behavior, but, more importantly, it can substantially modify the interpretation of relationships among behaviors and introduce constraints that existing psychological theories must be able to accommodate. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how biological issues can figure in the analysis of a specific problem in psychological investigation, the reported sex difference in field dependence, and the implications of such an analysis for the psychological theory on which the field dependence construct is based. The consistent sex difference in field dependence has been cited to support the differentiation hypothesis on which the research has been based. It has been argued that this