Cognitive structure and the use of social space

Abstract

The tendency for many girls to be less proficient in mathematics than boys is accounted for by their anticipated family roles, i.e., by the cultural mandate that they be primarily committed to thegemeinschaft of the family. This encourages them to focus on the practical affairs of everyday life rather than to venture out to the hypothetical. Being tied to thegemeinschaft also means that they stay close to home, making less use of physical space, and therefore remaining inhibited in their spatial conceptualization. The restriction in the use of physical space together with their commitment to thegemeinschaft restricts their social space as well, i.e., helps keep their social relationships on a simple rather than on a complex level, thereby limiting their universalistic relationships in favor of particularistic ones. The three factors—concern with the practical, limited use of physical space, and the emphasis on particularistic relationships—combine to discourage the taste, and perhaps even the capacity, for the abstract thinking which is most needed in mathematics. “I argue that the higher intellectual faculties ... have evolved as an adaptation to the complexities of social living...” —N. K. Humphrey