Who Listens Better? Boys or Girls?
By: Tailynn Lawyer
Purpose Statement
The purpose of this experiment is to see which gender is better at following instructions. I became interested in this experiment, because I would like to be a teacher and this would help me.The information gained from this experiment will help others by making sure when a teacher is having kids follow instructions he/she knows which gender needs to be watched more.
Research
Selective auditory attention or selective hearing is a type of selective attention and involves the auditory system of the nervous system. Selective hearing is based on if you have the capability of blocking out noises and focusing on one noise in a loud room or place. Bottle-necking means that information cannot be processed simultaneously so only some sensory information gets through the “bottleneck” and is processed. An example of this is when your in a loud classroom and your focusing your attention on one person while around you everyone is talking and being loud. Selective Hearing is not just hearing only what you want to hear it’s also taking bits and pieces of what they said and interpreting something different.
Male brains make nearly seven times more gray matter for activity while female brains make nearly ten times more white matter. Gray matter is information- and action-processing centers in specific spots in a specific area of the brain. This can translate to a kind of tunnel vision when they are doing something. Once they are into something it’s hard to get their attention. White matter is the thing that connects the brain’s gray matter and other processing centers with one another. This found brain-processing difference is probably one reason you may have noticed that girls tend to more quickly transition between tasks than boys do. This is why most adult females are great multi-taskers.
Hypothesis
My hypothesis is girls will be better at following instructions then boys. I base my hypothesis on the research I found.
Materials
A minimum 6 male and 6 female participants, of the same age
Stop watch
An assortment of props or objects (depends on your tasks)
List of tasks
- Data sheet
Varibles
IV= Gender
DV=How they follow instructions
- CV=Age, time they get, and list of tasks
Procedure
Get one girl or boy
Give her/him the task paper.
Observe if they listen to your tasks.
Mark down with tally marks when they don't listen to you for your data (girls and boys).
Repeat these #’s with however boys/girls your testing.
Results and Graph
Conclusion
My hypothesis was girls will be better at following instructions then boys. The results indicate that this hypothesis should be considered correct. Based on the results of this experiment watch guys more closely than girls when you give them instructions. If I were to conduct this science fair project again I would give better tasks and test more people.
Acknowledgments
Girls
Glenda
Kalin
Erica W.
Erica B.
Kaylee
Madison
Boys
Ethan
Dominic
Samuel
Tyler
Austin
Hunter
Bibliography
"Brain Differences Between Genders." Psychology Today. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
"Robert Rust Sermon on Selective Hearing." Http://www.sermoncentral.com. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
"Selective Auditory Attention." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.