Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher • Hacker News Board

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#21

Post by jokoon » Sat, May 07, 2016, 10:51 AM UTC

I'm a man and I really dislike competitive aspects of society. I mean if I'm playing a game and it's for fun, I'm okay with it, as long as everyone play to play, not play to win.

If I'm literally competing to earn a living, or if it ends up in praising winners and blaming losers, it won't be enjoyable, and I'd rather not play at all. Having humility also means that when you win, you also congratulate losers for playing.

I agree that we need to compete on some aspects, like technology, science, construction methods, and business in general. But competing between individuals brings out the worst in people. And that's where exclusion starts: if you keep slapping people's self esteem by telling them that life and society is a game of winners and losers, you'll end up with less and less people ready to take part in it.

Overall, I sense that men avoid competition much more than women do. Or maybe it's the political climate that does. I don't really know.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#22

Post by reitanqild » Sat, May 07, 2016, 10:57 AM UTC

Protip: some of us can significantly increase our own throughput if we frame tasks like competitions.

I'll add a warning about not overdoing this, as someone who has previously burned out before I am careful not to trick myself too often.

Edit: at least -> out

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#23

Post by rfrey » Sat, May 07, 2016, 11:05 AM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #21

I'm a man and I really dislike competitive aspects of society. I mean if I'm playing a game and it's for fun, I'm okay with it, as long as everyone play to play, not play to win. If I'm literally competing to earn a living, or if it ends up in praising winners and blaming losers, it won't be enjoyable, and I'd rather not play at all. Having humility also means that when you win, you also congratulate losers for playi…

"Overall, I sense that men avoid competition much more than women do."

That's interesting, and seems a bit contrarian. If you felt like elaborating, I'd feel like listening.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#24

Post by mac01021 » Sat, May 07, 2016, 11:05 AM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #20

Zelmor wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What matters is raising and parent models, not gender.

That is very likely, considering how different girls and boys are raised in regards to authority and competition. On reddit’s /r/science several people with degrees in the relevant fields have also speculated that this might be the case. From personal anecdote, I can confirm that guys usually care less about what an authority thinks, and more about how they are in relation to their peers, while girls consider competi…

Any links? I would very much like to see the results of a formal study on this.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#25

Post by Volt » Sat, May 07, 2016, 11:07 AM UTC

eracle wrote: post #14

I think that 80 children is too small. The different results could as been biased that there were different classes, so different (possibly) skill levels of the students.

What sample size would satisfy you?

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#26

Post by rfrey » Sat, May 07, 2016, 11:18 AM UTC

Zelmor wrote: post #10

tp101 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it is a bit too simplistic to conclude that the boys prefer competitive environments more than girls?

What matters is raising and parent models, not gender.

At risk of being patronizing, you're probably being downvoted by parents who figure you don't have kids.

We have spent many years trying to present gender-neutral environments to our children. Yet at age 3 my son completely ignored the giraffe we were trying to point out at the zoo, and would only focus on the irrigation pump. That kind of experience was repeated often with him and my daughters.

One daughter would only build babies out of the meccanno I taught her to use. OK, they were robot babies and that's awesome, but still. This was before school, none of them had daycare, and we never had a TV.

These sorts of stories are repeated ad infinitum among parents, usually in the context of "I can't believe what I used to think..."

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#27

Post by toomanythings2 » Sat, May 07, 2016, 11:21 AM UTC

Impossible. According to the internet, girls are no different than boys.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#28

Post by ttyl0125 » Sat, May 07, 2016, 11:24 AM UTC

A single study with n=80, in a social psych journal, with a trendy soundbite conclusion? Of course it's not a false positive! The fact that the authors cite a paper by Jens Foerster is icing on the cake.

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#29

Post by tfm » Sat, May 07, 2016, 11:26 AM UTC

austinjp wrote: post #12

Zelmor wrote: post #9

"The latest study, in France, involved 80 children, 48 boys and 30 girls" What do i win for spotting errors?

Two who declined to reveal their gender? Two intersex children? Hmm, yeah, seems unlikely! Email the editor, or there may be an errata email address.

Certainly would be a very odd control group!

Journal article just specifies 80 children, of which 48 were boys, so that would be an arithmetic problem at the WSJ. Lucky they don't deal with numbers on a regular basis :-/ Corrections email address: wsjcontact@wsj.com

Re: Told reading tests are a game, boys score higher

#30

Post by dudul » Sat, May 07, 2016, 11:28 AM UTC

toomanythings2 wrote: post #27

Impossible. According to the internet, girls are no different than boys.

Let me fix that for you: Impossible. According to the internet, girls are superior to boys in everything.