Boys' impulsiveness may result in better math ability, say MU researchers

A prospective cohort study of 300 boys and girls has found that boys' greater willingness to risk being wrong may play a role in boys' superior math skills. A press release describing the study is available here, and the study itself is available here. Story excerpt:

'COLUMBIA, Mo. – In a University of Missouri study, girls and boys started grade school with different approaches to solving arithmetic problems, with girls favoring a slow and accurate approach and boys a faster but more error prone approach. Girls' approach gave them an early advantage, but by the end of sixth grade boys had surpassed the girls. The MU study found that boys showed more preference for solving arithmetic problems by reciting an answer from memory, whereas girls were more likely to compute the answer by counting. Understanding these results may help teachers and parents guide students better.

"The observed difference in arithmetic accuracy between the sexes may arise from a the willingness to risk being wrong by answering from memory before one is sure of the correct answer," said Drew Bailey, a recent recipient of a Ph.D. in psychological science from MU. "In our study, we found that boys were more likely to call out answers than girls, even though they were less accurate early in school. Over time, though, this practice at remembering answers may have allowed boys to surpass girls in accuracy."'