ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on gender differences from a number of theoretical perspectives and to present some compelling experimental evidence to support some of these claims. In tests of general intelligence, gender differences consistently have been observed with respect to specific abilities. Waber offered another approach to why there are gender differences in laterality: The variations are more attributable to the rates at which males and females mature than to the specific gender per se. Clearly, men and women would not show these behavioral role reversals if their hormonal balances were exchanged. Castrating a normal heterosexual male and then giving him doses of the feminine hormones would not make him assume the female role in sexual activity. Levy's female bilateralization argument has received some experimental backing, especially in dichotic listening studies that have employed verbal materials. The clinical research that has utilized PET scans and other related metabolic scanning techniques have revealed some fascinating gender differences in brain organization.
