
The Stroop Effect and Gender Differences
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How does gender affect the speed of naming ink colors on mismatched color words? This task is called the Stroop effect. You show rows of color words printed in the wrong ink to twenty male and twenty female participants. Each person reads the ink colors out loud while ignoring the word meaning. You time each person with a stopwatch. In this experiment, females averaged about 35.7 seconds while males averaged about 46.9 seconds.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that gender will not have an effect on visual selective attention.
Method & Materials
You will need to gather materials, such as markers and poster board. Then, you will take twenty male and twenty female subjects to a quiet place and have them say the colors of the words on the poster board, one by one, while timing them with a stopwatch.
You will need markers, poster board, stencils, and a stopwatch.
Results
Contrary to the hypothesis, gender did have an effect on visual selective attention. The average time of the twenty female subjects was about 35.67 seconds compared to the average time of the twenty male subjects, which was 46.9 seconds.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it tests a common assumption about gender and visual attention.
Also Consider
Variations to consider include testing different age groups or testing different types of visual stimuli.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related video
These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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