This study looked at the differences between men and women in their mapmaking. They looked specifically to see how different factors of the person they were directing with the map would affect their mapmaking. They were given a description of the wayfarer based on gender, age, and familiarity with the campus, and those making the maps had ranked themselves according to familiarity with the campus and confidence that their map would get the wayfarer to the destination without difficulty. They were either asked to draw a simple route or a complex route.
The results were fairly unsurprising. Men's maps seemed to be more detailed and helpful, and more often included cardinal values. They were also more confident. They thought this may be because men are stereotypically more associated with maps.
I decided to pick this article because we had just read the one on how blind children navigated. The article did not focus, however, on whether the person asking for directions was foreign or of the same. This seems like a more pressing matter in the world in terms of a lost person in a different country, rather than someone who just wants to find something on a campus community where there are, typically, maps anyway.
-Megan Fajardo
6 comments:
This article can be bad in the wrong hands. For example, men who really thrive on female to male comparisons. But, like the data said, overall both men and women can contribute important ideas to giving directions (women Landmarks, men Specific instructions). Yes, people apparently favor the mens instructions, but I think it only is fair to say that with both men and women working together, our directions can be the best they can be!
This study really make a statement about our society. Stereotypically, it’s the men who are in control of navigation and map reading, giving them more experience with the whole topic of map. However, I wish this study spent some time focusing on which maps helped people reach their destination. I’m curious to know which method of map making is more successful, and if the method changes according to age, gender, or familiarity with the campus.
I did find it interesting that both males and females changed their direction giving styles based on who they were giving directions to. Although that seems quite obvious and makes total sense, it’s a point that I rarely even think about when giving directions. I wonder if that effects whether one uses more cardinal indicators, direction indicators, and land marks. I think it would interesting to do a study on that.
I found myself laughing after reading the results of this study, because I completely fall into the female stereotype of direction giving. I've lived in the same building my whole life, but I'm still more likely to say, "it's across the street from the bagel place," than "it's on 85th and Lex." That being said I find it really interesting that this study managed to actually give statistical evidence for the differences in men and women's ability to give directions. I thought that Carrie's post made an interesting point, that it would be interesting to know which maps were more successful in helping the people get to their directions. It seemed to be implied that the men's overall use of more specific instructions equated a more successful map. I would have been interested to know if female visitors would have had an easier time following a woman's map that provided more landmarks, as opposed to a man's map, however I guess that's a discussion for another study.
I agree with Carrie and Laure. It would be interesting to know which method is more successful.
As in Laura's example, it's easier for me to find "across the street from the bagel place," than "85th and Lex", unless there is like 5 bagel stores around. It is more visual and more practical. And in daily life we don't carry a map with us, and don't pay attention to the street names or building numbers.
It's an interesting article. When I started reading it I laughed and immediately thought about my dad when we were going on vacation somewhere new, and he would always say "wait a minute! Let me get my bearings!" Half the time it would turn into a huge argument because half the family said he was right the other half said he was wrong. I think they should do an experiment on that-why women and men seem to clash so much when it comes to directions. I think, mainly because of how cocky guys are when it comes to any kind of directions. As proved in the study, men were more confident and also people tended to favor their directions over the women. Maybe attitudes affect who we give directions to and whether we are good at it or not.
I thought the article was very interesting, as well as controversial. As much as I would like to believe that women and men are equally capable of giving good directions, I find it funny that the stereotype of men being better with directions can be proven scientifically. I would agree that men are perhaps more confident with giving directions because of the stereotype that they are better at it. I think there are also other stereotypes for things women are better at, that they are more confident about, though I would argue that confidence does not necessarily make someone better at any given task.
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