It seems that everyone has strong opinions about the ways in which females and
males do and don't differ. Television talk show hosts and guests regularly "debate"
(read, that try to out-shout each other), research findings dot the front pages of
newspapers, and the rest of us talk, listen, and argue about the many questions
about sex differences and similarities.

Yet, despite all the heated rhetoric, few people outside of academia are aware of
the way in which psychologists, biologists, sociologists, and researchers from al-
most every other discipline have studied the questions about sex differences and
similarities and the kinds of answers they have provided. In this book, I synthesize
and summarize the enormous research literature that pertains to the ways males
and females differ in their cognitive abilities. The intended audience for this book
is anyone who wants to read a thoughtful analysis of the complex issues involved
in asking and answering multifarious questions. A basic-level background in psy-
chology, biology, and research methods will help readers with some of the more
technical points, but readers without such a background can follow the main
points. Upper division undergraduates and beginning graduate students should
benefit the most from reading this book as they have already addressed some of the
issues in their other courses.

I hope that every reader will take away something of value from this book--a
new idea, a different way of conceptualizing the issues, a more open mind, an ap-
preciation for the immense complexity of the issues involved, a more thoughtful
approach to complicated problems, a framework for interpreting the quality of evi-
dence, an understanding of the way societal values influence the way questions are
posed and the type of answers we get, and the knowledge that there is a reciprocal
relationship among psychological, biological, and societal influences that makes
simple answers to complicated questions simply wrong. This is a long list of de-

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