Does Gender affects the usage of short term memory?

Introduction: One of the many gender stereotypes is that females have the better
short term memory than males. Through this experiment or study, females will
show that the stereotypes are true and they are capable to retain more information
than a men.

Background research:
While researching previous experiments for information related to short term
memory, Word Memorizing Experiments, Experimental method, proved to be a
useful sources.
andrewd.ces.clemson.edu/courses/cpsc412/fall03/teams/reports/group5.pdf
psychology.about.com/library/Psychology_Experiments/b|-memoryexperiment.htm
http://www.simplypsychology.org/experimental-method.html
Hypothesis: Female have the better short term memory than male.
Experiments: Number of Participants will be the independent variable because
Participants will change the result of this experiment. The dependent variable
tested will be memory in this experiment because each person's memory is
different from another so we cannot change it. In this experiment the participant
groups will consist of 10 male and female from age 10-25 to determine which
gender group has the better short term memory.
This experiments school of thought is cognitive psychology, it studies the
application of how the brain learns.

Procedure Experiment Scripts

The participants will be seated at a desk.
I will say, this exercise will test your memory, you will have 45 seconds to
memorize the list of words you will be given.
Pass out the list of words to each participant's, face down on the desk.
After each participant's has a sheet of paper, I will tell them the participants,

flip the sheet over and begin. Start the stopwatch as they begin.
After 45 seconds, I will say, flip your sheet over
Collect the sheet and handout the blank sheet of paper.
I will say, you will have 2 minutes to write down as many words as you can
remember.
I will tell them to flip the paper over when the time is up and collect them.

Research words
Nine
Swap

Cell

Ring

Lust

Plugs

Lamp

Apple

Table

Sway

Army

Bank

Fire

Hold

Worm

Paper

Students Locker

Desk

Bell

Volunteer (males and

females)
Age- (10-25)

Volunteer 1
Volunteer 2
Volunteer 3
Volunteer 4
Volunteer 5
Total

Male
Age- (10-25)
25 words

Female
Age-( 10-25)
25 words

8
9
9
9
8
43

13
10
6
12
15
56

Analyzing Data: We added up the total number of words correct for the male
which was 43 correct out of 20. Then we divided it 5 (number of male
participants). For an average of 8.6 words correct.
Then we added up the total number of words correct for the female which was 56.
Then we divided the total by 5 (number of female participants) and got an average

of 11.2 correct.
Mean for the male- number of words they got right
Number of male
= 43 = 8.6
5
Mean for the female= Number of words they got right
Number of female
56 = 11.2
5
Conclusion
Since my experiment generated results for me to draw a conclusion from, I
consider the experiment to be a success. Based on the results that I gathered from
the experiment, I am able to conclude that my hypothesis was correct. Being
that none of our male subjects were able to compete with our female subjects in
the amount of questions they got correct, suggests that females definitely have
better short term memory than males. Therefore, it would seem that gender does
play a role in the usage of short term memory.