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This study assessed differences in gender performance among Kuwaiti male and women on the Stroop Test (Stroop, 1935). Participants were 504 university students, 122 men and 382 women (age M= 21:0, SD= 2.7 yrs). Prior studies have shown that females by and large display differential performance (shorter latencies) from males on the word card, color card, and color word card of the Stroop Test. Results indicate that the Kuwaiti women read faster on the color card than did the males, and especially were faster with intercepting three cards of tests (interaction effect). Gender differences were observed in the color card and color-word card tests but not significantly for the word card test. The results do substantiate the gender difference in Stroop color and interference.
Keywords: gender performance, Stroop interference, color card, university students, interaction effect.
The extensive literature on the Stroop Test (Stroop, 1935) includes many inconsistencies. Although a number of generalizations concerning the Stroop effect are accepted, some studies such as Macleod (1991) yielded gender difference on the interference card, while other studies reported that men and women did not display differential interference. Still other studies reported that women were quicker on the Stroop color-word card test than men were (Sarmany, 1977).
There is a widespread agreement among researchers (Golden, 1974; Sarmany, 1977) that females tend to have shorter latency on the color card, while males and females perform almost equally on the word card.
The differences between men and women in processing body shapes and body weight stimuli, utilizing the Stroop Test to assess the intensity of attitudes, were examined by Ben-Tovim, Walker and Douros (1993) using 30 volunteers (15 men and 15 women). The analysis yielded no significant differences between men and women in latency of naming the color of words which were related to being fat.
On the color-word card (interference card), many researchers reported no significant difference between males and females for latency of naming of color words (Alansari, 1990; Bone & Eysenck, 1972; Naish, 1980; Peretti, 1969; Singh, 1991; Stroop, 1935; Waber, 1976). Several other studies have also reported a significantly shorter latency for women (Dash & Dash, 1987; Golden, 1974; Pati & Dash, 1990; Peretti, 1971), while conversely, significantly shorter latencies for males five times in succession...