IPMAT Indore 2019
VA
Reading Comprehension
Easy
The perennial debate over gender differences threatens to remain inconclusive. Stereotypes pertaining to male superiority and female submissiveness could be traced to earlier ages where assigned roles were needed as survival measures. But, can we today see a swing away from these stereotypes, or have they established a stranglehold on our perceptions? In this gendered world, we continue to live with notions that one's gender determines one's skills and preferences, from toys and colours to career choices. So the girl child will be presented with a Barbie doll, while the boy child will receive a Lego set.Does that mean that our brains are different? This myth has been exploded by a British professor of cognitive neuroimaging. Her research attempts to establish how these stereotypes mould our ideas of ourselves. She examines how science has been misinterpreted or misused to ask the wrong questions, instead of challenging the status quo. She urges us to move beyond a binary view of people's brains and instead to see these as highly individualised, profoundly adaptable, and full of unbounded potential. Her conclusive findings establish that no brain differences can be found that are solely gender related. In other words, modern neuroscientists have identified no decisive category-defining differences between the brains of men and women.As a result of these findings we owe it to ourselves to dump the myths and look at ourselves afresh. We need to recognise that the male and female brain debate is a distraction, besides being based on inaccuracies. It is possibly harmful too, because it can be used as a hook to justify saying there is no point in girls doing science because they do not have a science brain; or compelling boys to opt for science because their brains are shaped for that subject. It can also condemn boys for being emotional, as this is seen as a feminine trait. And, most dangerous of all, to proclaim that boys, not girls, are meant to lead.
The research of a British professor of cognitive neuroimaging has succeeded in establishing that
The research of a British professor of cognitive neuroimaging has succeeded in establishing that
Correct Option: 4
- The brains of men and women are alike. - The passage does not claim that the brains of men and women are exactly alike. It states that no decisive category-defining differences have been found, which is different from saying they are alike in every aspect.
- Science needs to challenge the status quo. - While the professor's research challenges existing stereotypes, the primary conclusion is not about the need for science to challenge the status quo but rather about the findings related to brain differences.
- Society must break away from attempts at stereotyping gender issues. - This is an implication of the research, but it is not the primary conclusion of the professor's findings. The research results lead to this suggestion rather than directly establishing it.
- The potential of a human brain is not directly linked to gender. - This is the correct answer. The passage states, "Her conclusive findings establish that no brain differences can be found that are solely gender related," which means the potential of the brain is not directly linked to gender.