The stereotype that women can multitask successfully, while men can't, has finally been proven wrong. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Bergen has now proven that there is no major difference between the sexes in the ability to multitask.
The study was published in Harvard Business Review, and the scientists wanted to assess are there real gender differences in multitasking?. For this purpose, they developed a special program (computerized meeting preparation task or CMPT), which was designed to resemble everyday life as much as possible.
66 women and 82 men aged between 18 and 60, it turned out that way in virtual 3D space, which consisted of three rooms: a kitchen, a pantry, and a main room with tables and a projection screen. Each participant had to do so prepare a meeting room by placing the chairs, pencils and drinks in the right place, while at the same time he had to deal with various 'obstacles', such as phone calls that provided them with additional information that they needed to remember for future reference.
The researchers then compared the performance of men and women against a number of variables, including overall accuracy of task completed, total time, total distance traveled in virtual space, tasks completed, and the extent to which they were able to optimize distractions.
The study concluded that "there are no differences between men and women in terms of serial multitasking". However, scientists explained that they cannot rule out the possibility that there are gender differences, but if they are "they are probably very small".
While there is no need for further studies or a study examining concurrent multitasking, the researchers add, "that it is correct to conclude that the stereotype that women are better at multitasking is on very, very shaky ground".
More information:
hbr.org
