In the ultimate battle of the sexes, a group of psychologists in Norway set out to answer an age-old (OK, decades-old) question: Do men or women build IKEA furniture faster?
Sure, the task is tedious for everyone (those tools are just so tiny!), but according to a new study in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, constructing those popular pieces (like the MALM Dresser and BEKVAM Stepstool) actually ends faster for some.
To figure out the answer, researchers split 40 men and 40 women into two groups and asked them both to assemble IKEA's kitchen trolly. They also gave half of the participants the full set of instructions and only gave the other half a diagram of the finished product to test how important the directions are in the building process.
The results? Sorry, ladies: It turns out men assembled the furniture faster and more accurately. Male participants built the trolly on average in 22.48 minutes with the instructions verses 23.65 minutes for females. However, both sexes required more time when they didn't have the step-by-step tutorial, with men coming in at 24.8 minutes and women at 28.44.
But if you think that difference is pretty minuscule, you're on the same page as the researchers, who noted the significance (or lack there of) in their report: "Aside from the time spent on instructions, women assembled the furniture nearly as fast as men did, and the sex difference in assembly score could be explained by differences in individual spatial ability."
So technically, men win by just a hair — but doesn't the tortoise win the race? Either way, we'd say everyone is a winner when they finally finish building their brand-new piece of furniture. Wouldn't you?
[via Today]
From: House Beautiful
By Lauren Smith | Elle Decor
To figure out the answer, researchers split 40 men and 40 women into two groups and asked them both to assemble IKEA's kitchen trolly. They also gave half of the participants the full set of instructions and only gave the other half a diagram of the finished product to test how important the directions are in the building process.
The results? Sorry, ladies: It turns out men assembled the furniture faster and more accurately. Male participants built the trolly on average in 22.48 minutes with the instructions verses 23.65 minutes for females. However, both sexes required more time when they didn't have the step-by-step tutorial, with men coming in at 24.8 minutes and women at 28.44.
But if you think that difference is pretty minuscule, you're on the same page as the researchers, who noted the significance (or lack there of) in their report: "Aside from the time spent on instructions, women assembled the furniture nearly as fast as men did, and the sex difference in assembly score could be explained by differences in individual spatial ability."
So technically, men win by just a hair — but doesn't the tortoise win the race? Either way, we'd say everyone is a winner when they finally finish building their brand-new piece of furniture. Wouldn't you?
[via Today]
From: House Beautiful
By Lauren Smith | Elle Decor
