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Battle for the thermostat: Gender and the effect of temperature on cognitive performance

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  • Tom Y Chang
  • Agne Kajackaite

Abstract

This paper studies differences in the effect of temperature on cognitive performance by gender in a large controlled lab experiment (N = 543). We study performance in math, verbal and cognitive reflection tasks and find that the effects of temperature vary significantly across men and women. At higher temperatures, women perform better on a math and verbal task while the reverse effect is observed for men. The increase in female performance in response to higher temperature is significantly larger and more precisely estimated than the corresponding decrease in male performance. In contrast to math and verbal tasks, temperature has no impact on a measure of cognitive reflection for either gender. Our findings suggest that gender mixed workplaces may be able to increase productivity by setting the thermostat higher than current standards.

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  • Tom Y Chang & Agne Kajackaite, 2019. "Battle for the thermostat: Gender and the effect of temperature on cognitive performance," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-10, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0216362
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216362
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    2. Vladimir Otrachshenko & Olga Popova & Nargiza Alimukhamedova, 2024. "Rainfall variability and labor allocation in Uzbekistan: the role of women’s empowerment," Post-Soviet Affairs, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 119-138, March.
    3. Olivier Deschenes, 2023. "Temperature, productivity, and income," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 505-505, February.
    4. Xianglong Sun & Junman Dong, 2022. "Stress Response and Safe Driving Time of Bus Drivers in Hot Weather," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-11, August.
    5. Yuehong Qiu & Kaigong Wei & Lijun Zhu & Dan Wu & Can Jiao, 2021. "The Association of Meteorological Factors with Cognitive Function in Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-14, June.
    6. Krause, Jan S. & Brandt, Gerrit & Schmidt, Ulrich & Schunk, Daniel, 2023. "Don’t sweat it: Ambient temperature does not affect social behavior and perception," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    7. Jegar Pitchforth & Elizabeth Nelson-White & Marc van den Helder & Wouter Oosting, 2020. "The work environment pilot: An experiment to determine the optimal office design for a technology company," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-33, May.
    8. Francesco Cappa & Federica Rosso & Antonio Capaldo, 2020. "Visitor-Sensing: Involving the Crowd in Cultural Heritage Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, February.
    9. Franco, Catalina & Povea, Erika, 2024. "Innocuous Exam Features? The Impact of Answer Placement on High-Stakes Test Performance and College Admissions," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 4/2024, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    10. Sandra G. L. Persiani & Bilge Kobas & Sebastian Clark Koth & Thomas Auer, 2021. "Biometric Data as Real-Time Measure of Physiological Reactions to Environmental Stimuli in the Built Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-40, January.
    11. Elizabeth Sheedy & Le Zhang & Dominik Steffan, 2022. "Scorecards, gateways and rankings: remuneration and conduct in financial services," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(3), pages 3239-3283, September.

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