Sex and network recall accuracy

How does an individual's sex influence their recall of social relations? Extensive research has shown that social networks differ by sex and has attempted to explain these differences either through structural availability or individual preferences. Addressing the limitations of these explanations, we build on an increasing body of research emphasizing the role of cognition in the formation and maintenance of networks to argue that males and females may exhibit different strategies for encoding and recalling social information in memory. Further, because activating sex roles can alter cognitive performance, we propose that differences in recall may only or primarily appear when respondents are made aware of their sex. We explore differences in male and female network memory using a laboratory experiment asking respondents to memorize and recall a novel social network after receiving either a sex prime or a control prime. We find that sex significantly impacts social network recall, however being made aware of one's sex does not. Our results provide evidence that differences in male and female networks may be partly due to sex-based differences in network cognition.