Men are from Mars, So On and So Forth…
The following are ways in which men and women are wired differently, from Dr. Daniel G. Amen’s book Sex on the Brain (Three Rivers Press, 2007). Not sure how feminist this is, but I found it interesting:
- “With the lower overall brain function, a man needs more stimulation.” Whereas a woman is content to watch a single television program with a relational story line where characters show emotions, men flip through channels for the excitement and the novelty.
- I won’t try to paraphrase this one: “According to University of Liverpool researcher John Manning, the size of your ring fingers and genitals are directly related to how much testosterone you received in the womb; the higher the testosterone level, the longer they are. In fact, looking at the length of ring fingers in comparison to index fingers will give an idea of the size of a man’s penis. If the ring fingers are longer, it means that there were healthy testosterone levels; if they are the same size or smaller, it means that there were lowered levels.”
- Girl infants are more interested in smiling, communicating, people and security; while boy infants are more interested in objects, actions and competition. As testosterone levels increase, men tend to have greater aptitude for sense of direction, visualizing objects in three dimensions (they’re better at playing catch), and mathematics. Without testosterone, the language centers of the brain are more developed, which is why girls are better at language and talk more.
- The reason men like to zone out and women like to talk: “Neuropsychologist Ruben Gur of the University of Pennsylvania used brain scans to show that when a man’s brain is in a resting state, at least 70 percent of his brain is shut down. On the other hand, when women were resting, at least 90 percent of their brain was active, confirming that women are always thinking, thinking, thinking.”
- Men’s brains are generally more active in the more primitive physical activity centers of the brain (cerebellum), while women’s brains are more active in the emotional and bonding centers of the brain (limbic system). “Left to themselves, men will think about sex, their golf swing or their jump shot; women will think about their spouse, children or parents.” An easy way for men to connect to their partners is to initiate conversations about children and parents.
- The part of the brain responsive to sex hormones in men is two and a half times larger than in women. That, coupled with men’s lower brain activity, which causes men to seek out excitement and stimulation, is why they men tend to think about sex more than women.
- “Men are always ready for excitement” because of the lower activity levels in their brain and their higher testosterone levels. But women are always thinking so much “that they need to be soothed, courted and encouraged to be in the mood. They need a method to calm down their brains.”
- Men have less access to the right hemisphere of their brain, which shows the big picture. Because of this, men often don’t know when a problem exists (while driving they may not realize they are lost, and in relationships they may not realize when there is trouble.) Apparently, 75 percent of the time women are the ones who file for divorce or leave a relationship. Men equate admitting that they are lost with admitting failure, which they are also poor at doing.
- Both men and women gossip, but women gossip more. This may be because “men have language exclusively on the left side of the brain, while women have language on both sides.” The most popular sources of gossip for are sport talk shows.
- Men tend to be more impulsive than women because of their lower brain function, especially in the front part of the brain. “They tend to have more affairs and tend to say things without fully thinking it through and often find themselves in hot water.” Women who lie, get caught less. Because they have better access to the right hemisphere, women read social cues better than men. “They notice the small things, like looking away or down or clearing your throat, that are typical in people who are not telling the truth.” Men have a stronger sense of denial, which often prevents them from seeing the truth.
- And last but not least, men often forget important dates, not because they don’t care, but because they think less and act more. When they are thinking, it is primarily about “providing for their families, competing with other men and sex.”
