If you read my last post – THE MASCULINE SEQUENCE AND THE GENDERED BRAIN – this post offers additional information , with reference to the female brain.
As I did in my last post, I am going to start with the caution given by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrell in their book, Human Givens, so as not to arouse resistance to the evidence they present. Particularly given the present climate when it comes to expressing any ideas around the subject of gender.
Clearly, all behaviour is a mix of both genetic and environmental influences but – and it is a big but – certain important aspects of male and female behaviours are biologically based. While it is only possible to speak in general terms, because there will always be exceptions, we believe these biological bases and their consequences for male/female relationships need to be acknowledged.
I will list the statements offered by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrell as bullet points, to keep the post as concise as possible:
- From infancy girls outperform boys in their ability to interpret facial expression of emotions, and the difference was found to persist right through childhood and adolescence into adulthood.
- Women tend to perform better than men on tests involving fine motor skills and perceptual speed, in which the subject must rapidly identify matching patterns.
- Women also easily outperform men on tasks involving verbal fluency: when they read a story, a paragraph or a list of unrelated words and they demonstrate better recall.
- More of the female brain is set aside for verbal activity. The right hemisphere, as well as the left hemisphere.
- Women talk to get information and to establish rapport and connection geswith others. They talk about people rather than things. They convey feelings and details are relationship orientated. Who they know and what they know is more interesting to them. They are better at multi- tasking and quick to ask for, and accept, help or directions. Women co-operate.
- Women are, on average, more in touch with their feelings and are generally regarded as being more sensitive, warmer, and, as the current phrase has it, emotionally intelligent.
- The acts of reading the subtleties in chidren’s mood changes, as well as nurturing and comforting them , are in all cultures, better done (on the whole) by mother’s.
NOTES:
If reading this post has sparked an interest in the human brain. I would recommend you start with Human Givens, by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrell.