Brain Differences Between Men And Women

The typical stereotypes of communication are that women talk more than men, that is not necessarily true. For example, Tannen states, “...another explanation is that men think women talk to much because they hear women talking in situations where men would not: on the telephone; or in social situations with friends, when they are not discussing topics that men find inherently interesting, or; like the couple at the women’s group, at home alone-in other words, in private speaking” (Cooper and MacDonald 11). Men and women have two different conversational styles, different ways of talking. They also have different ideas of what is important and what is not. For example, Tannen points out that the man thought it wasn’t important that his friend was getting married, but the woman had thought that it was important (Cooper and MacDonald 12).

Gender differences have been recorded by researches from single neurons in the cell to system level processes (Cahill 2006), and certain scientists proposed that sex hormones influence the development of prefrontal cortex, and this is supposed to be the cause of the differences in working memory performance (Duff & Hampson, 2001). This study further investigated the existence and nature of this gender difference. A sample of 497 Monash University psychology undergraduates (385 females and 112 males; ages 18 – 64) were recruited for this study. Working memory performance was tested with online 'spatial working memory ' test, and 2D:4D finger length ratio was used as an indirect measure of sex hormone levels. The results revealed no sex differences in the working memory performance, but variance in 2D:4D ratio – females had a larger ratio than males. Memory reaction time was negatively correlated with 2D:4D ratio, thus, females had a quicker reaction time.

The brain stem or the medulla is the closest to the spinal cord. The brainstem is responsible for most of the human bodily functions. The brain stem is critical for human survival and normal human functions. The brain stem is also responsible for information of pain and touch from the head and neck; it is also responsible for the inputs from the face and the mouth. Reticular formation is a group of neurons, nuclei, that are important for sleep and wakefulness. In reticular formation there is nuclei that are a major source of neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is important for regulating mood and activities.

Differences in brain structure between males and females result in important differences in perceptions, emotional expressions, priorities and behaviors. (*) Relationship traits, problem solving approaches, mathematical abilities, reactions to stress, language, emotions, brain size, pain perception, spatial ability and susceptibility to disorders are just some areas in which men and women react differently because of their differences in brain structure. (*) To some scientists and theorists these many influential biological differences between men and women make gender roles inevitable. (*)

Men and women speak the same language, but there are multiple speculations that women talk differently compared to men. Women are constantly seen as super talkative, while men try to control conversations. Deborah Cameron, a professor of language at Oxford University, wrote an essay titled, “What Language Barrier?” where she discusses the similarities and differences men and women have when they talk. Cameron begins her essay by stating women and men do not communicate differently, she claims, “The idea that men and women ‘speak different languages’ itself has become dogma” (Cameron 268). Cameron believes there are no differences in the way males and females talk and she continues to prove her claim by using examples of the female/male brain, power between sexes, and research. She essentially discusses the biological and social reasons why we talk and how gender does not matter when communicating. She concludes the folk-belief that women talk more than men is only a social prejudice; therefore, it depends on each person whether they talk more or less (Cameron 267-273). I disagree with Cameron, the dogmas that women are more talkative and men are controlling are true because there is a difference in empathy, power, and topics that allow us to become better in different areas when having conversations.

In the book the male brain, the author makes a point that there are many differences between boys and girls ; its all about the brain and hormones that makes the differences. "Hormones can determine what the brain is interested in doing. Their purpose is to help guide social, sexual, mating, parenting, protective and aggressive behaviors (Brizendine)" . Men were born to be different than girls ; ever since a boy is born without the influence and pressure by surrounding, boys can act different than girls naturally. The author of The Make Brain has developed nine topic regarding to the male brain. The nine topic consist of The Boy Brain, The Teen Boy Brain, The Mating Brain, The Brain below the belt, The Daddy Brain,

Communication between genders is easier said than done and sometimes has unintended consequences. A simple misunderstanding on how the other gender communicates can cause bad results. For example, when I listen and talk I do not always have the best eye contact and most the time look away from the person. My girlfriend did not appreciate this because she thought that means I wasn’t listening, but when in fact I was. Her expectation for listening was to have a gridlock stare at each other. Deborah Tannen, the author of “Sex, Lies, and Conversation: Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other?”, has a Doctorate in Linguistics and is an acknowledged leader in the field. I found a lot of

The reason gender effect ways of speaking is because women and men communicate differently. Women are more sympathetic and men tend to be more problem solvers. For example, women wallow in their problems and constantly talk about them, whereas the men find a solution to the problem or leave it alone. According to Deborah Tannen book, You Just Don’t Understand, She mentions that “Trying to solve a problem or fix a trouble focuses on the message level of talk”. (52) It means that solving a problem is an expression of understanding; having women and men more understanding of their use of language will decrease the complaint “You just don’t understand.”

First, Tannen points out that men and women communicate differently. We do not only differ in the way we speak, but why we communicate. Women communicate for intimacy, while men communicate for information. She uses Eleanor Maccoby’s research, a professor from Stanford University, is most influenced by the social structure of peer interaction, which mean that girls tend to play with girls and boys with boys. “I believe these systematic differences in childhood socialization make talk between men and women like cross-cultural communication, heir to all the attraction and pitfalls of that enticing but difficult enterprise. My research on men’s and women’s conversation uncovered patterns similar to those described for children’s group” (Tannen 382). This means that the problem with the communication gap between

arrange things in an organised way. This theory states that on average, females tend to have a brain type that is better at empathising than systemising. This brain type is therefore identified as being the ‘female brain’, whereas the ‘male brain’ has its name as on average, men are better at systemising than empathising. The empathising-systemising theory was later developed into the well-known ‘extreme male brain’ theory.

The personality trait anxiousness seems to have a genetic component, because individuals with that have different biological and behavioral variations of the serotonin-transporter-linked-promotor region (5HTTLPR) genotypes indicate that it’s the cause of differential biological stress reactivity. “Susceptibility to stress may have biological roots, especially in the serotonergic system” (Petersen). Different people becoming anxious and reacting to stress differently because of a genotype shows that there’s a strong nature component. One of the parts of the brain that anxiousness can affect is the amygdala, which signals aggression and fear. “Cognitively changing the meaning of emotional stimuli effects evoked responses in the amygdala and other brain areas” (Mocaiber). So trait-anxious individuals sometimes unconsciously change the meaning of a stimulus to an anxious context. Not only are they succeptible to making stimuli a threat, Mocaiber also claims that they can be “abnormally sensitive to threat-related stimuli.” This makes sense that anxious people see more things as threats and can spot an actual threat very easily.

Other explanations for the variations include a large amount of estrogen hormones in females, which is the primary reason for the differences in the parts of a woman’s brain. According to Bruce Goldman, a science writer for the Stanford Medical School’s Office of Communication and Public Affairs, a woman’s hippocampus, a region of the brain that processes most learning and memorization, is generally bigger than a man’s and functions in a distinctive way. Better learning and memorization skills are especially important when it comes to schooling, which explains why every two men who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2010 were matched by three women achieving the same (Rosin 306). This is not the only variations between the brains of each gender; the corpus callosum, the white matter in the center of the brain that helps the left and right lobe “talk” to each other, is larger in females, thus the reason that womens’ brains unfailingly show stronger communication between hemispheres (Goldman). Activity between these halves are important for speech as well as comprehension. Different sizes of different parts of the brain are part of the reason why women are biologically more capable in certain fields of work than men.

In order to be able to solve some of the problems associated with gender miscommunications, we should distinguish first between the two different types of communications: verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Verbal communication consists of messages expressed by linguistic means such as the use of intonation, the specific words we choose to say, and the way we are saying them. There are differences in females and males usage of language/verbal communication. As we might expect from traditional sex-role stereotypes, girls tend to establish more egalitarian same-sex groups. Girls use friendly groups as a training ground for cooperation. Boys view friendly conversation among their friends as training for verbal aggression. Females are more verbal, use three times more amount of words than males, they are much more descriptive and use more adjectives. Women are less direct in their communication style. As Prof. Tannen showed in one of her research, women are more indirect in answering questions depends on the situation. They answer questions the way they would like to be answered by men, which means more than just a yes/no answer. However, men answer the way they would like to be answered

Studies have also been carried out into whether or not there are differences between male and female brain size and whether this affects how we relate to each other in terms of gender. Simon Baron-Cohen believes that male brains are wired towards systematic understanding and females are wired towards empathy. In addition he says that this is not necessarily always the case but the majority are wired in this way: “Both sexes have their strengths and weaknesses. Neither sex is superior overall.” (Baron-Cohen, S. 2003).

Knowing the differences in the brain begins to give some understanding on how and why females and males learn differently. There are many basic differences in learning. Like stated previously females are better at verbal skills which makes them better at reading and writing and causes them to use words as they learn, and males are better