Gender Differences: Male Thinking
There’s much we still don’t know about how our brains work. But scientists continue to do studies to determine how our brains work and why and we learn more each day. Here are some of the findings from different studies about how a man’s brain works:
This Is His Brain…
The parietal lobe at the top back part of the brain is said to be larger in men, especially the left side. This part of the brain:
- estimates time
- judges speed
- visualizes objects in 3-D (such as catching a football thrown toward you)
- solves math problems
Our direction sense is influenced by this part of the brain, which may indicate why men are usually better at directions.
Men have 4% more brain cells than women, and about 100 grams more of brain tissue. (So men need more brain tissue in order to get the same things done as women?)
Male language is most often just in the dominant hemisphere (usually the left side) which results in their conversation being more detail-oriented and more directly to the point.
In the event of stroke or a brain injury, men who have left-sided damage are less likely to recover as fully as women, with similar injuries, who use both sides of the brain for language.
A man’s brain, in comparison to a woman’s, is relatively quiet. It needs stimulation.
This Is His Brain On Testosterone…
Because of the brain differences, and the extra testosterone, men tend to be higher in:
- independence
- dominance
- spatial and mathematical skills
- rank-related aggression
Men have only four to six areas of the brain to evaluate others’ behavior (where women have between fourteen and sixteen areas) which explains why men find it harder to read facial expressions and body language.
Men find it difficult to interpret the more subtle cues in women’s body language. Research shows that men tend to mistake friendliness and smiling for sexual interest.
Men see the world in more sexual terms than women because they have ten to twenty times more testosterone.
In one study, when asked to think of nothing men’s brains were more active in the more primitive physical activity centers of the brain (cerebellum). Left to themselves, men will think about sex, their golf swing, or their jump shot.
The average man will think about sex as often as once a minute.
Does this offer any clues as to why the men in your life act so strangely sometimes? It explained a few things to me. Do you know of any other brain-related differences between males and females? Share them in the comments.
Today’s Giveaway: a copy of Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
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The book giveaways are open to everyone (USA and elsewhere), even if you win a book on a different day of the workshop.
Tomorrow’s topic – Female Thinking – exactly how does a woman’s brain work?
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10 comments
Rachel Green (8 comments.) on August 1, 2008 at 9:03 am
Fascinating
Robin (1 comments.) on August 1, 2008 at 9:14 am
Well, I’d always heard men needed everything to be bigger…
Ann (1 comments.) on August 1, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Interesting. It’s hard to remember to get in the mindset of the “other” gender when writing (at least for me).
Cats on August 1, 2008 at 12:49 pm
If I remember this correctly, there is also a relation between the level of testosterone and hair growth: high levels of testosterone makes men’s hair fall out quicker – that might be a comfort to balding men.
And men’s brain also have a smaller Corpus callosum – the bundle of nerves which connects the left and right hemisphere of the brain. This adds to the recovery issues you mentioned – women use information of both hemispheres more easily because they are better connected.
I like the part about men’s brains needing stimmulation. It correlates nicely with their generally higher tolerance of dangerous situations and of looking for stimulation through action oriented activities.
Jessica De Milo (2 comments.) on August 1, 2008 at 3:31 pm
The time and space judgement is interesting to me.
My mom dated a guy who said, lovingly of course, that coordination struck women once every ten seconds. I wonder if part of what he was really saying wasn’t that the women around him really were not as able as he was to judge how far they were from the coffee table they whacked their knee on or how fast the dog was really running toward their feet.
Ronda on August 1, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Great insight!
Kaitlin (4 comments.) on August 2, 2008 at 12:09 am
Huh…who knew?
I don’t know what this correlates to, but I’ve noticed that most men have a harder time just sitting still. It’s like their body needs to be in constant motion. Drives me batty sometimes, b/c the men in my family are constantly wanting to do something!
Carol Burnside (1 comments.) on August 2, 2008 at 12:24 am
Great stuff here. I’m finding this whole series fascinating and have subscribed so I don’t miss out on future posts.
The time and space judgment thing is interesting to me because my husband has such quick reflexes. While I’m still gasping/reacting, he’s already caught the falling object in mid-air.
Learn to Write Fiction » Blog Archive » Winner of Day 5 Giveaway Book on August 2, 2008 at 7:15 am
[...] And the lucky winner of the Day 5 Giveaway book, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, is Jessica De Milo! [...]
Margay on August 2, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to post on this yesterday, but I was in the midst of Breaking Dawn fever (still am, actually, just taking a break to catch up on email and such). This is great stuff, though. I am having a blast reading it!