Gender and Perception #1

I love studies about male-female differences. The conclusions often not only make sense based on life-experience, they provide underpinnings for observations about each gender. Some of these interesting differences were included in Allan and Barbara Pease’s book: The Definitive Book of Body Language. Here are a few examples.

1.      Who is more perceptive, males or females? Harvard University psychologists showed short films, with the sound turned off, of a man and woman communicating, and participants were asked to decode what was happening based on facial expressions. The research showed that women read the situation accurately 87 percent of the time, while the men scored only 42 percent accuracy. Female intuition is particularly evident in women who have raised children. For the first few years, the mother relies almost solely on the nonverbal channel to communicate with the child and this is why women are often more perceptive negotiators than men, because they practice reading signals early.

2.      How about evaluating behavior? Studies using Magnetic Resonance Imaging brain scans (MRI) showed that females have between fourteen and sixteen brain areas that help to evaluate others' behavior versus four to six areas in the male brain. This helps to explain how a woman who is attending a dinner party can usually quickly figure out the state of the relationships of other couples at the party.