Gender Differences: Are We Really THAT Different?
Gender psychology has always been an incredibly intriguing field of study to me-there’s something so endearing about learning the keystone differences in males and females. Now, I would never go as far to say one gender is better than the other! However, I hold a firm belief that we should appreciate the unique perspectives or distinct abilities that are rooted in our opposing gender.
A vast portion of the gender differences revealed are due to subtle reinforces given by adults, not necessarily genetics. Researcher Beverly Fagot observed 12 to 16 month old children and, contrary to popular belief that males are more aggressive, found that there was no difference in aggressiveness. The surprising finding was that the preschool teacher responded more to the more aggressive boys than the less aggressive boys; likewise, she responded more to the talkative girls than the less talkative girls. Only when Fagot observed these same children a year later that she notice clear gender differences-the girls were now more talkative and the boys trained themselves to be more aggressive. This clearly shows the formation of gender roles in our society, through the usage of rewards and imitating. These young children figured out that the reward was to gain the teacher’s attention and to do so, the boys had to be more aggressive and the girls had to be more talkative. Interesting, ain’t it?
A similar study showed how parental influences affected the performance of their children in a math class. Janis Jacobs and Jacquelynne Eccles found that parents of seventh and ninth graders often praised their sons with sayings like: “You’re a natural math whiz, Johnny!” and girls received comments like: “Boy, you really worked hard in math, Janey, and it shows!” These children clearly understood what their parents were saying: when boys excelled, it’s because they have natural talent and when girls do well, it’s because they worked hard. Although the parents weren’t intending to install these stereotypes, they were very much affecting the performance of their children.
Below are a few more interesting fundamental psychological differences, according to neuroscientific research:
1) Decisiveness: Men change their minds 2-3 times more frequently than women do. Women take a much longer time to make a decision however, they normally stick to it once it’s made (I’m actually extremely indecisive so I don’t qualify for this haha).
2) IQ Levels: Sorry men, since IQ tests were invented, the women who have taken it have scored higher on average in comparison to men.
3) Generosity: Men are more likely to help than woman.
4) Reading emotional clues: Females are better at reading even the smallest facial and verbal emotional expressions. Some researchers claim that men only know if something’s wrong if they see actual tears. This is why women have to cry four times more than men do, to signal distress! (Ahh now we know why women are such cry babies…myself included).
5) Sex: Some researchers suggest that a male’s libido isn’t necessarily higher than a woman’s, both genders might even have the same sex drive. Men are just known to be more verbally expressive about sex because the male sperm to female egg ratio is extremely disproportionate in favor of males. Therefore, females are more naturally selective in expressing their sexual desires.
With researchers claiming gender roles to be developed by environment rather than genetics, do you think males and females (aside from the physical differences) are really THAT different? I’d love to hear!
Xoxo,
Chrissy
http://www.shavemagazine.com/women/10-Psychological-Differences-Between-Men-and-Women
http://www.tastyhuman.com/10-interesting-facts-about-gender-psychology/
http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/26703.html
http://linguistics-research-digest.blogspot.com/2011/12/when-how-and-why-do-gender-differences.html
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