For centuries, people have debated the differences between men and women. Of course, there are clearly visual differences, but this is not the only reason for the confrontation. Just think how many girls, even in the modern world, are oppressed because of a different social role. Suffice it to recall Muslim countries where women are still required to wear a special suit and a burqa over their face.
The feminist movement is now actively developing and operating. Their truly just cause is condemned and seriously condemned by many. There is a traditional way of life, both in family relationships and in the social aspect. It says that a man is always the leader in a relationship. He is the breadwinner, the woman is the helper, the creative being, the mother in the end.
Feminists are trying to bring a new progressive view of things into society. Indeed, the girl of the twenty-first century is already independent on all fronts. She knows how and can earn even more than her partner. It is difficult for her to forbid doing those things that have been considered masculine for centuries. For example, ladies are already driving cars, playing football, and even mastering plumbing skills.
Girls who have an active life position no longer want to rely on a man. They are interested in building partnerships where their role will not be limited to cleaning the house and raising children. These are the values that feminism brings to the masses.
Why do so many people view such a good cause with negativity? The fact is that in any movement an ultra-division always arises. Ardent feminists practically advocate matriarchy, try to humiliate the dignity of men, and overly actively try to put pressure and dominate. Of course, society more often notices such bright statements and attacks than a calm and purposeful movement towards equality.
And so the question arises, are there any differences between men and women at all? Is it so easy to achieve equality in everything, or are there a number of objective reasons why both will not be able to fully equalize their rights? Of course, there are such things, and this is not just one point. Today we will try to determine how, for the most part, the stronger and weaker sexes differ.
Abilities, or who is smarter
Nobody. It is impossible to compare a man and a woman in terms of intelligence, since each sex is excellent in its own sphere and, accordingly, is superior to the opposite:
- Women have more developed abilities in reading, writing, languages, aesthetics, that is, humanitarian abilities.
- Men have more developed technical abilities in the field of exact sciences.
It is impossible to say what causes this pattern: natural influence or the result of stereotypical upbringing (boys are bought cars and literally forced to tinker with the equipment). But another fact definitely does not depend on upbringing: among men, geniuses and mentally retarded people are more common.
Lecture. Psychology of sexual differences
Neurophysiological differences. Differences in verbal, mathematical, spatial abilities. Differences in play activities, choice of toys and games. Differences in communication, interpersonal relationships and their perception. Differences in attitudes, interests and inclinations. The problem of explaining the nature of differences.
The presence of significant psychological differences between men and women in itself does not raise any doubts. However, empirical data on this matter, despite the huge amount of research, is insufficient and often contradictory.
Neurophysiological differences. The action of sex chromosomes determines not only the formation of primary and secondary sexual characteristics, but also the psychological characteristics of the individual, based on anatomical and hormonal differences. In the sixth week after fertilization, the human embryo develops gonads, or sex glands, which are initially identical in both sexes. If the fetus is male, then already in the third month of intrauterine development, under the influence of one or several genes of the Y chromosome, the gonads begin to differentiate into testes, which begin to secrete the male hormone testosterone. Although testosterone is also present in small concentrations in the female fetus (since it is produced in some quantity in the mother’s body), the content of this hormone in the male fetus increases greatly after the formation of the testes.
As Norman Geschwind (1982) suggests, testosterone influences the rate of prenatal growth of the hemispheres of the developing brain and is responsible for all sorts of differences in brain structure between men and women. High levels of testosterone during fetal development, according to Gershwind, slow down the growth of the left hemisphere in the male fetus compared to the female fetus and contributes to the relatively greater development of the right hemisphere in males. If in the left hemisphere of the developing brain the process of migration of neurons to the places of their final localization slows down, and therefore the establishment of the necessary connections, then such a delay can lead to left-handedness, which, although a rather rare phenomenon, is still much more common in men. If the idea of the inhibitory effect of totestosterone on the development of the left hemisphere is correct, then it allows us to explain all sorts of sex differences in the asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres.
Herbert Lansdell (1962), when he began to study the effects of partial removal of one temporal lobe in patients of both sexes, predicted that damage to the left hemisphere would lead to defects in verbal functions, and to the right - to defects in spatial functions. His prediction was correct for men, but not for women. This unexpected result led Lansdell to speculate that the distribution of functions may be different in male and female brains.
Further research supported this conclusion. J. McGlone (1978) examined 85 right-handed patients in whom a stroke or brain tumor led to damage to the left or right hemisphere. In men, damage to the left hemisphere caused aphasia three times more often than in women and led to a much greater deterioration in verbal abilities, as measured by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (one of the standard tests for assessing IQ).
Although the results did not reveal significant differences depending on gender or side of brain injury, when scores on verbal and nonverbal subtests were compared, dramatic differences emerged. In men, damage to the left hemisphere worsened the results of the verbal test to a greater extent than the nonverbal test, and with damage to the right hemisphere, the opposite relationship was obtained. For women, the side on which the defeat occurred did not matter so much. They showed impairments, but they did not correlate with one hemisphere or the other. Consequently, in men, the specialization of the hemispheres appears to be more pronounced than in women. It is likely that in women verbal and spatial functions are more widely distributed in both hemispheres, while in men they are more strictly distributed - verbal in the left, spatial in the right hemisphere.
In a study of sex differences in EEG indicators used to determine the properties of the nervous system, R.S. Trubnikova found differences in the energy components of the EEG of men and women, which were also found in spontaneous rhythms, but were most clearly manifested in the reaction of imposing a rhythmic light stimulus in the frequency range theta, beta-1 and beta-2. R.S. Trubnikova found that women have higher indicators of the total energy of background high-frequency components, the imposition of relatively high frequencies and the frequency of the alpha rhythm, which is one of the signs of increased emotionality, excitability, activation, and high lability. The EEG of men was distinguished by the presence of low-frequency components in the background curve, which may indicate high dynamics of inhibition and low dynamics of excitation. (Trubnikova R.S. Sex differences in EEG indicators used to determine the properties of the nervous system // Correlation of biological and social in human development / Proceedings of the symposium (Vilnius September 5-7, 1974) Moscow 1974, pp. 138-142)
Intelligence and ability . Psychological research over many years has found that, on average, women are superior to men in verbal abilities and inferior to them in mathematical and spatial abilities. The differences are small and do not necessarily imply a difference in ability between any two members of the sexes. Some men have better verbal abilities than most women, and some women have better math and spatial abilities than many men. However, intelligence quotient (IQ) tests consistently show differences in mean values between the sexes, and these differences are often detected as early as childhood. Girls learn to speak and read earlier than boys and are much less likely to have difficulty learning to read. Among children who are unable to read, there are four times more boys than girls (F. Bloom et al., 1988). E. Maccoby and K. Jacklin critically analyzed and summarized most of the American and Western European studies on gender characteristics of perception, learning, memory, intelligence, cognitive style, motivation, self-awareness, temperament, level of activity and emotionality, sociability, dominance, etc., published before 1973. There were even fewer reliably established facts than was commonly thought. According to Maccoby and Jacklin, it is well established that girls are superior to boys in verbal ability; boys are stronger than girls in visuospatial abilities; Boys have higher math skills; men are more aggressive.
On the contrary, opinions: that girls are “more social” and more suggestible than boys; girls have lower levels of self-esteem; girls cope better with simple, routine tasks, while boys have more complex cognitive processes, the mastery of which involves overcoming previously learned reactions; the male cognitive style is more “analytical” than the female; girls are more influenced by heredity, and boys by environment; girls have a poorly developed need for achievement; girls have more developed auditory perception, and boys have more developed visual perception - seem unfounded...(I.S.Kon 1982).
Communication skills. I.S. Kon notes that the communicative traits and communication style of boys and girls are not exactly the same. This also applies to the level of sociability and the nature of affiliation.
At first glance, boys at all ages are more sociable than girls. From a very early age, they are more active than girls in making contact with other children, starting joint games, etc. A sense of belonging to a peer group and communication with them is much more important for men of all ages than for women.
However, the differences between the sexes in the level of sociability are not so much quantitative as qualitative. Although fussing and power games bring enormous emotional satisfaction to boys, there is usually a spirit of competition in them, and the game often turns into a fight. The content of joint activities and their own success in it mean more to boys than the presence of individual sympathy for other participants in the game. The boy chooses, first of all, an interesting game in which he can express himself; For this reason, he comes into contact, even if he doesn’t particularly like his partners. Male society, like the entire lifestyle, is more objective and instrumental than expressive.
Girls' communication looks more passive, but more friendly and selective. Judging by the data of psychological studies, boys first come into contact with each other and only then, during play and business interaction, do they develop a positive attitude and develop a spiritual attraction to each other. Girls, on the contrary, come into contact mainly with those they like; the content of joint activities is relatively secondary for them. From an early age, girls gravitate towards more intense
, and boys - to
extensive
communication; Boys often play in large groups, while girls play in groups of two or three.
A sociometric longitudinal study (D. Eder and M. Hallinen, 1978) of several school classes (children aged 9 to 12 years) showed that girls’ dyads are more closed to outsiders than boys’ groups, but at the same time more closely connected with the parent family. But boy groups have a stricter hierarchical order, a leadership system, are more autonomous from adults, and often behave antisocially.
Ethological and ethnographic data also indicate this. American psychologist R. Savin-Williams (1980) did not find in the extensive literature on primatology a single example of stable, long-term groups of adolescent females; in males such groups exist everywhere. In primitive society, an important role in the socialization of adolescents and young men is played by the so-called “men’s houses” and age-based unions, which often extend to pre-adolescence (8–12 years). A sense of belonging and emotional attachment to an age group precedes the formation of closer and more individualized relationships, which are often maintained throughout life.
Empathy. There are significant gender differences in the level of empathy
(comprehension of the emotional states of another person by empathizing with him) and self-disclosure. Women, on average, are more emotionally sensitive and receptive than men, and at all ages they are superior to men in the need and ability for self-disclosure and the transfer to others of intimate and personally significant information about themselves and their inner world.
The level of development of social-perceptual abilities in girls is higher than in boys. They have a more developed ability for adequate understanding by establishing connections and relationships between various elements of nonverbal behavior, and a higher adequacy of understanding of relationships and the social status of people involved in nonverbal interaction. According to the results of the study, the cognitive component in the structure of social-perceptual abilities is more developed in young men. They revealed a close connection between the level of development of social-perceptual abilities and the level of development of social intelligence. The process of perceiving and understanding other people is directly related to the rational side of understanding, to the ability to analyze, compare, and highlight what is essential. At the same time, in the process of social cognition, young men often concentrate on a person’s face to obtain information about him and the situation of interaction.
In girls, the affective component in the structure of social-perceptual abilities is more developed than in boys. There is a close relationship between the level of development of social-perceptual abilities and the level of development of empathy. The process of adequate perception and understanding of social objects, in particular another person, in girls is primarily associated with their emotional sphere. Consideration of the influence of the gender factor on the level of development of social-perceptual abilities showed: in feminine individuals the level of development of social-perceptual abilities is higher than in masculine; the differences between androgynous and feminine, androgynous and masculine individuals are not significant.
Interpersonal relationships and their perception. Even J. Piaget drew attention to the fact that boys and girls have different attitudes towards the rules of group play. Boys, with their objective and instrumental thinking, attach more importance to observing general rules, the violation of which always causes conflict among boys. Girls are more tolerant in this regard; personal relationships are more important to them than formal rules; this is reflected in the structure of their moral consciousness: men's reasoning and assessments look more impersonal and harsh than women's. According to V.N. Knyazev (1981), when assessing human qualities, the most significant properties are those manifested in relation to other people, and for men - business qualities related to work.
There is an opinion that the style of thinking is closely related to the characteristics of upbringing. Girls are taught earlier and more consistently to care for others, particularly younger children. This makes them more emotionally responsive and at the same time communicatively vulnerable. People in need of emotional support are much more likely to seek it from women than from men, and women are more sensitive to such requests. Men and women react equally sharply to misfortune that befalls those closest to them - spouses and children, but women notice the troubles of the people around them more often and experience it more strongly than men. This may explain why women are more likely to experience psychological distress. This was usually explained by the increased emotionality of women and their inability to overcome stressful situations, but it is known that in many such situations they turn out to be much stronger than men (A. Chino and D. Funabiki, 1984). Be that as it may, women are much more likely than men to complain of loneliness and misunderstanding, and are twice as likely to experience depression. Moreover, men in a state of depression usually complain about a lack of self-disclosure or subject difficulties - the inability to cry, loss of interest in people, a feeling of social failure and painful somatic experiences, while in women's descriptions of depression the motive of self-dissatisfaction, indecision, lack of support, etc. prevails. (Derlega, 1981).
A similar point of view is also confirmed in the studies of V.N. Semin, who studied gender differences in the content of adolescent activity. He revealed, in particular, that girls both in the city and in the countryside are much more engaged in domestic work than boys. According to the data presented in the article, girls are three times more likely (in % terms) to be involved in caring for indoor flowers, and 1.5 times more likely than boys to be involved in caring for small children and the sick. In their free time, boys prefer more practical, motor activities; in girls, motor activity is much less pronounced. They prefer reading books, newspapers, magazines, collecting, and handicrafts. This difference in the interests of boys and girls is also noted by E.S. Sokolova (Free time for schoolchildren. - M.: Education, - 1969) V.N. Semin also notes that girls are more active in educational activities than boys, but the data presented in the table show that with age there is a tendency towards an increase in activity in educational activities in boys and a decrease in activity in girls (in the 5th grade there are 30 active girls %, boys - 16%; passive girls - 6%, boys - 13.6%. In the 8th grade - active girls 28.3%, boys - 21.8%; passive girls 17.1%, boys - 19.5 %. This trend was overlooked by the author. (Semin V.N. Sexual differences in the content of activity of adolescent schoolchildren. // Questions of personality psychology. Edited by V.N. Selivanov, Ryazan, - 1973, pp. 142 - 147 )
From another point of view, communication style is closely related to the need to maintain the culturally accepted normative canon of masculinity or femininity. Men's style, traditionally focused on maintaining status, obliges one to hide one's weaknesses and emphasize achievements and high aspirations. Feminine style is designed to reduce social distance and establish psychological intimacy with others. This normative attitude forces men to hide traits and problems that appear feminine (for example, shyness), which reduces their overall self-disclosure. (I.S.Kon 1989).
In self-regulation , according to research (Ponomareva et al.), young men have a more developed ability to set and maintain goals, plan their activities and behavior. Compared to girls, they have a greater need for conscious planning of activities; their plans are realistic, hierarchical, they set goals independently. They also more successfully take into account the system of internal and external conditions that are significant for achieving the goal. In the face of changing circumstances, boys can more flexibly than girls change the model of significant conditions both in the current situation and in the promising future. The goal they put forward is, as a rule, adequate to the situation, external and internal conditions, which is a prerequisite for success in achieving it.
The problem of explaining the nature of differences. It is noteworthy that gender differences are considered as a single category, including a wide range of different-level characteristics (from the predominant development of one or another analyzer to self-esteem and susceptibility to environmental influences) without attempts to systemically or at least structurally correlate them.
The different ways of socialization of boys and girls that exist in all human societies, on the one hand, reflect, and on the other hand, create and reproduce psychological gender differences. Moreover, we are talking not just about quantitative differences in the degree of sociability of boys and girls, but about qualitative differences in the structure of their life activities.
The work of the hemispheres
Not only are the right and left hemispheres of all people not equally developed, but there is an additional difference between men and women: women use two hemispheres at once, men use only one. This is why it is more difficult for men to combine analysis and emotions. This also makes women talk faster and more emotionally. But men are better at spatial orientation.
All behavior of men and women depends on the characteristics of the hemispheres:
- Men need time to switch from feelings to rationality and vice versa.
- Women constantly balance between emotions and reason, while men are guided by one or the other.
Adaptation
The ability to adapt is directly related to the characteristics of the nervous system. It is known that all people differ in temperament (type of nervous system), but it is also known that women have a more flexible and less stable psyche (transitions from one emotional state to another occur in a matter of seconds) than men. It is this fact that allows us to talk about better adaptation abilities in women.
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is easy to recognize: it is felt in a person.
Some replace it with self-confidence, arrogance and rudeness. But a self-respecting person will not assert himself at the expense of others or go over their heads. He considers the opinions of others. A self-respecting man takes into account the opinion of his woman, but does not follow her lead. Excessive compliance indicates lack of self-confidence and low self-worth. Such a person tries to please everyone in order to earn love. Alas, this is also felt and attracts unscrupulous individuals.
Perception
Of all types of perception, men have the best developed visual. Women perceive better by ear. Yes, yes, men really love with their eyes, and women love with their ears.
As for color perception, it develops earlier in women. In addition, women can see more shades. Women's perceptions are generally more flexible than men's.
Initiative
Initiative is the ability and desire to lead and suggest.
Many women feel awkward when a man is passive. Like, decide for yourself how to spend your leisure time, what to cook for dinner, what movie to watch. But men also love women’s initiative. The main thing is to find a balance. When one of the partners is constantly passive, mutual dissatisfaction accumulates. The interests of a passive person are always infringed upon, but he remains silent. One day this bomb will explode. Although an active person wins, his partner’s indifference causes annoyance and irritation.
To offer something, you need to be interested in each other. This is the first. Secondly, you need to know yourself. Some people know themselves so poorly that it seems to them that they have no desires. But this does not happen in nature.
Assessment and self-esteem
Women are more likely to suffer from low self-esteem and dissatisfaction with themselves. When it comes to evaluating other people, women evaluate men more adequately than women. This is quite understandable. After all, every woman is a potential rival. If a conflict arises between two women, then the battle will be life and death. It has long been proven that in wrestling women are much more cynical, tougher, more aggressive and calculating than men.
Men are more tolerant and forgiving of women's shortcomings, perhaps because they always consider themselves a little better and stronger. Women in general are more prone to judgment, discussion and condemnation.
Two more patterns are also interesting:
- Men rate women's business qualities lower than they expect. Women rate physical strength lower than men expect.
- But in terms of appearance, women are more lenient towards men, which cannot be said about men’s perception of women’s appearance.
Physical strength
In our country there is a restrictive list of professions for which women are not willing to be hired. For example, a builder. It would seem that a woman can fully understand and understand the complex construction process. The girls work as engineers in production and technical departments. Their responsibilities include creating drawings, conducting examinations, and monitoring all stages of construction.
If she understands all the nuances, then why can’t she become an auxiliary worker? By and large, this cannot be prohibited. On the other hand, no employer will hire a lady for such a position. Let's assume that she is quite developed physically. All the same, the path to the construction site is closed.
Male construction workers perform hard physical work every day. It requires not only knowledge of design and installation of materials, but also enormous strength. Girls objectively cannot cope with such work. Let’s say that when reconstructing railway tracks, it is necessary to lift heavy sleepers and rails.
Men do this in twos or threes. In principle, girls do not want to be burdened so much. If we assume that we need to recruit a team of representatives of the stronger sex, they will need to work five of them to do the same as the guys. For employers, these are unnecessary costs and ineffective distribution of labor.
But, as has been proven and tested by thousands of enterprises, women cope better with monotonous paperwork. Men more often look at document flow and execution of official papers as additional functions in the profession. They tend to forget “papers,” lose them, or fill them out with errors.
Women treat every document with greater responsibility and reverence. They more often understand the importance of little things than the stronger sex. This may be why there are significantly more girls than boys among accountants and office workers.
By the way, if we turn to the topic of painstaking monotonous work, women are ahead of men here too. The fact is that ladies are more attentive, notice insignificant things, and know how to find a mistake.
Communication
Men pay attention to arguments. In communication, they are laconic and unemotional. Women tend to be distracted from the essence of the conversation, using emotions or intonation instead of arguments.
Men are prone to discussions and consideration of different positions. They do not perceive any difference of opinion as a quarrel. For women it’s the opposite. Because of this and the psychological tendency of men to weakly recognize intonations, women’s grievances often arise.
Career versus family
In ancient times, a man was a breadwinner - his function was to protect and provide food for his family, and women were engaged in giving birth and raising children. Since then, times have changed, and in modern society, representatives of the fair sex can choose any profession, build a career and earn money, but manifestations of inner instincts often become a serious problem.
Example : the husband goes to a meeting instead of a children's party. This does not mean that he is not interested in his own children, their affairs and successes; simply, in the hierarchy of his values, professional growth comes first. Men’s greatest fears are usually associated with their career – they perceive unfulfilled ambitions as their own failure in life, so they are ready to do a lot for their sake.
Multitasking
It is impossible to judge this clearly. So, on the one hand, men cannot combine two different things if one requires emotional costs and the other analytical. But on the other hand, the ability to multitask is a mandatory requirement for a modern specialist.
However, psychology notes that women find it easier to multitask. Another question is that it is unlikely that it will be possible to study them equally qualitatively and in depth. And more often we are talking about everyday affairs, which, as a rule, are brought to the point of automation. Women are not so much prone to multitasking as they often have to combine several activities and areas, for example, family and work.
In conclusion, I want to make a reservation that the article was about the average man and woman. Of course, there may be unique exceptions that prove the rules.
Logic2
Surely you have heard about the mysterious female logic. And partly this myth really works. Let's try to objectively analyze the situation using examples.
Women are more prone to invention and fantasy. Judge for yourself, at the first meeting with a potential suitor, most girls begin to try to look into the future, to draw up some kind of action plan for later. Their imagination draws on the chosen one sometimes pros and cons that do not correspond to reality.
He just said that as a child there was a cat in his apartment, and she was already in awe of his touching love for animals. But this guy developed an allergy, or after that “childish” cat he stopped perceiving animals as an acceptable norm.
Did you say I love children? He'll be a great dad. The woman’s imagination has already “gave birth” to three small children. One of them kicks a soccer ball with his dad, the second one is taken to tennis lessons by his caring father. Well, what about your beloved daughter, who will definitely appear in the future? She and her dad are already playing the piano with four hands.
Men don't think like that. It is much easier and more interesting for them to analyze and try to be objective. He, of course, can try to imagine this or that partner as the mother of his children. But he’s unlikely to start picturing potential offspring in pink dresses in his imagination.
Men are more about business. Women are about thoughts. Hence the huge number of clashes due to misunderstandings. Most girls tend to mistakenly believe that a man will definitely understand everything from her hints. She tries this way and that to direct him to make some kind of decision with their help. But the guy doesn’t understand everything. Why?
Men's logic is built on an objective chain of cause-and-effect relationships. He draws conclusions with his mind, not his heart. If you tell him you don't want to talk to him anymore, he'll likely take it straight and stop coming over and talking to him, at least for a while.
What does a girl want at such a moment? Well, she said: “Don’t come near me” with a certain intonation. How did he not understand that he was required, on the contrary, to turn on all his assertiveness and charm in order to win the heart of the princess?
A man really often does not understand the undertones, colors and changes in female impulses. You can say that over time your husband began to adequately understand hints. But this is just a training effect. He made the comparison that at such and such a moment such and such actions were expected of him.
In their circle, guys very often laugh at their significant other. For example, a reason for humor is a sudden expressive departure from a partner. Like, run after me and beg for forgiveness. One of the men turns around and walks off into the sunset. He just knows that the woman's sudden outburst of emotions will soon end.
The other one will decide that he does not want to develop the conflict. He will silently catch up with his partner, fulfilling the ending she had planned.
Thanks to women's logic, many interesting things have come to light. On the other hand, among men there are quite a few celebrities who were characterized by unconventional thinking, strange actions and a certain amount of hysteria.
