Men’s brain size is about 11% bigger than women’s but no specific brain areas are disproportionately larger in men or women. Brain size is proportional to body size, and the brain difference between sexes is actually smaller than other internal organs, such as the heart, lungs and kidneys. No individual brain region varies by more than about 1% between men and women. And even these small differences are not found consistently across geographically or ethnically diverse populations. Other brain differences are also a product of size, not sex. These include the ratio of gray matter to white matter and the ratio of connections between, versus within, the two hemispheres of the brain. Both of these ratios are larger in people with smaller brains, whether male or female. In other words, sex isn’t a good indicator of what type of brain a person will have. Unfortunately, some men still claim they are superior to women, thinking they are naturally more intelligent.
Recently, researchers conducted a study on the effect of wearing masks on deviant behavior in China. According to this large-scale study co-authored with MIT, wearing masks for health reasons makes people act more morally. It was found that individuals wearing masks were less likely to engage in deviant behavior than those who weren't wearing them which included: breaking parking regulations, running red lights, and cheating for money. At first I thought that a mask might even encourage deviant behavior because those wearing it gain more anonymity, so the result of this study surprised me. However, it seems that wearing a mask increases moral consciousness, as people sacrifice their personal comfort for the collective good. Also, the outcomes of this research shouldn’t be generalized, since it was conducted only in China, so I wonder if the results of such study would be the same in other countries as well. Source: https://scitechdaily.com/wearing-a-mask-can-change-your-behavior/a...
So all these theories about men being better at maths or orientation in space and women having inborn empathy are worthless?
ReplyDeleteThese theories may not be worthless, because just believing that you are good at something can make a big difference.
DeleteMany studies show that boys in school aren’t better at math. However, many more boys want a career related to engineering or math because they believe they are good at it. In terms of orientation in space, it was found out that scores between men and women had the smallest differences in countries with high gender equality – so it’s influenced by culture. And empathy can also be affected by stereotypical beliefs. It's social expectations that affect abilities between the sexes, not differences in their brains.
Sources:
https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/the-myth-of-the-male-math-brain/
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45134809
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-020-01260-8
Congrats on such thorough and well-informed (and referenced) answer to my slightly ironic question! Well done!
ReplyDelete