QuoteMost people are intrigued by the thought processes of the opposite sex. Despite rumors to the contrary, men and women are from the same planet. However, there are many differences between the brains of men and women. I have listed nine of them below. There is bound to be some respectful discourse about this topic, so please feel free to comment or provide alternative points of view below.

1.   Brain size: The male brain is typically about ten percent larger than the female brain. Although the extra mass does give males more processing power, this doesn't make men more intelligent. Rather, science believes the reason for the increased brain mass is to accommodate the bigger body mass and muscle groups of the male (human).

2.   Brain hemispheres: Many men are sharply left-brain dominant, while women tend to be more evenly balanced between left and right-brain processing. Women are therefore  thought to be slightly more intuitive, and sometimes better communicators. Men are often less socially adept, and are more task-oriented thinkers than females.

3.   Relationships: Women are purported to have better communication skills and emotional intelligence than men. Women tend to be group-oriented, and apt to seek solutions by talking through issues. Men can have trouble picking up on emotional cues unless they're clearly verbalized – making for tricky communications between the sexes.

4.   Mathematical skills: The inferior-parietal lobule, which controls numerical brain function, is larger in males than in females. On standardized tests, men often score higher on mathematical tests than women.

5.   Stress: When faced with stressful situations, men usually employ 'fight or flight' tactics, while women use a 'tend or befriend' response that is rooted in their natural instincts for caring for their children and establishing strong group bonds.

6.   Language: Women often excel at language-based tasks for two reasons: two brain areas that deal with language are larger in females, and females process language in both hemispheres while males favor a single brain half.

7.   Emotions: Since women tend to have a larger deep limbic system then men, they're more in touch with their feelings and are better at expressing their emotions. This makes women better at connecting with others, but unfortunately also more prone to different types of depression.

8.   Spatial abilities: The parietal region is thicker in the female brain, making it harder for them to mentally rotate objects – an important spatial skill. Women often report difficulty with spatial tasks, both on tests and in real life. Want to test this theory with a loved one? Play HAPPYneuron's visual-spatial game Points of View and test each others ability.

9.   Susceptibility to brain function disorders: Men are more likely to be dyslexic or have other language disabilities, since they're more often left-brain dominant. Males are also more prone to autism, ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome, while women are more susceptible to mood disorders like anxiety and depression.

http://www.brainfitnessforlife.com/brain-anatomy-and-imaging/9-differences-between-the-male-and-female-brain/

1. Interesting. Didn't know that.

2. I use both halves in my job and can usually flip between the two sides with practice. Right now I couldn't draw something to save my life, but I remember being pretty good at it as a teenager. I could probably pick it up again if I only had the time.

3. I'm communicationally inept. Yes I know that's not a word. I think that was the point.

4. I've always been good at math. It's my favorite subject. However, I believe I read a report a little while ago that said this statement had been invalidated. People seem to view math as a logical subject, but it's not pure logic. It demands a lot of creativity too.

5. I don't know where I fit on this one. When I'm in a stressful situation that demands action, I stay level headed better than most to complete that action. Then I break down in tears later.

6. My current field demands that I learn new languages almost on a yearly basis while still being a male dominated field. They're written languages and not spoken, but I've learned several spoken languages too. It's not really that much of a stretch from a written language to a spoken language. So I don't think this one is really valid either.

7. Don't think this one is true either. It might be more common for women to express emotions, but I think that's a societal thing, not really a body chemistry thing. My grandfather is more emotional than the average woman. He'd be on the exception side as far as openly being that way, but there's a societal thing that pretty much says men don't show emotions, so they're taught not to growing up through the behavior of their fathers. As tough as my father is, I have seen him cry twice in my life when he thought nobody was looking.

8. I have seen this in family members and friends, but my mother has no problem with spacial perceptions.

9. I have no experience with that, but I doubt that women are more susceptible to depression. Life beats anybody down enough and they're going to fall into a state of depression. It might take more for the average man because anger is kind of bred in them and it seems to be pretty effective at thrwarting it, but it can still happen.

So, men are robots, and women are humans? 

I personally feel from my own experience that these are all over generalizations. I personally know a lot of women who are good at math and bad at giving off emotional queues. This kind of stuff to me is like "the bell curve" that tried to prove tHat blacks are naturally dumber. I have a black woman boss who majored in math in college, what does that make her? This is another way to keep female oppression  simply because men want to go out every day and club things to death and bring them home for the little lady to cook up. The caveman argument

Quote from: DianaP on December 26, 2012, 11:37:36 AM
So, men are robots, and women are humans? 

Or...men are computers and women are emotional train wrecks waiting to happen?

Like any other living organism, we, as humans are the result of thousands of years of evolutionary determination.

In our case, men have been raised to fight, while women have been raised to breed and care for wounded men. That's why so many men are overly confrontational, aggressive and physically constructed for example. Women seems to have largely lost their tendency toward upper body strength. Though what advantage that infers is debatable.

What is quite amazing is that, the sexual and gender identity variants seem to have persisted.

Now that our glorious leaders have found high tech toys with which to throw their weight around, they don't need us nearly as much. Hopefully we can eventually figure that out and stop fighting with each other. Hopefully!

  I'm dyslexic, I get confused on which side of the brain is which and how it is wired from a 'normal' brain!  SAW=WAS

  Joelene

Hm... Does this mean that HRT can affect math skills and spacial abilities, then?

Quote from: Joelene9 on December 26, 2012, 09:38:23 PM
  I'm dyslexic, I get confused on which side of the brain is which and how it is wired from a 'normal' brain!  SAW=WAS

  Joelene

With respect to the writer of the list in the op, I don't think you should put a lot of value as such onto #9 or the others for that matter.

Dyslexia is often said to be associated with a number of problems, not least, transgender. I'm trying to find a decent link to reference, but I believe it was mentioned in Cogiati. But the association would not be necessarily emphasised because it isn't constant, it is associated with children and it may be unwise to tell children that the first sign of madness is hair on the palms of their hands if you see what I mean.

You'll probably find that nurture is responsible for many differences in the brain between the sexes. Experience and skills development actively change the structure of the brain. Scans of pianists' and taxi drivers' brains show that the brain is not a static structure, but a very dynamic one, one that can change and adapt to new environments.

Quote from: spacial on December 27, 2012, 06:30:47 AM
With respect to the writer of the list in the op, I don't think you should put a lot of value as such onto #9 or the others for that matter.

Dyslexia is often said to be associated with a number of problems, not least, transgender. I'm trying to find a decent link to reference, but I believe it was mentioned in Cogiati. But the association would not be necessarily emphasised because it isn't constant, it is associated with children and it may be unwise to tell children that the first sign of madness is hair on the palms of their hands if you see what I mean.

I meant that as a comic relief.  Studies shown that most dyslexics are male.  And the brains of dyslexics are wired differently even between the brain hemispheres.  Brains usually change with age.  My sister had dyslexic tendencies when young, but morphed into ADHD when she got older.  She's a retired high school teacher, she taught American Sign Language and tutored the ADHD.  She likes the usually male activities, but she has a great deal of femininity.  Go figure.

  Joelene

Joelene.

I fully understand and I'm sure most of us are taking this lightheartedly.

Just hate to think that dyslexia could ever be treated as a yea/nae indicator of anyhting other than bud seplleng.

Quote from: EmSchuma on December 26, 2012, 09:44:20 PM
Hm... Does this mean that HRT can affect math skills and spacial abilities, then?

I doubt it.  I still have what I had, but the brain clutter caused by the dysphoria is missing and I can do those things quicker because of it.  Anything that would cause such clutter to disappear and not affect the math and spacial abilities you already have will actually enhance them because of the lost distractions. 

  Joelene

Quote from: Joelene9 on December 27, 2012, 07:39:02 AM
  I doubt it.  I still have what I had, but the brain clutter caused by the dysphoria is missing and I can do those things quicker because of it.  Anything that would cause such clutter to disappear and not affect the math and spacial abilities you already have will actually enhance them because of the lost distractions. 

  Joelene

That makes sense to me!  After thinking about it for a few minutes,  fewer distractions should help with everything and not just math.

You could also try these test just for the sake of it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/interactives/personality/brain_sex/brainquiz.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml

A lot of it though has been disproved as there are women who excel at tasks that were supposedly male brain oriented while a lot of men excel at tasks which are supposedly female oriented

Quote from: spacial on December 27, 2012, 07:28:18 AM
Joelene.

I fully understand and I'm sure most of us are taking this lightheartedly.

Just hate to think that dyslexia could ever be treated as a yea/nae indicator of anyhting other than bud seplleng.

I had to treat myself while in school.  It was not known back in the 1960's.  The first thing I got right was the spelling in elementary school then the reading, but the phonics I figured out later.  But some of the number or alphanumeric combinations I do get wrong to this day.  It was my Home Room/Astronomy teacher/counselor who discovered my condition in my senior year and helped me through my senior year. 

  Joelene

Quote from: Joelene9 on December 27, 2012, 07:39:02 AM
  I doubt it.  I still have what I had, but the brain clutter caused by the dysphoria is missing and I can do those things quicker because of it.  Anything that would cause such clutter to disappear and not affect the math and spacial abilities you already have will actually enhance them because of the lost distractions. 

So HRT does affect your math abilities, just in a good way? 

Quote from: Alexia6 on December 27, 2012, 07:52:31 AM
You could also try these test just for the sake of it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/interactives/personality/brain_sex/brainquiz.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sex/add_user.shtml

A lot of it though has been disproved as there are women who excel at tasks that were supposedly male brain oriented while a lot of men excel at tasks which are supposedly female oriented

So much variation. This one said female for me, but the one I did on another thread said it had no idea what I was lol. It's all just fun and games until someone believes it.

Quote from: DianaP on December 27, 2012, 09:52:40 AM
So HRT does affect your math abilities, just in a good way? 

  Perhaps when you become more comfortable it makes those abilities 'sexier'?   I dunno - with all the geeks on here, admittedly myself included, someone's bound to agree with me - anything to help find the 'formula' for love!  A smart, geeky girl who's not ashamed of it can be wildly sexy to me!!

Wow. That BBC brain sex quiz is quite comprehensive. I scored right on the zero mark between male and female, which doesn't surprise me that much. I was a bit surprised that it said I'm more attracted to masculine facial traits. Hmm.