I have noticed in my MA in E-Learning class that female students have different perceptions about the new technologies. In my view they are attracted largely to the communications value of them whereas male students tend to view computer technologies like shovels (that is tools for doing things with). Is this heresy?
Here is one possible explanation and you can tell me if you agree. A study by Stephen Camarata and Richard Woodcock (Vanderbilt University) claims that a woman’s brain processes, manipulates and displays information far faster than a male’s. The study may shock feminists but will come as no surprise to educationists who increasingly see, that in learning capacity at least, women clearly hold a mental edge.
Some scientists believe that hormones like oestrogen and testosterone play a huge part in deciding how our brains are structured. Males and females therefore think in decidedly different ways. Processing of information is governed by an area of the brain called the ‘Hippocampus’ while language comprehension takes place in the ‘Parietal lobes’. Further research may be needed to see if there is any increased thickening or myelinisation in these sectors of the female brain. Geneticists are convinced though that men and women differ in their mental outlook particularly in relation to learning.
Other possible explanations include an evolutionary based need by females to process information quickly in order to take on more responsibility at an earlier age. Males with greater physical bulk could possibly get by on broad knowledge alone while using their superior verbal skills to attract a mate (a phenomenon known as a Lek).
Although the research points to overall equality between the sexes, in terms of general intelligence, feminists may be perplexed to learn that in a number of key elements at least women are in fact superior!
Here is one possible explanation and you can tell me if you agree. A study by Stephen Camarata and Richard Woodcock (Vanderbilt University) claims that a woman’s brain processes, manipulates and displays information far faster than a male’s. The study may shock feminists but will come as no surprise to educationists who increasingly see, that in learning capacity at least, women clearly hold a mental edge.
Some scientists believe that hormones like oestrogen and testosterone play a huge part in deciding how our brains are structured. Males and females therefore think in decidedly different ways. Processing of information is governed by an area of the brain called the ‘Hippocampus’ while language comprehension takes place in the ‘Parietal lobes’. Further research may be needed to see if there is any increased thickening or myelinisation in these sectors of the female brain. Geneticists are convinced though that men and women differ in their mental outlook particularly in relation to learning.
Other possible explanations include an evolutionary based need by females to process information quickly in order to take on more responsibility at an earlier age. Males with greater physical bulk could possibly get by on broad knowledge alone while using their superior verbal skills to attract a mate (a phenomenon known as a Lek).
Although the research points to overall equality between the sexes, in terms of general intelligence, feminists may be perplexed to learn that in a number of key elements at least women are in fact superior!
Hi John,
ReplyDeleteGood post!
The results of a California-Irvine study demonstrate that gender differences mean men have "approximately 6.5 times as much gray matter related to general intelligence as women, and women have nearly 10 times as much white matter related to intelligence as men." Gray matter is responsible for processing information in the brain and white matter "represents the connections between these processing centers," according to the study. These differences might explain why men "excel in tasks requiring more local processing---like mathematics---while women tend to excel at integrating and assimilating information." Women tend to process more information in their frontal lobes but this activity is dispersed throughout the male brain.
Thanks for that Katrina,
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this means that women feel more constrained in terms of their education. Research drawn from evolutionary biology seems to point towards the view that women are programmed to accept responsibility earlier in life. Men seem to get more opportunities at being non-conformists and take longer to develop psychologcally and emotionally. But where does that leave Lady Ga Ga?