Male vs. Female Brains | TNTM

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HuffPost Science's Jacqueline Howard interviews neuroscientist Dr. Lise Eliot about differences in the male and female brain.

HuffPost Science invites you to going the discussion with top scientists covering the latest news in spaceflight, brain/body research, evolution, and the influence of science on culture.

[StuffStuffing]

"Are their difference between male and female brains? Absolutely not!"

*goes on to name the differences*

[bobbylight]

the problem with looking at the performance of high school students is that both males and females undergo the same regimentation throughout their school careers via semi-federally mandated curriculum's etc... so, imo looking at performance is biased to the cultural effects on the brain and not the biological ones

the other thing is that "kindness" "intelligence" and "attractiveness" are subjective and don't account for what either sex considers for example intelligence. For one person it may mean what kind of grades do they get in school? While for the other it may mean "are they a freethinker?" these are two obviously different definitions that hold drastically different meanings. Gender aside, a person may prefer a freethinker for their quality of conversation and ability to question norms, while the other may prefer a good student for their reliability, structure and work ethic.

Also, just because someones brain is "left-hemisphere dominant" doesn't necessarily refute the idea of a difference in connectivity between hemispheres, which is the main argument for gender differences in psychology. Now i'm not saying that one is better or worse or that these differences would necessarily mean that people aren't socialized into believing that they are not good at language or math or whatever, but knowing whether or not there are such differences between genders would play a crucial role in the future of our society!

[feelthecosmos]

Each brain differs from others in a different way, no matters if they're two different genders or two people of the same gender. 

[LunaLuna-czer]

10% should be a notable difference. It's hard to believe you can't tell the difference.

[onestephead]

If there's a difference in the structure of the brain but the resulting thoughts and behaviour are the same, then those differences don't matter. And if a difference is insignificant you can just ignore it...

[Jess]

While there are differences between men and women, if we were to strip away all of cultural influences of gender roles and gender politics you'd probably find that the differences are subtle not obvious.

[cabrahamrv]

cara set the bar kind of high in this one but this new girl is getting there

[erinmurphy]

Hence the reason that INAH3 is so often associated with sexual preference. Sexual preference though is a little more complicated than just one morphological difference in the brain, differences in gene expression and multiple areas of the brain are the real cause for differences in sexual orientation and sexual identity. My theory which is supported by some studies on primates is the real difference between men and women is in the way we learn, with men being more linear and results oriented learners and women being more holistic and example based learners. This of course has little to do with gender role differences which are likely the product of social influence and not having anything to do with genes or brain morphology.

[cantbeoriginal]

If it's universally found. That is in virtually every culture. Than it's more than just culture. So, aggressiveness, sexual libido, promiscuity, I.Q scores on average, strength, height, size, chemicals found in body, like levels of testosterone. It's this weird thing that people think that because people should be treated equally (which they should) that people are literally equal. No. It is just factually not true. There are differences. Why is there even doubt.

[judywheeler]

every time the video ends and she says talk nerdy to me I think she's saying talk dirty to me..

[clawhammr]

Here's what I've heard so correct me if I am wrong well both if it's just wrong and maybe remembering it wrong cause my memory is horrible
1. Brain between women and man is structured little differently (not much, think its like 1-2 differences)
2. Women are better at picking up subtle ques with faces while men are better with spacing. (nr 1-2 and could be related IF this is right)

Thought there was more but don't remember anything, well doubt that it's hardwired in the brain that man are better then women, probably rather difference with how they're raised? I don't know.

[MondayNext]

Women's brain is more "tightly packed" if that's what you were wondering about.

[MondayNext]

That's bad science right there, there are differences in the brains on average.

[RoffeDH]

The reason why boys where considered better than girls in math are twofold. First it's because boys tend to develop math skills much earlier than girls. Just as girls tend to develop their language much earlier than boys. So they modeled math education to suit boys learning style and girls fell even further behind.

It's not a matter of what the sexes can do but how they do it. How men and women learn differently, how men and women experience and show compassion differently.

[Yacapo]

Which were very slight and mostly cultural and social.

[andyr.]

Unfortunately, this video is kind of disappointing.

There are more than a dozen differences between male and female brains, some of them even measurable on a macroscopical level.
For example, the preoptic area is different in size depending on a person's gender.


None of the established facts known to neurobiologists these days have been mentioned in this video.

[onestephead]

The differences you would find would still be culturally biased.

[VellianoRosso]

WTF this neuroscientist is downplaying every statistically significant difference.

[cantbeoriginal]

... Promiscuity levels in gay males to gay females to heterosexuals should demonstrate the difference. Maybe if you looked at virtually every culture from every continent and looked at specific traits between the sexes. Would you claim there isn't a common thread there. I am certain that we are equal in rights, but in physiological terms it is clear and I would have presumed the blatant distinctions between the sexes shouldn't need this kind of obscurantism.

[Skinnymarks]

Huh, women have better verbal memory? Probably because they have so much practice from talking to each other so much. Though that begs the question, is the fact that women are more talkative then men a social conditioning?