A man and his wife go to a party. They gallivant around, interact with various people, and have a few cocktails. On the car ride home, the wife (we'll call her Heather) says something like, "I can't believe Gemma is so annoyed with John." The husband (we'll call him Doug) is perplexed. "What are you talking about?" Heather persists, "What are YOU talking about? She can't STAND him."
Now, taking out all possible outside factors (like their alcohol intake, etc.), this might be a scenario you've seen before. (Of course, those genders can always be switched. Similarly, in same-sex couples, there's a spectrum of personality traits that are far from absolute.) But very often, we hear the trope of the extremely perceptive woman versus the less-than-perceptive man.
File:Man-and-woman-icon.svg - Wikimedia Commonscommons.wikimedia.org
There are actual reasons for this. The idea of a physical difference between the male and female brain is nothing new. Numerous self-help books likeMen Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus,You Just Don't Understand: Men and Women in Conversation, and Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women have flooded our bookstores for ages. They’ve sought to teach us how to be understood through clearer communication and empathy. Of course, this doesn’t refute the fact that upbringing and societal constructs also play a role in how we process information or behave in different scenarios.
It's a complex issue and far from black and white. That said, numerous studies continue to show how differences in brain structures (though tiny they may be!) really make all the difference.
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Dr. Judith Orloff, author of The Genius of Empathy: Practical Skills to Heal Your Sensitive Self, Your Relationships, and The World, wrote a piece for Psychology Today entitled"The Neuroscience of Women's Intuition." She shares, "A woman’s corpus callosum, the connective white matter that connects our left and right brain hemispheres, is thicker than a man’s. This gives women better and faster abilities to access each hemisphere, further integrating their emotions and gut feelings with the more logical decision-making functions of the left hemisphere. Women’s brains are optimized for rapid, intuitive decision-making."
What's even more fascinating is that our actual "gut" has connective neurons. Orloff also shares, "Scientists believe intuition operates through the right side of our brain, the brain’s hippocampus, and through our gut (the digestive system has neurons as well)."
So, there’s an actual reason we use the term "gut instinct."
Dr. Kayla Osterhoff often posts fascinating findings on this matter on Instagram. To name a few of the brain physical factors that help make intuition stronger in the female brain, she mentions a "larger mirror neuron system." She explains, "With more active anterior cingulate cortex and superior temporal sulcus areas, women can more accurately interpret nonverbal cues, better anticipate the needs of others, and navigate complex social dynamics."
She also brings up the aforementioned "enhanced communication between the brain's hemispheres" and "higher gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate gyrus, insula, and hippocampus," which help heighten women's empathy and awareness.
woman in white and black polka dot shirt holding blue and white book
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And though the science is ever-changing and will hopefully include more studies that differentiate between biological sex and gender identity, the studies consistently back up how different the "male vs. female" brain is. In an even more recent piece by Scott Barry Kaufman called "Male and Female Brains Can Be Classified with Striking Accuracy" , he discusses a scientific study published in PNAS that supports these findings. Their results suggest that, at the group level, male and female brains can be distinguished with a high level of accuracy, and there are particular features of intrinsic organization in these brains that are significant and most likely evolved over the course of human evolution for adaptive purposes." He adds, "All brains don’t have to be equal for there to be equality. Brains can be complementary with equal opportunities for contribution."
In other words, if you're reading this with a confused expression on your face, Heather may more likely pick up on that than Doug.
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