By Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D.
LA JOLLA, California — I am intrigued by the recent findings in brain research about how our neurophysiology impacts behavior. Male and female brains differ in their structure. For instance, the hypothalamus, which is a part of the brain that controls food intake, aggression, and sexuality, is larger in males than in females. The way it functions through its connections may explain why men are more aggressive than women. This tendency is already exhibited in kindergartens when little boys like to fight and wrestle, while little girls don’t.
Females have a larger hippocampus, which is our memory center. This explains why women can remember having been slighted years ago, revisiting long past emotional hurts all to the total puzzlement of men. The hippocampus also has a higher density of neural connections. This helps girls and women pick up more information through their five senses and thus be aware of what is going on around them and also retain more of that information than men. This explains why women are seen as being more intuitive than men. They pick up on cues such as body language or tone of voice—cues that men miss. Often after a party, I would comment that someone’s marriage was in trouble or some other observation to the bewilderment of my husband who had noticed nothing. Now we know men are genetically programmed to not see dust!
The right and left hemispheres of our brains are also set up differently: women have verbal centers on both sides, men only on one, which is why after a stroke, women can often still use their speech center while men cannot. This is also why women have a larger vocabulary at their disposal to discuss feelings and emotions and can describe events at great lengths about people and places and remember these stories better. After I talked with my daughter on the phone, I could retell our conversation in great detail. Yet after my husband finished talking at length with his daughter, all he could say was: “she’s fine.” This is the fault of his single verbal center! It also explains why women often say: He never talks to me! While men say: She goes on and on and on!
Due to the female brain’s higher degree of blood flow in the part of the brain called the cingulate gyrus, women tend to ruminate—much to the dismay of men. However, if forewarned that rumination was about to occur, my husband could sit patiently and listen. Rumination helps women to process their thoughts and feelings. Men, on the other hand, tend to reflect only briefly on an emotional memory and move on to the next task, thus avoiding any discussion of feelings; men also move to problem-solving too quickly and offering immediate solutions according to women, who prefer taking time to explore alternative outcomes.
Men use almost seven times more gray matter for activity than women, which gives them tunnel vision when they are engaged in a task, and they often become unaware of people and their surroundings. So when his wife asks him to help with the dishes, he actually doesn’t hear her. See, it’s not his fault; it is his grey matter. Women, on the other hand, use ten times more white matter than men, which is the networking grid which connects the brain’s processing centers with one another. This explains why women can multi-task; in other words, cook with one hand, talk on the phone with another, while watching the kids and still hear the door bell, while her husband is totally unaware of all of the above as he is watching television or reading the paper. On the other hand, men excel at highly task-focused projects.
Females process more of the bonding chemical oxytocin than males, which is why women feel more empathy than men. Women are more likely to cry even for fictional characters in movies. So don’t ask him to write sympathy cards or make condolence calls.
And finally, because women have more brain cells in the prefrontal cortex, which controls judgment and planning, they are better at packing carefully for a family holiday. Now we understand why men forget to pack their socks when going on a trip.
This information was culled from a variety of sources. I especially want to acknowledge neuroscientist Daniel G. Amen’s book, Unleash the Power of the Female Brain, Dr. Gregory L. Jantz’ book, Raising Boys by Design, and Dr. Joe Herbert’s book, Hormones and the Brain.
© Natasha Josefowitz. This article appeared initially in the La Jolla Village News. You may comment to natasha.josefowitz@sdjewishworld.com
Thank you for a terrific article! I love your synopsis of some basic differences (that most of us teachers have noticed over the years), that highlight the strengths and weaknesses that balance out the genders. I think it was a disservice to our women’s equality movement when so many confused “equal” with “same.” I also appreciate the references to your scientific sources.