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The cognitive differences between men and women

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141–150 of 153 posts

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#141
post #24

Men are, by far, more violent. This is a major weakness, or "defect". Why women shouldn't have their own, peculiar, weaknesses? I think that even psychiatric conditions like depression, borderline, ADD, etc. manifest very differently in men and women.

Statistically women appear to have less deviation physically, mentally or socially. It could be a result of how primates have evolved. For males increasing standard deviation in traits makes it more likely that they are among the few top males that can mate with multiple females. For female being more robust ensures maximum number of children. Women have both glass ceiling and glass floor. There are far less successf…

Have you ever wondered what the point of males is? We take it for granted and many of us probably think males are actually necessary for reproduction but, of course, they are not. Many organisms reproduce just fine without sex. Those that do have sex end up with 50% of the population unable to reproduce. That's an incredible cost, so what is the advantage?

Many biologists study sex and it's one of the most fascinating questions out there. The general theory is that producing males allows the organism to try out some really wacky stuff.

You can't play around too much with females. If your children are female and they can't reproduce then that's the end of your line. So the selective pressure on female offspring being good is high.

It's a different story for males. You only need one good male and you're set. So if you produce 10 males, 6 might be average, 2 exceptional, and 2 complete failures (in evolutionary terms). Those 2 exceptional specimens will pick up the slack for the others. Not only that, but those two exceptional specimens will reproduce more than any set of males that were all average (like a set of females). So not only is there no selective pressure to produce 100% "good" males, there is a strong advantage to producing a few exceptional males.

The trouble is, modern feminists only look at the few exceptional males (the CEOs, Nobel prize winners etc.) and whine about it. The other end of the spectrum, the men on the street or committing suicide, are completely invisible to them.

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#142
post #24

Men are, by far, more violent. This is a major weakness, or "defect". Why women shouldn't have their own, peculiar, weaknesses? I think that even psychiatric conditions like depression, borderline, ADD, etc. manifest very differently in men and women.

This is not a "defect"! A man should be potentially dangerous: for instance, I want to know that I can rely on my partner to have my back in case we get in some dubious situation.

I'm a woman, and I don't want to be together with just a copy of myself that happens to have an extra collection of dangly bits in the pants ;-)

I acknowledge that there are physical/mental differences between us, and the goal should be to complement each other, not make men more "feminine" or whatever.

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#143
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think you can socially engineer people to appreciate sensitive men? The root of sensitivity is not a respect producing trait for men is because women do not find that sexually desirable on average. Properties that make men respected are the properties that women like: men compete physically (sports or physique), on social status, and on financial success. There is a reason why parents traditionally tou…

We already have done the social engineering by creating communities where it's not socially acceptable to reinforce gender roles. Now we're talking about protecting them from you.

[deleted]

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think evolution would necessarily favor specialization between the sexes. However we do have evidence that fewer men have reproduced than women. This means men have been under greater selection pressures than women, which would lead to specialization. I think this is an outcome of the length of time that women are fertile relative to the time required to gestate and ween a child, plus the length of time that…

> I don't think evolution would necessarily favor specialization between the sexes. Why wouldn't it? Other primate species are very sexually dimorphic, both physically and behaviorally. Why should humans be so fine-tuned that there are no sex differences at all in behavior?

I meant across all species. I do acknowledge sexual dimorphism among humans, and provide a mechanism for this happening based upon the effective population sizes of mating humans.

I just think the top level post's claim should be reeled in a little bit to not imply that all species that manifest sex should result in sexual specialization beyond the reproductive system.

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#145
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.saveservices.org/2012/02/cdc-study-more-men-than-... But like I said - if you use funding to report violence against men, you won't ever get any more funding. So, you can bring out all the statistics funded for violence against women, but you have a systemic imbalance here. And there is sufficient evidence that it needs further investigation.

You keep "quoting" CDC studies. So far I'm the only one who's posted a link to a CDC study and it says precisely the opposite of what you've said.

"But, you're wrong. Far more men than women are perpetrators of domestic violence, and far more women than men are the victims of domestic violence. This is true for crimes of sexual violence, and for stalking." I refuted your claim with a well sourced article(it is quoting more than just the CDC, which I have already pointed out is highly biased).

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#146
post #50

Similarly, some leftists claim that race is a social construct because there is more genetic variation within a race than across them. Except you have genetic tests that easily identify race: https://www.wired.com/2007/12/ps-dna/ and medical studies that indicate the race of patients studied, because it is a medically significant concept: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Different-Races-Are-Genetical... .

What is the genetic basis for the one-drop rule? What is the genetic basis for Barack Obama being black and not white? What is the genetic basis for someone with three Jewish grandparents being Jewish but not someone with two Jewish grandparents? What is the genetic basis for an Irish person being white in 1900 but not in 1800?

No one denies that there are genetic differences between races, but the categorizations are completely arbitrary. Someone who is one-quarter black is more genetically similar to a typical white person than a typical black person yet they are still classified as black. That is what is meant by race being a social construct.

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#147
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which races are you talking about? The ones leftover from 19th century pseudoscience? Can you point me to a science paper that shows a genetic basis for these so-called races? Not, notably, working back from genes to crazy theories. I could genetically detect ginger haired people, or people with green eyes, that doesn't make those races. So what defines your races?

I have deviced a test that can, with 100% accuracy, detect a dark skinned individualist. I call it "ocular inspection" and it uses eye tools.

Using the same tools I can with 100% accuracy detect someone with red hair from someone with brown hair. What is your basis for separating people with different skin colors into different races but not people with different hair colors?

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't think evolution would necessarily favor specialization between the sexes. Why wouldn't it? Other primate species are very sexually dimorphic, both physically and behaviorally. Why should humans be so fine-tuned that there are no sex differences at all in behavior?

I meant across all species. I do acknowledge sexual dimorphism among humans, and provide a mechanism for this happening based upon the effective population sizes of mating humans. I just think the top level post's claim should be reeled in a little bit to not imply that all species that manifest sex should result in sexual specialization beyond the reproductive system.

The entire human body is a reproductive system. That's what life is. Evolution optimizes for behaviors as much as it optimizes for gonads.

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#149
post #87

Food for thought: * Trans people of Reddit, what was something you weren't expecting to be told, find out, or experience when going through your transition ( https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/4g1pgu/serious_t... ) So yes, even hormones by themselves make changes, going beyond cultural pressure and upbringing. Exposure for different chromosomes, and hormones, though all live (including prenatal development)…

Interesting reading. Here's a relevant snippet from that page:

"I was extremely egalitarian prior to my transition I staunchly didn't want to think there were any neurological differences between men and women, it became obvious over time to me begin on estrogen there were. It's just tricky to discern the difference. It was distressing to realize that it makes a big difference and my brain and mind were just playthings of my body."

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/4g1pgu/serious_t...

Re: The cognitive differences between men and women

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes as strange as it may sound you may want to check my references and investigate.

The references seem to try and poke holes into our current understanding of evolution (and I agree it's still very incomplete) and suggest that an alien arrival is the best reasonable explanation to fill the gaps. I'm not sure that's very convincing. What's even less plausible is an alien visitor, having all the technology necessary to get to earth, somehow needing humans for the purely physical task of extracting me…

Why make metal robots when you can manipulate DNA and make biological ones?
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