Cracking the Male Code of Office Behavior • Hacker News Board

Re: Cracking the Male Code of Office Behavior

#21

Post by angdis » Sun, Feb 06, 2011, 5:49 PM UTC

I don't know if I buy into everything in the article, but she is right that women and men have different behaviors and that it helps to have some understanding of the differences.

One example that comes to mind is that some women will actually cry at work. For males that aren't used it, this can be a major WTF moment and they'll take it as a major sign of instability or irrationality. In fact, it is just a coping mechanism and it does not have the same meaning or weight as it would for a man to cry.

In other words, if a woman cries at work, the equivalent behavior for man would be an aggressive retort or a temporary withdrawl from the situation. For women, this might seem like the man is a being a jerk-- but, like crying, it is coping mechanism.

Re: Cracking the Male Code of Office Behavior

#22

Post by gabrielroth » Sun, Feb 06, 2011, 6:03 PM UTC

RyanHolliday wrote: post #2

Interesting article, but I don't understand this: "The male brain has the enviable ability to essentially switch off emotions when desired--in part because it’s hard for a man to think clearly in the face of emotion." "For a man"? Wouldn't it be hard for, you know, anyone, man or woman, to think clearly if they're over-emotional at the moment?

I've read that testosterone and estrogen react differently when they mix with adrenaline or other emotion-triggered hormones—testosterone can exacerbate the cognitive difficulties whereas estrogen can soothe them. File this under 'something someone read somewhere'—i.e. don't take it too seriously—but that might be the kind of thing the author meant by "it’s hard for a man to think clearly in the face of emotion."

Re: Cracking the Male Code of Office Behavior

#23

Post by gaius » Mon, Feb 07, 2011, 5:53 AM UTC

zdw wrote: post #11

"I was shocked to discover that most men view negative emotion as a signal that logic has ceased." Yes, that's pretty spot on, for me at least. (I'm male) At times I know I can be overly blunt and appear insensitive - in the vast majority of cases I'm not trying to make a value judgement, just calling it how I see it. Thus, getting an emotional response back is somewhat shocking - to exaggerate for effect: A: "Two pl…

It's a tactic on their part. For every man in the workplace that does business on the golf course, there's a woman who uses "fear of a crying female" to gain power.

If you find yourself being manoeuvred against like that, find a female cow-orker to deal with it for you. Real women will destroy those who stoop to that tactic like a guided missile.