"Sexist Thinking"
Brain scans show that spatial ability is located mostly in the right brain for men and boys, and is one of a male's strongest abilities. It developed from ancient times to allow men, the hunters, to calculate the speed, movement and distance of prey, work out how fast they had to run to catch their targets, and know how much force they needed to kill their lunch with a rock or a spear. Spatial ability is located in both brain hemispheres for women but does not have a specific measurable location as it does in males. Only about 10% of women have spatial abilities that are as dynamic as those of the best men.
"The majority of women have limited spatial ability"
To some people, this research may appear sexist because we will be discussing the kind of strengths and abilities at which males excel, and the pursuits and occupations in which biology has given them the clear advantage. Later, however, we will look at areas where women have the upper hand.
"Women don't have good spatial skills because they evolved chasing little else besides men"
There are thousands of documented scientific studies that confirm male superiority in spatial skills. This is not surprising considering his evolution as a hunter. But modern man no longer has to catch lunch. Today, he uses his spatial ability in other areas such as golf, computer games, football, hunting and any sport or activity involving chasing something or aiming at a target. Most women think hunting is boring. But if they had a specific right brain area for aiming at a target they would not only enjoy it, they would succeed.
Men are so obsessed with watching another man hit a ball at a target that some of the highest-paid people in the world now include golfers, footballers, basketballers and tennis players. You don't need a college degree to be respected any more; you simply need to be good at esti- mating speed, distance, angles and directions.
Why Men Know Where to Go
Spatial ability allows a man to rotate a map in his mind and know in which direction to go. If he has to return to the same location at a later time, he doesn't need the map, as his spatial area can store the information. Most males can read a map while facing North and know that they need to go South. Similarly, most males can read a map and then successfully navigate by memory. Studies show that a man's brain measures speed and distance to know when to change direction. Most men, if put in an unfa- miliar room with no windows, can point North. As a lunch-chaser, he needed to find his way back home or there would be little chance of survival.
"Most men can always point north, even if they have no idea where they are"
Sit in any sports stadium and you can witness how men leave their seats to buy a drink and successfully navigate their way back to that seat some time later. Go to any city in the world and watch female tourists standing at junctions furiously turning their maps around and looking lost. Visit a multi- storey car park at any shopping mall and watch female shoppers wandering gloomily around trying to find their cars
Boys' Brains Develop Differently
Parents who have both sons and daughters quickly come to realise that boys are very different to girls in their speed of development. The right brain in boys develops and grows at a faster rate than the left brain. It develops more connections within itself and also has fewer connections with the left brain. In girls, both sides grow at a more balanced speed giving girls a better range of abilities. Since they also have more con- nections between left and right through a thicker corpus callosum, there tends to be more ambidextrous girls than boys, and many more women who have dif- ficulty in knowing their left hand from their right. Testosterone hormones inhibit the left brain growth in boys as a trade-off for greater right side development, giving them a better spatial ability for hunting. Studies of children between the ages of five and eighteen show that boys outstrip girls in their ability to move a beam of light to hit a target, reproduce a pattern by walking it out on the floor, assemble a range of three-dimensional objects and solve problems requiring mathematical reasoning. All of these skills are located mainly in the right brain of at least 80% of men and boys.
Brain scans show that spatial ability is located mostly in the right brain for men and boys, and is one of a male's strongest abilities. It developed from ancient times to allow men, the hunters, to calculate the speed, movement and distance of prey, work out how fast they had to run to catch their targets, and know how much force they needed to kill their lunch with a rock or a spear. Spatial ability is located in both brain hemispheres for women but does not have a specific measurable location as it does in males. Only about 10% of women have spatial abilities that are as dynamic as those of the best men.
"The majority of women have limited spatial ability"
To some people, this research may appear sexist because we will be discussing the kind of strengths and abilities at which males excel, and the pursuits and occupations in which biology has given them the clear advantage. Later, however, we will look at areas where women have the upper hand.
"Women don't have good spatial skills because they evolved chasing little else besides men"
There are thousands of documented scientific studies that confirm male superiority in spatial skills. This is not surprising considering his evolution as a hunter. But modern man no longer has to catch lunch. Today, he uses his spatial ability in other areas such as golf, computer games, football, hunting and any sport or activity involving chasing something or aiming at a target. Most women think hunting is boring. But if they had a specific right brain area for aiming at a target they would not only enjoy it, they would succeed.
Men are so obsessed with watching another man hit a ball at a target that some of the highest-paid people in the world now include golfers, footballers, basketballers and tennis players. You don't need a college degree to be respected any more; you simply need to be good at esti- mating speed, distance, angles and directions.
Why Men Know Where to Go
Spatial ability allows a man to rotate a map in his mind and know in which direction to go. If he has to return to the same location at a later time, he doesn't need the map, as his spatial area can store the information. Most males can read a map while facing North and know that they need to go South. Similarly, most males can read a map and then successfully navigate by memory. Studies show that a man's brain measures speed and distance to know when to change direction. Most men, if put in an unfa- miliar room with no windows, can point North. As a lunch-chaser, he needed to find his way back home or there would be little chance of survival.
"Most men can always point north, even if they have no idea where they are"
Sit in any sports stadium and you can witness how men leave their seats to buy a drink and successfully navigate their way back to that seat some time later. Go to any city in the world and watch female tourists standing at junctions furiously turning their maps around and looking lost. Visit a multi- storey car park at any shopping mall and watch female shoppers wandering gloomily around trying to find their cars
Boys' Brains Develop Differently
Parents who have both sons and daughters quickly come to realise that boys are very different to girls in their speed of development. The right brain in boys develops and grows at a faster rate than the left brain. It develops more connections within itself and also has fewer connections with the left brain. In girls, both sides grow at a more balanced speed giving girls a better range of abilities. Since they also have more con- nections between left and right through a thicker corpus callosum, there tends to be more ambidextrous girls than boys, and many more women who have dif- ficulty in knowing their left hand from their right. Testosterone hormones inhibit the left brain growth in boys as a trade-off for greater right side development, giving them a better spatial ability for hunting. Studies of children between the ages of five and eighteen show that boys outstrip girls in their ability to move a beam of light to hit a target, reproduce a pattern by walking it out on the floor, assemble a range of three-dimensional objects and solve problems requiring mathematical reasoning. All of these skills are located mainly in the right brain of at least 80% of men and boys.
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