Gender Differences and the Brain
Brandon Moore
LTCY 199
November 21, 2013
As we all know the brain is one of the most amazing mysteries in the world; there is a lot to be discovered. This topic hits home for me because most of my life I have always wanted to know how is the brain any different between men and women.
From the very beginning of life boys and girls are already different. The common topic of discussion is which gender’s brain matures faster. People often hear that girls mature much faster than boys. In fact this is not true; the genders don’t really play a part in the maturation process, because it is all about what you are exposed to in life. Although research has shown girls to have way more verbal skills through the preschool stages, but it then declines drastically around age seven . Girls have also been proven to do better than boys in reading and writing all the way through high school. Most of these studies were done in co-ed schools. Studies have shown that single gender schools are more helpful for both genders. The statistics were basically the same from these types of schools. I do think your brain matures faster based of the things you are exposed to. When these say research was done globally, the statistics varied, some siding with girls and some in favor with boys. So this proves, that there is a real gender difference, but there is not a proven gender maturation rate in the brain.
Self-esteem is another big gender difference. It ties in with topics like emotions, coping, depression, and behavior. All through adolescence boys have been shown to have a greater self-esteem than girls. This means guys are less likely to become depressed over something. Research done by Reiko Miyamoto and Yoshiaki Kiku...
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..., Szatkowskal, l., & Baron, J. (2012). Sex, Lies and fMRI Gender Differences in Neural Basis of Deception. Plos ONE, 7(8), 1-11. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043076
Farace, E., & Alves, W. M. (2000). Do women fare worse: a metaanalysis of gender differences in traumatic brain injury outcome. Journal of Neurosurgery, 93(4), 539-545.
Xu, J., Kobayashi, S., Yamaguchi, S., Iijima, K. I., Okada, K., & Yamashita, K. (2000). Gender effects on age-related changes in brain structure. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 21(1), 112-118.
Schulte-Rüther, M., Markowitsch, H. J., Shah, N. J., Fink, G. R., & Piefke, M. (2008). Gender differences in brain networks supporting empathy. Neuroimage, 42(1), 393-403.
Eccles, J. S., & Harold, R. D. (1991). Gender differences in sport involvement: Applying the Eccles' expectancy-value model. Journal of applied sport psychology, 3(1), 7-35.
...ignificant evidence for my research argument indicates that the nature of gender/sex consists of a wide consensus. The latter is significant to original sex differences in brain structure and the organized role through sex differential prenatal hormone exposures through the term used in the article as (the ‘hardwiring’ paradigm). The article is limited to scientific shortcoming that presents neuroscientific research on sex and gender for it lacks an analysis that goes beyond the observed results. The article is based on neuroscience studies and how it approached gender, yet the article suggests that gender should be examined through social, culture studies, ethnicity and race. This article will not form the foundation of my research but will be used a secondary material. The neuroscience evidences will be used to support my argument and will be used as an example.
In addition, this piece includes a substantial amount of quantitative data about the brain, as well as an in-depth summary of Broca’s research. Questions on Rhetoric and Style on Women’s
Connell: Chapter 4 “Sex Differences & Gendered Bodies”: I found this entire chapter quite intriguing, but I really appreciate the way that Connell approaches the ways in which males and females differ, and yet she also points out how there is no significant difference in brain anatomy and function between sexes. I found the statement by neuroscientist Lesley Rogers incredibly interesting, she states, “The brain does not choose to be wither a female or a male type. In any aspect of brain function that we can measure, there is considerable overlap between females and males” (p.52). This statement when paired with information about the affect social processes have on the body is mind boggling to realize, as Connell states, “biology bends to the hurricane of social discipline” (p.55). It is unnerving to think that I am merely a product of my society.
All children are made differently, but the gender does not play a role in how well they do in school. For example, “upon entering school, girls perform equal to or better than boys on nearly every measure of achievement, but
Oestrogen receptors in the brain are believed to cause gender-appropriate behaviour. Oestrogen, a hormone found in the female genital tissue, acts as a ligand and, by activating the oestrogen receptors found on the surfaces of brain cells, causes notable changes in behaviour. Professors at Yale University have studied the effects of oestrogen and found the hormone increases neural connectivity in the brain resulting in a more accurate memory. Turnham et al (2002) supports this as upon investigation...
In fact, gender socialization appears very early in childhood, and it is generally regarded as one of the most related issues in early childhood. (Early Childhood, 2007) Children learn the differences between boys and girls by the environment they are exposed to, and the ideas are reinforced mainly by family, education, peer groups, and the mass media.
It is proven that the male and female brains differ, but can one prove that it affects the behavior? Many scientists would agree that ones behavior is determined by his/her gender. Although others are convinced that social conditioning is the cause for the differences between the male and female, it is very unlikely that biological differences play no role in behavior. The male and female brains differ not only by how they work, but also on the size. For example, Natalie Angier and Kenneth Chang, neuroscientists, have shown that the women’s brain is about 10 percent smaller than the male’s, on average, even after accounting for women’s comparatively smaller body size. Three brain differences that affect ones behavior are the limbic size, the corpus collosum size, and the amount of gray and white matter.
A recent study done at the Medical University of Vienna shows that there is neurological basis in gender-identity and could help to explain why some people’s gender identities don’t match their biological sex. The study, led by Georg S. Kranz, utilized diffusion-based magnetic resonance tomography
Coalter et al. (1994) illustrated that those who stayed in education after the minimal school leaving age had higher rates of sports participation than the school leavers. This statement inspired the author of this review to research, and essentially ascertain what implications and constraints occur in an adolescent and adult environment when considering participating in sport.
Sutliff, Usha. “‘Liars’ Brains Wired Differently.” USC News. USC University of Southern California. 19 Sept. 2005. Web. 11 December 2013.
Some studies suggest that a potential origin is the primary female sex hormone, estrogen. It has neuro-protective and inflammatory-modulating effects on the brain. In ischemic brain injuries, gender related variances have been linked to this protective influence of estrogen; it was shown to improve post ischemic cerebral reperfusion and prevent dysfunction of the vascular endothelium.2, 6 However, gender differences in brain injury are exhibited even with a decline of the female sex steroid at menopause. Depending on the chromosomal content (XX or XY), there is nonconformity in some molecular mechanisms of cell survival and death. This suggests that there are hormone-independent pathways underlying the sexual dimorphism.
Lewis, Tanya. "How Men's Brains Are Wired Differently than Women's." Scientific American Global RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
Some boys around the age of seven, are reported to believe that their male peers are better at math than fellow female students. As for girls at this age, believe that both male and female students are equally capable in math, until the age of 10. This is where female students begin to believe that males students are better in the math areas. However, during adolescence years, boys begin to agree that girls and boys are equally good at math, as girls continue to state males are more successful in math (Saucerman and
During this corse I lean multiple ways that the brain changes mentally as a person ages, such as cognitive development. There are many theories about how cognitive development occurs in children. Jean Piaget had a theory of cognitive development that included 3 different stages, the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, and the concrete operational stage. The stages begin with learning though senses and actions, to have magical and egotistic thinking, to being able to think logically but not abstractly. Piaget also believed that people’s brains create schemas, almost like folders for the ideas of the brain, in order to organized they can understand them. When someone takes in new information,
It is always said that boys and girls are complete opposites as they grow. Girls are seen to be more timid and laid back in physical natures