Male vs Female Brains

Question of the week... How different are Male and Female brains?  

Primary Difference

Research dividing the “male” and “female” brains clearly indicates that yes... men and women generally have different mental skills. 

Women’s cognitive strengths include verbal communication, linguistic learning (vocabulary), fine motor and hand skills, seeing at night, interest in faces and people, visual memory and integrating thought and emotion. Ha! We are women hear us roar!  Could these communication skills be an asset when it comes to crew resource management, CRM, with the need to communicate? Oh yeah.

Many people think that men were more visual than women, however the reality is a woman’s strength is in her visual memory, whereas a man’s is in his hearing memory…. Which is ironic since most women think (know) that men don’t listen!

 

Another well known assumption is that most women can multi-task, while men are more single focused. 

Assumption or not, there is biological reason that makes this a true statement! And... it has nothing to do with shopping!

One of the main differences between the brains of men and women is the fact a man’s brain uses specific regions on each side of his brain for tasks, utilizing only “one” side at a time. A woman’s brain however, uses “’both” halves to accomplish certain skills. A man’s cerebral compartmentalization makes it easier for him to concentrate and be single minded. Women also have better-developed fibers in the corpus callosum…the tissues connecting the two halves of the brain. This tissue structure, while starting out larger with men, shrinks as men age, but with women it doesn’t. Sorry guys… sounds like another shrinkage issue problem.

Taking these strengths into the sky…

A woman’s multi-tasking ability in the flight deck could be an asset when the engine fails, ATC is talking, the flight attendants need briefing, and checklists need to be accomplished. Obviously some personalities don’t deal with pressure and stress well... men or women. A woman’s greater ability of fine motor and hand skills can also lead to strength in flying the modern planes. Especially the Airbus since a gentle touch is all that is needed on that stick. Men... don't over control her.  And women can see better at night. I suspect this is because we need to see well into the night because our work never seems to end. 

Men’s strengths, in addition to being single minded focused and hearing memory, tend to be math, spatial reasoning (geometry and hand eye coordination), map reading, seeing in bright light, and interest in objects. A single minded focus is actually a good thing during studying. And spatial reasoning with hand eye coordination will assist in flying the plane… if you don’t try to over control the stick.

What does this mean? Men and women are different… but never underestimate the power of a woman, and never underestimate the power of Princess Fifi!