Are Men More Rational than Women?

[Jabberwocky]

I've always felt that the difference between men and women really is that there isn't any psychologically.

Each person differs and some men think more emotionally than some women do and vice versa. Trying to pile ALL women into one category and ALL men into one category is a huge waste of time and extremely sexist IMO.

of course not.

Just for everybody's edification, if you make a comment in the form of: "Xs are Ys" - you do not NECESSARILY mean that ALL Xs are Ys. You mean that some statistically relevant portion of Xs are Ys and the Xs that are not Y are deviant from that statistical norm.

 

[Ashtonmuffin]

It's to hard to say without over generalizing I think. I can be both emotional at times and rational as well. But I know MANY males that are more emotional and think with their feelings rather than what they really should do. Everyone is different and saying statements like that about gender is just too general.

 

[Shambles]

Women smell better.

Probably the best example of a generalisation that is actually true .

I'm a man. I am rarely rational.

I suspect it varies greatly from one person to the next.

 

[spork]

I'm going to move this to Philosophy & Spirituality and see how it does there. Mods, as always move back to SO if you think it would be better

 

[jimjam21]

Yes; when you start out in a new relationship with one, the first 6 months are the best thing sence they made the light bulb, after that its her way or her way!!
I love woman that say men are useless, my answer always is this...
Do you see that chair your sitting on, well man desighed that and made it, same goes for that washing machine that you always want me to work, and that phone that your never have away from your ear, man made that to, infact, how to hell would you ever get to work, if we never made the wheel..

Went of on one again, i have to stop this!!

 

[IamAnotherYou]

I believe it has to do more with what side of the brain one uses more...the left side is logical and the right side is intuitive( thinking/rationalizing with the left, creative imagination on the right). What this has to do with gender I'm not sure because we all have masculine/feminine energies within us...its just a matter of balancing it all.

 

[rant*N*rave]

Women, in general, are more emotional; men, in general, are more rational. Men and women have equal capacity to reason.

 

[Rated E]

To the people who seem to be against any form of generalisation being made in this thread...

The question itself uses general terms, so wouldn't the answer call for a generalisation?

Schemas are perfectly natural for human's to have. Most of you will have a schema for men and for women. Maybe this doesn't relate to rationality, but I have a feeling it does for a lot of you. Stating a generalisation doesn't close you off to exceptions or things that "contradict" the generalisation.

In my own experience, yea, it's more often men that are more rational and woman that appreciate emotional understanding. But I can be polite and pretend I've never noticed any sort of correlation.

Though I do acknowledge the possibility that my perception could be biased by the holding of the schema in the first place, the view being retained with a subtle filtering of information. But even keeping that in mind I still state the view - as nothing more than a casual observation.

 

[neonads]

How much of a man's rationality is actually a cover for an emotional response?

 

[namelesss]

Are Men more rational than Women? Do men think differently than women? Are women more 'affect-driven' in cognition and men more cold/calculatingly rational? Are there statistical regularities to support these kinds of statements?

I'm not overly concerned about any psychological and neurobiological studies (at this point in the thread)...I'm more concerned about your opinion.

Are women more 'affect-driven' in cognition and men more cold/calculatingly rational?

What do you think?

Ought this question even be asked? (ie is there some moral danger in asking these types of questions?)

A single person, regardless of gender, can manifest either quality from moment to moment.
It''s a spectrum.
There are men and women all over that spectrum.
I would think that 'no', men and women both display evidence of both at various moments of their lives. Some more, some less... some now, some later...

 

[Jamshyd]

To the people who seem to be against any form of generalisation being made in this thread...

The question itself uses general terms, so wouldn't the answer call for a generalisation?

Schemas are perfectly natural for human's to have. Most of you will have a schema for men and for women. Maybe this doesn't relate to rationality, but I have a feeling it does for a lot of you. Stating a generalisation doesn't close you off to exceptions or things that "contradict" the generalisation.

In my own experience, yea, it's more often men that are more rational and woman that appreciate emotional understanding. But I can be polite and pretend I've never noticed any sort of correlation.

Though I do acknowledge the possibility that my perception could be biased by the holding of the schema in the first place, the view being retained with a subtle filtering of information. But even keeping that in mind I still state the view - as nothing more than a casual observation.

I actually completely agree with this.

 

[Hammilton]

Someone earlier said that neither men or women should be generalized because of their gender, and I got the sense that we shouldn't make judgements about people based on their gender.

It's hard not to agree with that- but it's irrelevant to the discussion. We're talking about whether or not the generalization is accurate- are men, on the whole, more rational.

Just like all of the studies that look at race and gender and whatever, they're not looking at what's true for individuals, but if there are patterns that can be found in the population.

And there are, a plurality of men will be more rationally than emotionally oriented, and the opposite for women.

 

[Jabberwocky]

More than one gender is more or less rational, I'd say men and women tend to be irrational in different ways. People are pretty arbitrary about when and how they exercise their capacity to be rational.

Men tend to escalate conflicts that don't matter more with strangers and women more with people close. Men seem more prone to silly blowups and women more prone to silly grudges. Women can be more tuned into social dynamics and get whacky about social things. Men are more tuned into "practicalities" and can get pretty whacked out about them. Pregnant women though throw off the whole thing in favor of men being the rational ones, because hormones and discomfort render many pregnant women bat shit crazy. The menstrual cycle also takes a toll on some women's rationality.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I'm going to move this to Philosophy & Spirituality and see how it does there. Mods, as always move back to SO if you think it would be better

OK, but this is not a philosophical question. I was looking for empirical data from amongst my peers. It will do just as well in P/S though, so no matter about your decision to move it.

Thanks for the responses so far peoples. Interesting thoughts.

This is tied closely to the question: Are Men stronger than Women?

 

[toa$t]

how about: do men have bigger dicks than women?

 

[IGNVS]

well theres this one woman i know...



hey gp i think that this question is the reason men and women should love each other. when they can put aside their opinion for someone else you can really learn and become wise--wisdom would regulate either emotion or logic in a proper well channeled way.

 

[Jabberwocky]

yeah that comes close to my definition of love (love = the reciprocation of widening ego boundaries to encompass another entity and be encompassed by another entity).

 

[Rated E]

how about: do men have bigger dicks than women?

Do women have bigger boobs than men?

(This one is not as simple...)

 

[qwe]

emotions and cognition are closely tied

yet still i would say girls are more emotion-driven, they are more sensitive to emotions, especially socially.

hence research shows they make better friends, in terms of being supportive and understanding and self disclosure among other things

certain south american cultures consider gay men to have two souls, male and female, in one body. there are definately differences between the male and female psyche (uh, duh? i guess) and women definately seem more affect driven to me

 

[Jamshyd]

Toa$t: cut out the crap. Next time it's a warning.