Different sexes have retained traits from caveman, eg. Men can read maps better than woman. Any others????

Question

Man are supposedly better at reading maps and have a greater sence of large scale spacial awareness, woman have a better sence of detail which comes from the fact that men used to go out and travel large distances hunting developing a better understanding of geography. Woman however developed a better awareness of immediate surroundings due to the fact that they would be able to spot any potential dangers in the 'cave'. If asked to get the butter out the fridge, I have to look for 5 minutes without seeing it, yet my ability to find a distant pub is amazing. Can anyone else think of any other examples of differences between the sexes that can be attributed to our caveman background?

Answer 1

women have the instinct to gossip because back in the cavemen days, it was a good way to talk about the differences in the male choices that were available... a female does not want to have children with a potentially unsuitable man... women would gossip to warn each other of the flaws in each male.

Answer 2

Women do tend to hear (and find disturbing) sounds such as a faucet dripping whereas men will sleep through them. This superior hearing may be an evolutionary response to women's biological role of child bearing/rearing.

As a rule of thumb, however, it is best to assume a cultural explanation before a natural one, e.g., North American women discern colors more fully because this is a gender trait, women are expected to know the differences among "pink," "rose" and "puce" whereas (straight) men are not. But men who are designers or artists are and do -- so it's not a genetic predisposition.

Answer 3

This is a common misconception, but I think it's too simplistic to say that these noticeable differences between the sexes are directly related to our prehistoric days.  For instance, your difficulty in finding the butter- do you do the grocery shopping?  How about most of the cooking?  It could just be that you don't know how to navigate the fridge in the same way you know how to navigate a city.  Something similar might be the case more often than we think.  It's in no way clear how much of the differences between the sexes is biological and how much is cultural.  

One way we can see that is that women's athletic potential has been growing faster than men's since women have been allowed to be athletes.  What's not clear is whether biology will step in and keep women at a lower level than men forever, or whether female athletes will be able to outstrip the male.  The good money's on the former, but we at least know for certainty that the physical differences between men and women are partly cultural.  Given the same opportunities, women and men are much closer in physical strength, endurance, and speed than we usually think.

We certainly do have the same instincts and physical cues as we did in our "caveman" days- we have the same bodies as back then.  It's just not known yet how much of what we do and who we are is cultural, rather than biological.  It's that old nature vs. nurture debate.

ETA: I just read the above comment.  Men and women both gossip, and probably because it's a good idea to know what's going on in your group when you're in such a social species.

Answer 4

What you're really talking about, are the strengths & weaknesses associated with the left & right hemispheres (lobes) of the brain...

Men are genrally left-brain dominant, which focuses on linear perception, math, hunting-strategy, etc...(Telling a man how to use a map, is like taking away his manhood!).

Women are generally right-brain dominant, focusing on sounds, feelings, art, language, etc...(Disturbing the "Feng-Shui" of a woman's kitchen arrangement, is unforgivable).