Men are more logical than women?

Question

I've seen this generalization in GWS several times. Would anyone care to back or debunk this theory?

Answer 1

Debunks the theory:  

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 2

Someone asked this question before......

You are just looking for a dumb answer from sexist. Look up the research yourself, if you are so 'logical'

I am much more logical then a lot of men I know and they admit it and that's why I am the boss of our work not them.

Answer 3

I don't agree that men are more logical, but they do tend to be less emotional.   And that's not an either/or situation.  Both of these traits are learned/conditioned.  

Men feel emotion the same way women do, but they are conditioned from an early age to control it, to refrain from expressing it.    Women are conditioned to express emotion often and with little restraint.   Expression of emotion  is paired with the release of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, and once released, these chemicals must run their course, which can interfere with logical brain functioning.

Also, men seem to develop an understanding of cause and effect early in life through their childhood play activities, such as throwing and catching balls and building with blocks.    I'm not suggesting that girls don't play this way, but boys spend MORE TIME at it and therefore develop a deeper understanding of physical cause and effect  earlier than girls.

By the time they reach puberty, each gender has already been labeled with stereotypes (one of which is that men are more logical)  and the rest of their development is influenced by how often they hear messages reinforcing  (or debunking) said stereotypes.

Answer 4

Well said RT.  I would agree that men are more logical than women.  This is why they are good at mechanical, and numerical things, while women are more creative.  We're wired to complement each other.

Answer 5

Yes, men are more logical. Just like I would say women are better at communication. Now I know some guy or girl here is going to post a response saying something like my "mom is more logical than my dad, and my dad is better at communication than my mom".  Of course you can site examples of the inverse. But what we are talking about is probabilities and not possibilities.

Hey RT, Generalizations are the foundations of wisdom. If you are incapable of understanding general concepts, you will never be able to understand the more specific ones.

OPM, while your response sounds inviting, I disagree. If I understand what you are saying, both men and women have the capability to be equally logical, but men consciously choose to be logical more often. Men and women have different capabilities in different amounts. Just like we have different physical capabilities, we have different psychological, intellectual, and social capabilities.

Answer 6

A lot of men who are clearly NOT logical, make this claim out of a desire to feel superior.

Answer 7

Please forgive my response to the question on your link. I was over emotional  and not thinking logically.

Answer 8

I think the thing to bear in mind on GWS that especially the men on here are mostly just idiotic misogynists that delight in writing rubbish questions and answers to try and state that women are inferioir, less this less that etc etc etc.

Like the religion forums attract religious nuts, this forum attracts prejudice misogynists.

The fact that they generalise and can't see that people are individuals and there isn't ONE trait that every single man has in common and every single woman makes them highly illogical.

Answer 9

Men work better while standing up, women are better when sitting down.

It also depends on the type of puzzle you are testing. Men fair a lot better at certain types of tests than women and visa versa

Answer 10

This too could also be broken down.

Women are more likely to think of all the possible outcomes and find the best course of actions to achieve the desired outcome as well as come up with back up plans in case the first plan doesn't work.

Men are more likely to come up with a plan and go for it without thinking of all possible outcomes.

Of course my example is based on real life situations and not lab tests, most men are better at using logic in a test question but most women are better at using and applying logic to real life situations, so it depends on what situation you are talking about.

Answer 11

a man's mind works different than a woman's. Women tend to be very emotional but this does not mean they do not think logical, just different!

Answer 12

In my psychology classes we read research that showed this to be generally true.  That doesn't mean it's true for everyone.  I'm much more logical than my husband, and I know a lot of logical women and illogical men.

Answer 13

I will be thumbed down and hated on this section but ill summon my courage to answer this question with honesty.

Women and men cant be equal when it comes to thinking and skills simply because our brain structure is different, but i believe women and men are equal in terms of importance.

Men reveals their logical side more when it comes to conversations. Women prefer talking about relationships, their everyday life, etc. A simple expression of feelings, (im not completely disregarding logic here.) while men talk about how to do well on sports, cars, which one have the faster engine and why etc.

Also, men on average do SATs and IQ tests better than women. Yes they all deal with logic. But this doesnt mean women are less intelligent. Creativity is core of intelligence as well as logic, non of those tests i mentioned can measure creativity. Women are more creative, although i am not basing this claim on facts, most women are better linguists than men(this have been proven), and they also get better marks when it comes to creative writing.

So, yes, i am basically saying that men tend to be more logical, but that doesnt mean women are lesser intelligent. Logic is only part of intelligence, will you consider men retarded just because their language skills are c**p compared to women?

"Imagination is better than knowledge" - Elbert Einstein.

Answer 14

I think there is some confusion, even in myself, between logical, rational and 'left-brained'.  I often hear that men have better spatial awareness, but I disagree that this makes them more 'logical' - the above answer (OPM) made some interesting points :-)

Answer 15

There are physical differences between men and women. From physical differences usually grow other more 'mental' differences. Now if all men are more logical than women, I would doubt that, I have seen pretty desperate cases, and pretty astonishing cases,  in both genders.

Answer 16

the overemphasis on blinkered linear thinking in this culture has caused many problems. boys as well as girls should be taught to value holistic thinking as much as analysis.

Answer 17

Generalizations always fall apart somewhere along the line.  However the companion generalization is "Women can multitask better than men".  I've always heard that both of these are because of the differences in the way men's and women's brains are physically wired.  I'm not a brain surgeon so I have to take their word for it.

I've found this to be true in my marriage.  I'm the more focused and logical, my wife is better at handling multiple things and remembering.  That's one reason we are a great team, we fill in each others "gaps".

Answer 18

The answer is a qualified yes.

Sixty-six percent of men demonstrate a preference for using causal logic, while only twenty-six percent of women prefer using causal logic.  If you prefer something you tend to do it more and if you do it more then you tend to become good at it from the practice effect.  Note the numbers above are for the United States, but the numbers seem to be relatively stable across cultures implying a biological component.

Having a preference for causal logic does not mean you will use causal logic or be good at it, so at the level of the person this is not necessarily true, but as a group it does tend to be true.

By the way, the opposite of causal reasoning is not irrationality, it is goodness of fit reasoning.  Most women consider the goodness of fit of the facts and the implications of the facts to the outcome desired and its impact on people.  So it could be thought, if you have a statistics background, as the difference between regression (causal thinking) and goodness of fit statistics like the Chi-square.

This is empirically measurable.  The only problem with this statement is that men are not more logical than women, but they are about twice to three times as likely to prefer to use logical processes in decision making and so use causal logic, as a group, more frequently do, due to personal comfort and utility.

Answer 19

I am seeing the words "biological" and "inherent" an awful lot here. When we must understand the patriarchal structure runs deep in this discussion.

OPM makes some valid points, but perhaps men tend to choose the logical path more frequently than the emotional because they have been socialized to do so. Perhaps women are more emotional because they have been taught to be. Again these are generalizations for we can point to some great female logical minds throughout history.

And as we progress we are starting to see women surpass men in our schools as far as math and science are concerned. Why is this? perhaps again we can turn to our patriarchal system and claim that men have been taught to expect that success will come to them, where as women have been taught to be successful they must be willing to work hard to achieve it.

Does logic make men better? I would argue that reasoning from the start.  Logic is as faulty as emotion in many situations. I look at logic as more of a crutch to hide one's emotions. It is the balance of the two that we should be striving for, and women are more likely to achieve this as long as men see emotion as a weakness.