Brain Games is a documentary series about the human brain and how it works. The episode, "Battle of the Sexes" was a compilation of experiments and games testing the biological differences in the female and male brains. Because my project is based off of the physical and behavioral differences among men and women and how those differences affect the law, this episode of Brain Games directly affects my civil rights question. My own experiments I have conducted are inspired directly from this show, and they will help prove or disprove stereotypical differences in the two genders. "Battle of the Sexes" covers three major differences in men and women: the eye for detail, competitive drive, and spatial reasoning.
The first experiment was a picture of seven squares of the color red. Both men and women were asked how many different shades of red they could see; The majority of guys only saw three to five shades of red, whereas the majority of women could see six or all seven almost immediately. Women's brains are hardwired to see more shades on the red orange spectrum, and they are typically more likely to pay attention to detail. One theory behind this biological difference is that millions of years ago, it was an advantage for women to see the differences in shades of red to find nutritious berries while scavenging. The female brain is proved throughout this experiment and many others to be better at noticing detail in color and other things than the male brain. This means that the stereotype of women noticing things better and having a sharper eye for detail is true. The eye-for-detail stereotype was proved again in the second experiment through a game tested on both men and women. A list of ten random challenging tasks titled "Read All Directions Carefully" is placed in front of a man and a woman in separate rooms as they compete to finish all tasks the fastest. The tasks include applying lipstick, doing jumping jacks, spinning in circles, etc. At the end of the list, it says "ignore all of these challenges and sign your name on the bottom of this page." On this show, 75% of the women tested simply signed their names on the bottom, winning the game, whereas only 20% of men signed and won.
Although women may be better at noticing detail, men are proved to have the upper hand in spatial reasoning in this episode of Brain Games. In the first spatial reasoning experiment, One shape, a parallelogram, is shown at the top of a poster and four groups of shapes are shown at the bottom. The task is to figure out which group of shapes makes up the parallelogram shown at the top. Most guys got the right answer more than girls did, proving they have a better sense of spatial reasoning. This was proved once again in the second spatial reasoning test when two different kinds of directions were read aloud to men and women. Most men have an easier time understanding directions when miles and cardinal points are included, whereas women have an easier time following directions using physical landmarks. Spatial reasoning means men are naturally better at finding cardinal points like north and south, making this experiment another valid test proving men have the advantage in spatial reasoning. One explanation to this is millions of years ago it was a man's job to head out the wilderness, track and kill animals, and then find their way home. This gives them the advantage among building things and picturing where things are placed, which may contribute to the male dominance in things like the STEM field and STEM related careers.
This episode of Brain Games proves through a few simple experiments that men and women really are biologically different in several ways, and it affects their behavior to gain the advantage in different areas like spatial reasoning or following directions. Not only is this is helpful to further our understanding of the two genders, but it also allows to think about how genders should be treated in the eyes of the law. If men and women simply do not have the same strengths and weaknesses, should they be treated completely equally in all aspects of the law?
The first experiment was a picture of seven squares of the color red. Both men and women were asked how many different shades of red they could see; The majority of guys only saw three to five shades of red, whereas the majority of women could see six or all seven almost immediately. Women's brains are hardwired to see more shades on the red orange spectrum, and they are typically more likely to pay attention to detail. One theory behind this biological difference is that millions of years ago, it was an advantage for women to see the differences in shades of red to find nutritious berries while scavenging. The female brain is proved throughout this experiment and many others to be better at noticing detail in color and other things than the male brain. This means that the stereotype of women noticing things better and having a sharper eye for detail is true. The eye-for-detail stereotype was proved again in the second experiment through a game tested on both men and women. A list of ten random challenging tasks titled "Read All Directions Carefully" is placed in front of a man and a woman in separate rooms as they compete to finish all tasks the fastest. The tasks include applying lipstick, doing jumping jacks, spinning in circles, etc. At the end of the list, it says "ignore all of these challenges and sign your name on the bottom of this page." On this show, 75% of the women tested simply signed their names on the bottom, winning the game, whereas only 20% of men signed and won.
Although women may be better at noticing detail, men are proved to have the upper hand in spatial reasoning in this episode of Brain Games. In the first spatial reasoning experiment, One shape, a parallelogram, is shown at the top of a poster and four groups of shapes are shown at the bottom. The task is to figure out which group of shapes makes up the parallelogram shown at the top. Most guys got the right answer more than girls did, proving they have a better sense of spatial reasoning. This was proved once again in the second spatial reasoning test when two different kinds of directions were read aloud to men and women. Most men have an easier time understanding directions when miles and cardinal points are included, whereas women have an easier time following directions using physical landmarks. Spatial reasoning means men are naturally better at finding cardinal points like north and south, making this experiment another valid test proving men have the advantage in spatial reasoning. One explanation to this is millions of years ago it was a man's job to head out the wilderness, track and kill animals, and then find their way home. This gives them the advantage among building things and picturing where things are placed, which may contribute to the male dominance in things like the STEM field and STEM related careers.
This episode of Brain Games proves through a few simple experiments that men and women really are biologically different in several ways, and it affects their behavior to gain the advantage in different areas like spatial reasoning or following directions. Not only is this is helpful to further our understanding of the two genders, but it also allows to think about how genders should be treated in the eyes of the law. If men and women simply do not have the same strengths and weaknesses, should they be treated completely equally in all aspects of the law?