Do Women See More Than Men? (sex, verse)

[Sunstone]

Do women inherently see more than men?

Consider that hormones not only influence how we feel (our mood), but also influence how we see things (our perspective). That is, hormones operate much like alcohol. Alcohol not only changes our mood, but also our perspective on things.

Further consider that a woman's hormonal mix changes about four or five times over the course of her monthly cycle. In each change, a different hormone dominates. So, in effect, a woman naturally has four or five perspectives offered to her during each monthly cycle. But a man's hormonal mix stays more or less the same through out the month, and consequently, he has only one perspective offered to him.

It therefore might well be the case that women inherently find it easier to look at things in more than one way than men. Conversely, men might inherently be somewhat more narrow in their view of things than women.

If so, this could help explain one psychologist's finding that women relate better to stories than to principles, while men relate better to principles than to stories. That is, if you want to tell a woman "thou shall not steal" you tell her a story about someone who stole something and had bad things happen to them as a consequence. But if you want to tell a man "thou shall not steal" you state it as a principle, a rule, a law. But stories, for the most part, are usually more comprehensive, nuanced and detailed than rules. Stories present a fuller picture of events and consequences. And a story can present more than one perspective, while rules, principles and laws only give you one perspective on a thing.

So, do women inherently see more than men?

Do they inherently tend to take into account the fuller picture?

Are they more nuanced in their understanding of people and events?

Are men more focused than women?

Are men better able to get to the gist or essential point than women?

[Quoth The Raven]

At the risk of sounding sexist, I think men can be oblivious to subtleties in the behaviour of others, especially women. They'll look at something and assume it's all straight forward and as stated - because that's how it's been presented to them - and completely disregard any behaviour that says it isn't.
Personally, I've had arguments with my other half when he's been completely confused as to why - when he's been belabouring a point to death for hours and I'm not getting it - I can suddenly grasp it when I have another similar situation to use for comparison. He doesn't understand why the association makes such a difference to my understanding. He also doesn't understand why I want a reason for everything...he often asks my why I can't just accept things without question.
Because I can't...there's a reason for everything and I want to know what it is, because that will help me accept whatever it is.
I'm not very good on the whole unquestioning thingy.

[meogi]

I don't know about 'seeing', but I have a hunch they do more reflective thinking than men. And it was probably due to women being treated as men's objects way back in the day; having to be more concerned over their actions and possible repercussions.

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Are men more focused than women?

Yes, stemming from the generally more straight-forward tasks (tracking/hunting, building, farming, etc.) they performed. This is also probably why women relate better to stories or analogies, as the men probably informed them of what transpired - rather than experiencing it themselves. And thus, less of a need for intuitive based reasoning.

Of course it's going to be much more complex than that, but it seems like a plausable explanation of beginnings to me. But then again, I'm a man, and I want to get to the point!

[Victor]

I think their emotions tend to blind them more then help them.

[Hacker]

Originally Posted by Victor

I think their emotions tend to blind them more then help them.

You better run!

[Shadow Wolf]

I have noticed this, but I think it has more to do with societies image of an "emotionless, beer drinking, do minimal work, think about nothing more than sex and booze, macho man" more than hormones.

[JMoum04]

Originally Posted by Luke Wolf

I have noticed this, but I think it has more to do with societies image of an "emotionless, beer drinking, do minimal work, think about nothing more than sex and booze, macho man" more than hormones.

Luke Wolf beat me to it. While hormones might have some impact, they don't have nearly the amount of impact as social conditioning does when it comes to this kind of behavior.

[Quoth The Raven]

Originally Posted by Victor

I think their emotions tend to blind them more then help them.

Yep, and I've seen men complete fail to see the most blindingly obvious signals because they weren't written in bold print.