Men eliminate and women integrate?

[toml]

Interesting article on the "selectivity hypothesis" (http://www.gladwell.com/1997/1997_07_27_a_khaki.htm)

This idea-that men eliminate and women integrate-is called by Meyers-Levy the "selectivity hypothesis." Men are looking for a way to simplify the route to a conclusion, so they seize on the most obvious evidence and ignore the rest, while women, by contrast, try to process information comprehensively. So-called bandwidth research, for example, has consistently shown that if you ask a group of people to sort a series of objects or ideas into categories, the men will create fewer and larger categories than the women will. They use bigger mental bandwidths. Why? Because the bigger the bandwidth the less time and attention you have to pay to each individual object. Or consider what is called the invisibility question. If a woman is being asked a series of personal questions by another woman, she'll say more if she's facing the woman she's talking to than she will if her listener is invisible. With men, it's the opposite. When they can't see the person who's asking them questions, they suddenly and substantially open up.

I wonder if there's a connection between this and race. Since we are in a male dominated society, it stands to reason that all our stereotypes are generated by men.

Whereas if women had been in control, the stereotypes might be more balanced.

But then why do women often throw the slut-label around--or how feminists will often look down on stay-at-home mom's.

[cattygurl]

Just because you're a woman does not mean that you don't eliminate, by all means. Humans of both gender discriminate- the report is saying that women as a genralization have a different and more complex/subtle system of information processing. Discrimination is very much a process of information processing, and it's saying that women do it differently- not that women try to integrate with everyone and don't dislike other people.

*Some* feminists look down on stay at home moms, not all do. Almost all feminists will argue that being a mother or staying at home should not be the only choice for women, nor should it be considered the best option for women. Just because women are women does not mean they don't abosorb and enforce (patriarchial) societal rules and norms. There are many women that are misogynist, and shaming is one of the classic ways to enforce societal norms. combine the two and you get slut-shamers, which are women that have chosen to uphold societal norms.

[blockthebox]

But then why do women often throw the slut-label around--or how feminists will often look down on stay-at-home mom's.

Because women are spiteful and scornful. Even the feminists!

[ellencho]

Just because you're a woman does not mean that you don't eliminate, by all means.
toml! I eliminate all the time! In fact, I eliminate every morning before I go to work!!! And sometimes later on in the day if I've eaten too much oily food.

[blockthebox]

Dammit, ellen. I've been trying to avoid scatological references in this thread. This is a SERIOUS discussion about sluts and feminists!

[ellencho]

Dammit, ellen. I've been trying to avoid scatological references in this thread. This is a SERIOUS discussion about sluts and feminists!
toml brought up elimination first!

But seriously, maybe sluts and feminists ought to eliminate more, then they can fit into their tube skirts and tube tops better.

[toml]

:lol: so the million dollar question is, what do you get when you cross a feminist with a slut?


Just because you're a woman does not mean that you don't eliminate, by all means. Humans of both gender discriminate- the report is saying that women as a genralization have a different and more complex/subtle system of information processing. Discrimination is very much a process of information processing, and it's saying that women do it differently- not that women try to integrate with everyone and don't dislike other people.

Oh, yeah, I totally agree. I guess my question was more about, "do men and women really think that differently?" For example, I remember reading awhile back how women are twice as likely to have depression than men. But new studies are showing that men are just as likely, except they report it a lot less, thus the discrepancy.

[cattygurl]

^^ A slutty feminist.

There's been studies that show that even the way people solve problems are influenced by environment. For example, they've done studies where the results indicate that the environment has a very strong influence on the actual physical growth of your brain, down to how the different parts of your brain interact to what parts get developed more, etc. I'm not developing an opinion until I see more research come out.

As for depression, there are certain pretty well-researched and documented reasons that women suffer more depression- with postpartum depression being one of the big reasons. Remove postpartum depression and eliminate non-situational depression (depression that arises from an event like a personal tragedy or extreme stress), and I believe the male/female depression will be a lot more similar.

From what I've read, I do think that women and men can react to situations somewhat differently, and I think they do process information somewhat differently. How much of that is pure biology and how much is societal/environmental influence- I couldn't tell you. However, I do disagree with extreme ends of both camp- me thinks it's a complex combination of both.