Stereotypical Male–Female Differences Are Hardwired in the Brain

Stereotyping is considered a thought crime. Yet stereotypes are usually at least somewhat accurate. We process information by generalizing. That’s where stereotypes come from, not from bigotry, hate, et cetera. Certainly not everyone conforms to various stereotypes, but they are still a useful tool for learning what to expect of the world around us. Science shows that stereotypes have a physical basis:

Scientists have drawn on nearly 1,000 brain scans to confirm what many had surely concluded long ago: that stark differences exist in the wiring of male and female brains.

Maps of neural circuitry showed that on average women’s brains were highly connected across the left and right hemispheres, in contrast to men’s brains, where the connections were typically stronger between the front and back regions.

Ragini Verma, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said the greatest surprise was how much the findings supported old stereotypes, with men’s brains apparently wired more for perception and co-ordinated actions, and women’s for social skills and memory, making them better equipped for multitasking.

Good thing Dr. Verma doesn’t work for Google. She would be fired as a thought criminal, as surely as James Damore.

On a tip from J.