His and Hers
1
Mariette DiChristina Editor in Chief [email protected] ( from the editor ) M IND BEHAVIOR • BRAIN SCIENCE • INSIGHTS www.ScientificAmerican.com/Mind ScIENTIfIc AmERIcAN mINd 1 EdITOR IN cHIEf: Mariette DiChristina ISSuE EdITOR: Emily Laber-Warren EdITORS: Karen Schrock, Ingrid Wickelgren ART dIREcTOR: Patricia Nemoto ISSuE PHOTOGRAPHY EdITOR: Bridget Gerety Small cOPY dIREcTOR: Maria-Christina Keller EdITORIAL AdmINISTRATOR: Avonelle Wing SENIOR SEcRETARY: Maya Harty cONTRIBuTING EdITORS: Gareth Cook, David Dobbs, Robert Epstein, Jonah Lehrer cONTRIBuTING RESEARcHERS: Smitha Alampur, Kenneth Silber, Kevin Singer cOPY ANd PROducTION, NATuRE PuBLISHING GROuP: SENIOR cOPY EdITOR, NPG: Daniel C. Schlenoff mANAGING PROducTION EdITOR, NPG: Richard Hunt SENIOR PROducTION EdITOR, NPG: Michelle Wright BOARd Of AdVISERS: HAL ARkOwITz: Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Arizona STEPHEN J. cEcI: Professor of Developmental Psychology, Cornell University R. dOuGLAS fIELdS: Chief, Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development S. ALExANdER HASLAm: Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology, University of Exeter cHRISTOf kOcH: Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology, California Institute of Technology ScOTT O. LILIENfELd: Professor of Psychology, Emory University STEPHEN L. mAckNIk, Director, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuropsychology, Barrow Neurological Institute SuSANNA mARTINEz-cONdE, Director, Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, Barrow Neurological Institute JOHN H. mORRISON: Chairman, Department of Neuroscience, and Director, Neurobiology of Aging Laboratories, Mount Sinai School of Medicine VILAYANuR S. RAmAcHANdRAN: Director, Center for the Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor, Salk Institute for Biological Studies dIANE ROGERS-RAmAcHANdRAN: Research Associate, Center for the Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego STEPHEN d. REIcHER: Professor of Psychology, University of St. Andrews Some of the articles in this issue are adapted from articles originally appearing in Gehirn & Geist. PROducTION mANAGER: Christina Hippeli AdVERTISING PROducTION mANAGER: Carl Cherebin PREPRESS ANd QuALITY mANAGER: Silvia De Santis cuSTOm PuBLISHING mANAGER: Madelyn Keyes-Milch cOVER PHOTOILLuSTRATION BY AARON GOOdmAN; HAIR ANd mAkEuP BY ELIzABETH YOON His and Hers Mars and Venus. Pink and blue. As the stereotypes would have it, men and women have little in common but the ability to procreate. But how grounded in scientific re- ality are our culture’s notions about the ways the sexes diverge? And what does the influence of gender mean for our minds—for how we think and communicate? We at Scientific American Mind wanted to know, too. So, in a first for the mag- azine, the editors have devoted an entire issue to this topic of gender and the brain. The articles look at male-female differences—and also some perhaps surprising sim- ilarities. “He Said, She Said,” by linguist Deborah Tannen, for instance, explains how all conversations and relationships between couples involve a combination of hierarchy and connection. Women’s and men’s conversational styles turn out to be different ways of reaching the same goals. Turn to page 54 for more. You probably have heard of Tannen before. Her 1990 book, You Just Don’t Un- derstand: Women and Men in Conversation, sparked national discussion and be- came a fount of rich material for late-show comics —especially variations on why men avoid asking for directions. In another feature article, “The Humor Gap,” start- ing on page 38, Christie Nicholson takes a serious look at what’s so funny about hu- mor to men and women. Jokes in new relationships work to attract a love interest. Women find funny men sexy, and they laugh more than men—a gesture of connec- tion. Later, couples may make jokes to smooth their way over life’s rough patches. Partners who start families also display their own styles as parents. You’ve heard of the “mommy brain,” but did you know that fathers also undergo biological chang- es after their baby is born? Dads challenge their children; moms coddle them. For the kids, the two approaches create a winning combination. See “Family Guy,” by Emily Anthes, which begins on page 46. As the French expression goes: vive la différence. It’s learning about the ways that we differ that often makes us grow together as a human species.
Transcript of His and Hers
Mariette DiChristina Editor in Chief
(from the editor)
MIndBEHAVIOR • BRAIN SCIENCE • INSIGHTS
www.Sc ient i f icAmerican.com/Mind ScIENTIfIc AmERIcAN mINd 1
EdITOR IN cHIEf: Mariette DiChristina ISSuE EdITOR: Emily Laber-Warren EdITORS: Karen Schrock, Ingrid Wickelgren
ART dIREcTOR: Patricia Nemoto ISSuE PHOTOGRAPHY EdITOR: Bridget Gerety Small
cOPY dIREcTOR: Maria-Christina Keller
EdITORIAL AdmINISTRATOR: Avonelle Wing SENIOR SEcRETARY: Maya Harty
cONTRIBuTING EdITORS: Gareth Cook, David Dobbs, Robert Epstein, Jonah Lehrer
cONTRIBuTING RESEARcHERS: Smitha Alampur, Kenneth Silber, Kevin Singer
cOPY ANd PROducTION, NATuRE PuBLISHING GROuP:
SENIOR cOPY EdITOR, NPG: Daniel C. Schlenoff mANAGING PROducTION EdITOR, NPG: Richard Hunt SENIOR PROducTION EdITOR, NPG: Michelle Wright
BOARd Of AdVISERS:
HAL ARkOwITz: Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Arizona
STEPHEN J. cEcI: Professor of Developmental Psychology, Cornell University
R. dOuGLAS fIELdS: Chief, Nervous System Development and Plasticity Section, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
S. ALExANdER HASLAm: Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology, University of Exeter
cHRISTOf kOcH: Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology, California Institute of Technology
ScOTT O. LILIENfELd: Professor of Psychology, Emory University
STEPHEN L. mAckNIk, Director, Laboratory of Behavioral Neuropsychology, Barrow Neurological Institute
SuSANNA mARTINEz-cONdE, Director, Laboratory of Visual Neuroscience, Barrow Neurological Institute
JOHN H. mORRISON: Chairman, Department of Neuroscience, and Director, Neurobiology of Aging Laboratories, Mount Sinai School of Medicine
VILAYANuR S. RAmAcHANdRAN: Director, Center for the Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
dIANE ROGERS-RAmAcHANdRAN: Research Associate, Center for the Brain and Cognition, University of California, San Diego
STEPHEN d. REIcHER: Professor of Psychology, University of St. Andrews
Some of the articles in this issue are adapted from articles originally appearing in Gehirn & Geist.
PROducTION mANAGER: Christina Hippeli AdVERTISING PROducTION mANAGER: Carl Cherebin PREPRESS ANd QuALITY mANAGER: Silvia De Santis cuSTOm PuBLISHING mANAGER: Madelyn Keyes-Milchc
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His and HersMars and Venus. Pink and blue. As the stereotypes would have it, men and women have little in common but the ability to procreate. But how grounded in scientific re-ality are our culture’s notions about the ways the sexes diverge? And what does the influence of gender mean for our minds—for how we think and communicate?
We at Scientific American Mind wanted to know, too. So, in a first for the mag-azine, the editors have devoted an entire issue to this topic of gender and the brain. The articles look at male-female differences—and also some perhaps surprising sim-ilarities. “He Said, She Said,” by linguist Deborah Tannen, for instance, explains how all conversations and relationships between couples involve a combination of hierarchy and connection. Women’s and men’s conversational styles turn out to be different ways of reaching the same goals. Turn to page 54 for more.
You probably have heard of Tannen before. Her 1990 book, You Just Don’t Un-derstand: Women and Men in Conversation, sparked national discussion and be-came a fount of rich material for late-show comics—especially variations on why men avoid asking for directions. In another feature article, “The Humor Gap,” start-ing on page 38, Christie Nicholson takes a serious look at what’s so funny about hu-mor to men and women. Jokes in new relationships work to attract a love interest. Women find funny men sexy, and they laugh more than men—a gesture of connec-tion. Later, couples may make jokes to smooth their way over life’s rough patches.
Partners who start families also display their own styles as parents. You’ve heard of the “mommy brain,” but did you know that fathers also undergo biological chang-es after their baby is born? Dads challenge their children; moms coddle them. For the kids, the two approaches create a winning combination. See “Family Guy,” by Emily Anthes, which begins on page 46.
As the French expression goes: vive la différence. It’s learning about the ways that we differ that often makes us grow together as a human species.
MiQ310EdLe3p.indd 1 2/12/10 6:05:03 PM
