Apparently, I do not associate “male” with “career” any more (or less) than I associate “female” with “career”. Neither do I have an automatic preference for white people over black people. I do, however, have a slight automatic preference for young people compared to old people, and straight people compared to gay people.

The Implicit Association Test
Project Implicit is a virtual laboratory comprising a network of facilities and scientists at Harvard University, the University of Washington, and the University of Virginia. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures unconscious bias in our behavior. Data from the IAT reveals that most people associate family with females, careers with males, liberal arts with females, and science with males. It seems also that Americans (including ethnic minorities) prefer whites to blacks, young people to old people, and thin people to fat people.

Unconscious Bias and Career Progression
Modern morals and legislation demand that we treat everyone equally in our personal and working lives. Most employers would argue that they never discriminate against people because of their “race, color, religion, sex, and national origin”-the basis of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Indeed, it is likely that when we make conscious, considered decisions we live up to these high ideals. But what about knee-jerk reactions, snap judgments, and our unconscious responses?

Some Job Applicants are More Equal than Others
When we interview a middle-aged, overweight, black woman, does our unconscious mind compare her unfavorably with the young, fit, white man applying for the same job? Do we react differently, perhaps? Keeping a little more distance, failing to maintain eye contact, and making the hand-shake shorter. All these combined could make a job candidate feel ill at ease for no reason that he or she could put his or her finger on. This discomfort is likely to result in a less than spectacular performance and the employer’s decision to hire the more confident, enthusiastic, and prepared applicant. No discrimination there. Really?

Biased from Birth
The ongoing research around unconscious bias seems to provide conclusive evidence that we all judge and discriminate unconsciously in ways we would vehemently deny. After reading the literature my own results surprised me. I grew up in a small Welsh town. There were two black students among one thousand in the high school I attended. None of my friends, relatives, and contemporaries openly discriminated against black people; but there was an unconscious sigh of relief among the older generation when my friend split with the African guy she dated for a number of years. How could this culture have failed to give me some unconscious bias, even if I choose not to live by those standards in my conscious life?

Systemizing Versus Empathizing Bias
Maybe it is because I am first and foremost a systemizer. When I last took the EQ SQ tests I scored 111 (SQ) and 65 (EQ). I approached the Project Implicit demonstration tests as a “system” and attempted (successfully, it seems) to dissociate the two concepts (for example, Gay or Good, and Straight or Bad) when categorizing a third group of words (for example, joyful, happy, nasty, horrible) as either “Gay” or “Good” or “Straight” or “Bad”. It sounds complex, but it isn’t. It made me wonder if empathizers find it harder to overcome unconscious bias than systemizers.

That said, my systemizing tendencies failed me completely on one test. The results show that I have an automatic preference for Martha Stewart compared to Oprah Winfrey. Given that we know I don’t exhibit race preferences, does this mean I prefer convicted felons to philanthropists?

I’m confused.

Sources:
• Project Implicit
• Implicit Association Test, Demonstration and Research, Harvard University

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.

An online survey on childcare revealed that more than 90% respondents would employ a female nanny to care for their children. Only 54% respondents would employ a male nanny. Without delving deeply into the demographics of the quiz-takers, the results were nonetheless interesting. In addition, the questions asked were, perhaps, as telling as the responses.

The Intelligence on Male Nannies
The survey explores male versus female attitudes towards childcare and maternity leave. The reasons given for NOT employing a male nanny varied from “they’re too careless,” through “typically, males are emotionless,” to “sex offender sites…majority [of offenders] are men,” and “[men] could not multi-task.” Those that approved of male nannies cited that men are “calm under pressure,” along with “the ability to care is not dependent on gender,” and (loved this one) “the ones who choose to do it are very good at it, otherwise they would choose to do something else.”

The Intelligence on Female Nannies
The responses pertaining to female nannies praised women as patient with children, terrific, having a natural connection, being more maternal, having excellent intuition, etc. Even though there was a small percentage of respondents who stated they would not employ a female nanny, there were NO negative responses about female nannies.

Female Brain Bias in Setting the Survey
As I pondered the results of the survey I noticed a glaring omission in the questions. Clearly, the survey-setter was trying to set unbiased, balanced questions; with any choices relating to men countered by a the same choices relating to women. However, one question asked whether women should be entitled to maternity leave. Four percent of respondents believed that women should not have maternity leave, 28% believed it should be unpaid, and 74% believed it should be paid. Displaying classic stereotypical gender bias, the survey-setter did not even ask if men should be entitled to paternity leave. How would women react if they were ignored in this fashion? I, for one, would scoff and shake my head at the ineptitude and lack of logic.

The Truth is Out
Unfortunately, I must confess to my sins. I am embarrassed and contrite. The revised version of the survey, set by yours truly, now includes a question on paternity leave and is available for completion.

More on this topic when I have analysed the results further (hopefully with a COMPLETELY open mind).

Sources:
• Male versus Female Bias in the Childcare Debate, (Survey) SurveyMonkey.com

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.

The image of a woman “wearing the trousers” in a relationship isn’t a pretty one. This description is usually an insult to the man and a dubious compliment for the woman at best. Online, trouser-wearers are described variously as dictators, calling the shots, in charge of the relationship, and worse. Their counterparts are doormats, under the thumb, and “suckers”.

Trouser-Wearer Self-Assessment Tests
There are online quizzes directed at both genders designed to elucidate which partner is the wearer of “an outer garment for covering the body from the waist to the ankles, divided into sections to fit each leg separately.” When put like that it seems ridiculous that it can be such a trying emotional test for women (if they are perceived as wearing them) and men (if they are perceived as not wearing them). Is it possible that “trouser-wearing” parallels a more scientific evaluation of the differences between the male and the female psyche?

An Alternative to the EQ SQ Tests?
Could it be that, as with male versus female biases relating to work and leisure activities, we are actually seeing an empathizing versus systemizing split in the trouser-wearing debate? Has “wearing the trousers” become synonymous with the systemizing male brain type? This may explain why more men (who tend to be systemizers) wear the trousers, figuratively speaking; and why fewer women (who tend to be empathizers) fall into the trouser-wearing category. Perhaps, instead of EQ and SQ quotients, we could start calculating Skirt and Trouser quotients.

A Male Brain Trouser Crime
Some time ago a law was mooted, “[Proposed law] provides that if a person appears in public with his pants below his waist and is exposing his skin or intimate clothing, it is a crime and the person can be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.” It is fortunate that this archaic law was retracted, or Calvin Klein and thongs may never have achieved such notoriety. On the other hand, maybe it was the sight of Britney Spears in the early part of THIS century that spurred Louisiana congressman Dick Shepherd to propose the bill in May 2004.

What a Richard!

Sources:
• Who Wears the Trousers? Tickle
• Who Wears the Trousers? Get Lippy
• Trouser, Dictionary.com
• House Bill No. 1626 by Representative Shepherd CRIME: Prohibits wearing pants below the waist (2004)

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.

My online education is not complete. There are, apparently, 10,500,000 (that’s ten and half million) web pages devoted to hilarious gags about men and women (search on ‘men women joke’). ‘Men joke’ yielded 16 million pages, while ‘women joke’ served up 15 million. Analyzing the humor could be an interesting psychology study; are women really the butt of fewer wise-cracks than men? Or is there truly more to laugh about with men?

Of course, there are many serious web sites exploring gender differences. No-one really doubts that men and women are different, but every new scientific (and not so scientific) biology or psychology study yields a new difference (or similarity) between men and women. Most of them are published online, it seems, and I feel compelled to share my new-found education.

An Online Education in Physical Differences between Men and Women
The Women’s Sports Foundation believes a fair boxing competition is possible between a man and a woman as long as they are matched for physical variables. This is hard to imagine when protective gear for two such different physical variables is required. A UK study shows that men often achieve better sports performance times because of testosterone (let’s face it—it is the answer to everything). This male hormone encourages the production of hemoglobin (the stuff than carries oxygen around in the blood) and as a result men can produce more energy and achieve better performance times. A University of Michigan study indicates that in a group of men and women of comparable height, weight, and fitness, the women were more likely to sustain a particular type of knee injury. Where’s the justice in that?

An Online Education in Differences in Psychology between Men and Women
A psychology study from the University of California, Irvine shows that men and women can have similar IQs, but quite different brains. Men have more gray matter (responsible for information processing) and women have more white matter (responsible for networking information). A special issue of Fortune magazine celebrating women in business reveals that men are blind-sided by crises that women are more likely to anticipate. On the other hand, in an admittedly unscientific survey conducted by Bruce Balsam of Elliot Horowitz & Co., men claim that they would take professional advice for their finances, while women say they would not. This appears to be backed up by another Fortune article that reveals the average 10-month return on stock of 8 female CEO’s. Minus 14.8%. Sigh.

The Ultimate Online Education Trivia
Perhaps the most riveting piece of Internet nonsense (I’m beginning to think that online education is an oxymoron) comes from The Linux Documentation Project. The “How To” section includes instruction on “the 3 button serial mouse,” “3D graphics modeling and rendering,” “802.1X port-based authentication,” and, of course, “How to Encourage Women in Linux.” I’m sure it’s very sexist to assume that women need to be encouraged, but men, presumably, do not. Worthy of a psychology study, for sure.

Does anyone actually know what Linux is?

Sources:
• Female and male athletes seem to respond to training in a comparable manner. Peak Performance
• The Art of the Decision, by Janet Guyton; and Hall of Fame, by Eugenia Levenson, Fortune, Nov. 14, 2005
• Contact Sports - Male Versus Female Competition in Boxing: The Foundation Position, Women’s Sports Foundation
• Intelligence in Men and Women is a Gray and White Matter, (2005), University of California, Irvine
• Knee Injuries Likelier for Female Athletes, The University Record (March 5, 2001)

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.

A 30-year old man is hospitalized with a severe head injury and has to undergo psychological assessment. The psychologist shifts uncomfortably and says gravely, “I’m afraid we have no choice but to perform a brain transplant. We have a 20-year-old female brain at a cost of $2,000 or a 70-year-old male brain for $50,000. I’ll leave you to think about which you’d prefer.”

The man thinks smugly how the higher price must prove that even an old male brain is superior to a young female brain. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have $50,000 and he decides he’d better find out if the female brain has any redeeming features. He has his BlackBerry with him and starts researching on the Internet.

The Truth About the Male Brain Versus the Female Brain
He discovers that males have, on average, bigger brains, and that there are some traits that can be attributed more frequently to men and some to women. It seems that men may tend to be better map readers, although they hate to ask for directions; and women perhaps are better at reading body language, although they always fail to understand that men are not mind-readers. He knows the psychologist will be back soon and hurries to check if there is a published psychological assessment verifying male or female superiority. From Samson and Delilah to Brad and Angelina, he finds that although there are certainly differences between men and women, there is no definitive evidence to support superiority of gray matter in either gender.

The Psychologist Returns
The only logical conclusion the man can draw is that the male brain is superior, even though he found no evidence to support this. He makes his decision just as the psychologist returns. “I’ve decided,” he says, “$50,000 is a lot of money, but I must have the superior male brain.” The (female) psychologist smiles wryly. “Whatever gave you that idea?” she asks, “The reason the male brain is more expensive is because it has never been used.”

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.

You don’t need an emotional intelligence test to tell you that people aren’t all the same. Some of us march to the beat of a drum so very different that other people can’t even hear it. When it comes to sex (an emotional test in and of itself for some) the differences in responses to negative emotions appear to be both gender and personality driven. You might be surprised to know that if you’re in the mood, your partner’s bad mood might not be bad news.

In short, having a real bad day makes some people long for love, according to research recently published in the Journal of Sex Research.

Female Emotional Intelligence and Sex
Basic emotional intelligence tells us that nobody wants to have sex when they’re depressed. Right? And the last thing anyone wants when they’re nail-bitingly anxious is a roll in the hay. For most women, this is true, since depression and anxiety decrease both sexual interest and response. However, one in ten women connects depression with sexual desire, and in 23% of college women anxiety means passion. These women actually become more interested in sex, and more physically responsive, when they’re down or anxious.

Male Emotional Intelligence and Sex
Apparently we can now locate jokes about the male bad mood in the same place as jokes about the location of the male brain. (Don’t think about that too much…) A significant number of men, it seems, want sex no matter what. Depression and anxiety just fan their eternal flames. No surprise there.

Emotional Intelligence Test Reliability
The Mood and Sexuality Questionnaire on which these conclusions are based rely on self-reporting, like the EQ SQ personality tests. As researchers caution, such assessments as these can’t always make finely tuned distinctions. However, if you take the tests simply for your own benefit, what reason do you have to be less than completely truthful (even unwitttingly)?

Emotional Intelligence Ignored
The link between bad days and good sex for some men and women isn’t just an interesting factoid, and you probably shouldn’t rely on it being true for the majority of men or women. Nevertheless, if you ARE thinking about consolation sex, consider the practical consequences. In men, whose eqs tend to be lower anyway, negative moods are also associated with risky sex–no condoms, more partners, casual encounters.

Perhaps everyone should take the EQ SQ tests as part of the prelude?

Ahem.

Sources:
• The Relationship Between Negative Mood and Sexuality in Heterosexual College Women and Men, by Amy D. Lykins, Erick Janssen, and Cynthia A. Graham. Journal of Sex Research 43.2 (May 2006).

About the author
Wendy Croix is a freelance writer and systematizing female whose favorite movie is “The Last Seduction,” a neo-noir about a woman with no eq at all.

Wrap a baby in a pink blanket and adults coo and smile, speaking softly and sweetly to the little “girl.” Wrap the same baby in a blue blanket and adults bounce it up and down, speaking loudly to the little “boy.” At least, that’s how I remember it.

Call it a personality test (the endurance kind…), call it an example of the earliest social education. These scenes from Nova’s 1980 documentary on gender stereotyping “The Pinks and the Blues” have stayed with me, though the program aired twenty-five years ago. PBS archives say, “this program graphically and powerfully illustrates the ways in which adults create gender characteristics in infants according to their sex.”

Are Gender Stereotypes “Made”?
Created? The female brain and the male brain are made, they’re not inborn? Yes, some folks argue, gender stereotying at all levels is not natural, it’s a product of our upbringing. The fancy name for this group is “social constructionists.”

Are Gender Stereotypes “Born”?
On the other side of the fence are psychologists, like Simon Baron-Cohen, who agree that socialization (for example, the cooing and bouncing) is important. However, “what we’ve found is if you go back in time to when children are very small, you still find these sex differences even before experience or socialization has had much chance to have an effect.”

Baron-Cohen cites an oft-cited finding: “Little girls will look longer at a human face, and little boys will look longer at a mechanical mobile suspended above the crib.”

I can imagine the constructionist interpretation: The little girl sees a human face and anticipates happily the sweetness and caress, inviting it by holding the gaze. The little boy sees a human face and averts eyes quickly–anything to avoid the bouncing, jiggling, and yelling that must follow. “Gimme the damn mobile. Ah, what a relief!”

What does this mean to you and me?
Does it really matter whether the many and varied factors that determine our scores on the EQ SQ personality tests are hardwired or socially determined? Yes, says the social constructionist. You’ve been shaped to be the “you” that you are. So, you can change your rock bottom EQ score and forge ahead with that career in social work if you really want to. And, if you’re a boy, you can learn to love pink.

On the other hand, if that low EQ and high SQ is hardwired, it’s probably telling you that a technical education would be an easier option for you.

And that you really do prefer the mechanical mobile to the human face.

Sources:
• The Pinks and the Blues, Nova (1980)
• Interview: Simon Baron-Cohen discusses tracking causes of autism back to the womb, by Alex Chadwick. Day to Day (NPR) Aug 15, 2005.

About the author
Tamise Van Pelt, Ph.D., is a systematizing female who was stripped of her pink blanket by a marauding band of social constructionists when she insisted that her low EQ score was genetic.

23% of men access porn sites on company time either on purpose or “by accident” (yeah, yeah). Only 12% of women admit to having viewed porn sites for any reason. Websense elucidated these findings in its sixth annual Web@Work survey. In addition, the study indicated that more men than women access the Internet from work for personal surfing.

The Male Online Experience
Men spend more time online: they logon more, are more likely to be broadband users, purchase more, pay bills more, research more, download more, and are more interested in the technology. Men are more likely to communicate with organizations. These are highlights from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

The Female Online Experience
The Pew/Internet report goes on to say that women use the Internet more for communication–emails, sharing news, planning events, and forwarding funny jokes and stories. Women include a far wider range of topics and activities in their emails. Women are also more likely to communicate with friends and relatives.

The Internet and EQ:SQ Theory
Overall, women use the Internet only very sligthly less than men. However, as with the male versus female intelligence debate, it seems that the empathizing-systemizing theory appears to hold true for the Internet. The way men and women use the Internet is different. That’s not to say that men never use the Internet for communicating with friends and relatives or that no women embrace the new technologies of the Internet fully. But, on average, women are the communicators and men are the technophiles.

Equality on The Internet
As we saw with higher education, it seems historial opportunities and aspirations influence womens’ use of the Internet. Women over thirty trail behind men online; however, women under thirty and black women use the Internet more than their male colleagues. Oddly, unlike career choice, most women probably don’t mind having it pointed out that they use the Internet differently to men. They can accept this “inequality” quite smugly. So why do women want to be “equal” at work?

The Last Word on The Internet
There’s another area where women are catching up to men, too. According to Websense, in their 2004 survey 100% women who visited porn sites said they did so unintentionally. In the 2005 survey 11% women who visited porn sites said they visited these less-than salubrious sites on purpose.

Progress, indeed.

Sources:
• Surfing the Web at Work May Be as Addictive as a Cup of Joe, 2005, Websense, Inc., Sixth Annual Web@Work Study
• How Women and Men Use the Internet, 2005, Pew Internet & American Life Project

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.

Women have always been “the fairer sex” and, no doubt, many arguments can be made on the esthetics of beauty for and against this. However, when it comes down to it, this is a subjective observation. What about cleverness? Are there objective measures that can indicate categorically if the male brain or the female brain has the greatest capacity for intelligence?

There are many professional and self-assessment tests around to measure the supposed “intelligence” of males and females. Our very own EQ and SQ tests sit alongside other emotional intelligence tests and a vast range of personality tests that purport to elucidate the truth about male and female brains. But what do the facts say?

What the Statistics Say about Male Versus Female Intelligence
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports that in 2004 17-year old females outperformed males in reading, while 17-year old males outperformed females in mathematics. This would seem to support the notion that male and female “intelligence” is different but not that one gender is cleverer than the other.

Have Women Become More Intelligent in the last 30 Years?
Another study from NCES highlights the changes in womens’ higher education since 1970. From being the minority of undergraduates in 1970, women became the majority in 2001. This trend is projected to increase through 2013. Does this mean that women have become cleverer?

The Truth About Women’s Intelligence
NCES examines the increase in women undergraduates in different sectors of the population and the results are telling. In the period from 1999 to 2000 women comprised 63% black undergraduates, 62% students age 40 or older, and 70% single parents. It seems, then, that the increase in intelligent women is associated more with groups that historically have had less opportunity (or perhaps desire) to further their education.

The real truth is that this tells us nothing about the innate intelligence of either gender. It tells us that more women are seeking to become better educated but nothing about whether they are able to learn more effectively (surely one measure of intelligence).

Unless, of course, the pursuit of knowledge per se is an indication of superior intelligence, in which case women are taking the lead in the gender intelligence battle.

Sources:
• Trends in Educational Equity for Girls & Women, 2004, National Center for Education Statistics
• Gender Differences in Participation and Completion of Undergraduate Education and How They Have Changed Over Time, by Katharin Peter and Laura Horn, 2005, National Center for Education Statistics

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.