The spatial differences betwee men and women - this is for a gender Essay

The spatial differences betwee men and women - this is for a gender psychology class - Essay Example an others but certain abilities like spatial understanding, mathematical abilities and verbal skills have been shown as having a certain gender component. Kimura (2002) reports the generally accepted observations for human and non human males which show that males of the species tend to have more aggressive behaviors than the females. She goes on to say that, â€Å"We also know that in general males are better at a variety of spatial or navigational tasks (Kimura, 2002, p. 1).† Kimura (2002) is in agreement with Putrevu (2001) who suggests that the differences originate from the biology and the evolutionary path which has been taken by the genders in humans. This focus on evolutionary psychology goes a long way in helping us understand why it is important for men to be more aggressive than the female of the species. For instance, for biological reasons, including pregnancy, childbirth, and nurturing the child, women have made more significant investments in their children. Therefore, women who are more agreeable and nurturing may have caused better chances for the survival of their offspring and created an evolutionary advantage for their genetic code. In this regard, where women have greater sensitivity to nonverbal cues it could be useful to them in evolutionary terms for rearing children. Biological differences certainly extend to the functioning of the brain since one hemisphere of the brain comes across as being dominant for various kinds of processing. Research on the topic shows that the male brain is more functionally lateralized and the female brain is more integrated. This is the basic reason for why men exhibit superior spatial abilities and women excel in verbal and linguistic skills (Putrevu, 2001). Researchers also suggest that sexual hormones and early formation environmental factors are also connected with differences in perceptual-motor skills observed between men and women (Kimura, 2002). Despite the acceptance of fact and research which is the