Women’s logic: physiology or social myth?

“My son, an eleventh grader at the Physics and Mathematics Lyceum, often says that I have no logic,” says 40-year-old Lilia. — Probably, from the point of view of natural sciences and formulations, this is how it looks. But if we communicated in his language, it would turn out the following: “Will you eat?” — «Yes». — «How are you?» — «Fine». And of course I want details! I ask a lot of questions, and sometimes I speak for two, I ask and answer myself, drawing conclusions. And immediately I get: “Where is the logic here?”

For 37-year-old Arina, mentions of logic, or rather, its absence, constantly appear in conversations with her husband. “Recently we discussed a trip for the New Year somewhere together. They started for health, ended for peace: they quarreled. It all started with the fact that I began to list to him all the options that I found on tourism sites. The husband said that he was not ready to listen to this confusion. He, they say, only needs the sea and a bed in a hotel. I spent so much time looking for information! He doesn’t even want to listen.»

Why don’t we understand each other? Is it really a matter of peculiarities of thinking and formulations?

Where is the logic?

Translated from the Greek logos means «word», «reason», «reasoning». Logic is the science of right thinking, whose task is to determine how to come to a conclusion from premises and get true knowledge about the subject of thinking.

“But, as the father of logic, Aristotle, said, it is more of a tool than thinking itself,” notes cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist Dmitry Kovpak. Logic is what can make thinking more efficient. If we put a spoon in a transparent glass, we will see how it is “torn” into pieces. Moreover, we understand through experience and with the help of logic that this is not so, that this is an optical illusion. Logic helps us, despite our own impressions — «this is how I see, this is how I hear, so this is how it is» — to be closer to reality.

A classic logical fallacy that almost everyone makes, regardless of gender, is to confuse “after this” with “because of this.” The student put on happy red shorts for the exam or put a patch under his heel and passed it with a five. Not only did the ritual help. Quite often the conclusion is made in this way, although the second does not at all follow from the first. If we analyze the facts, it turns out that the student simply knew the subject well or attended classes and was remembered by the teacher.

Logic teaches us to take into account all the variety of facts, and not to choose those that we like best, and helps us make fewer mistakes, the psychotherapist believes.

We are more than thoughts

Often, when we talk about logic, we mean intelligence. But for some time now, psychologists have ceased to measure it mechanically, with a “ruler”. The intelligence system is wider than the well-known IQ.

“We better understand others through the emotional pattern of behavior, through empathy, better contact, skills for recognizing and expressing emotions,” Dmitry Kovpak is convinced. — Emotional intelligence is no less important for social functioning than verbal-logical. Sometimes a person gave a little information, but the way he said it sometimes works almost magically.

And this is true for both men and women. But there is a difference in the styles of thinking and the manifestation of the various areas of the mind that are involved at the moment.

“A logically thinking person is one who can reason sensibly and clearly, relying on facts, and not on interpretations and sensory experience,” says clinical psychologist Lucia Suleimanova. “But there is also associative thinking, which is closer to women than to men.”

Association can be called something that is not obvious, what is hidden from us. For example, a mother sees that her child is behaving differently than usual — naughty, blushing. She can guess that he is unwell. The doctor will come to the same conclusion, operating with other facts — symptoms, temperature. Sometimes we catch something in the state of the world or people around by smell and draw conclusions — this also applies to associative thinking.

Both logical and associative thinking are characteristic of both men and women. But for some reason, traditionally men are endowed exclusively with mathematical logic, and women with associative thinking. Is there a «logical explanation» for this?

Earner and keeper of the hearth

Women do exhibit a certain way of thinking and communicating. If you do not take into account the social stereotypes that express themselves in jokes about blondes and the female brain, then you can find a completely scientific explanation.

“A woman has a better command of the word, is more freely oriented in dialogue. When men in the distant past went to hunt for a mammoth, they didn’t have to talk, explains Dmitry Kovpak, on the contrary, silence contributed to safety and provided more chances for a successful hunt, active talkers were often eaten or they were left without prey. They were well oriented in the surrounding space, were intuitive «topographers», reading the signs in nature — a broken branch, a large tree, a steep rock. Women stayed at the hearth, cooked food, took care of children, while they actively communicated. In modern women, the area responsible for speech is more pumped than in men.

This is a legacy of hundreds of thousands of years that helped a woman develop.

Differences begin already in childhood. While the boy is playing outdoor games or war, the girl chooses mother-daughters, «shop» and home improvement, mastering the verbal style of interaction. “She is interested in motives. She learns to form more mature communication with the help of role-playing behavior than the boys who are fighting at this moment, ”says Dmitry Kovpak.

“A woman has long been engaged in gathering, which requires special attention. The ability to associate helps her understand that in a clearing where there is one mushroom, more mushrooms can be found. From the point of view of evolution and care for offspring, this is a valuable skill, — Lucia Suleymanova is sure. — After all, a woman not only bears a child, but also raises it. Thanks to associative thinking, she is able not only to take into account the facts, but to pick up vague signals, build conjectures and assumptions. All this is useful to protect, develop and educate the child.”

But communicative competence has a downside — emotionality and self-doubt. “Americans have conducted studies that found that girls are more anxious when doing math problems than boys. They have already been taught in the understanding that they are bad mathematicians. Girls try to attribute their successes and failures to external circumstances, such as the complexity of tasks. Boys attribute success exclusively to themselves, ”explains Lucia Suleimanova.

Science has long been built, focusing on mathematical, «male» logic. There are only 1901 women among Nobel laureates from 49 to the present day, and the vast majority of awards are in the field of literature and peace prizes, but not in the field of natural sciences.

But if earlier feminists attributed such striking results to discrimination by men, now, when in recent decades nothing prevents women from learning and developing on an equal footing with men, and men are ready to go on maternity leave, the number of Nobel laureates among the weaker sex has not increased. So maybe it’s not about the infringement of women’s rights, but something else? For example, in our physiology?

Testosterone to the rescue

On the one hand, we control our body, on the other hand, it controls us, Dmitry Kovpak believes: “The talk of the town is pregnancy, premenstrual syndrome, which are played up in jokes more than once. The influence of hormones on us is great. The physical condition will influence thinking, in some cases creating a tunnel perception. For example, during the flu, we see the world very narrowly, as if there are blinkers before our eyes.”

Thyroid hormones can speed up thinking if their level is high, and, conversely, slow down if it is low. Their low levels can cause a condition similar to the clinical symptoms of depression.

“There are studies demonstrating the effect of testosterone on the ability to solve mathematical problems. With an increase in testosterone levels, women are more successful in performing spatial thinking tasks. The higher it is, the faster the female brain. Androgynous women show the most successful results. But for men, a high level of testosterone, on the contrary, interferes. Their «thoughts» at this time are clearly not in their heads. They are macho now, ”explains Lucia Suleymanova.

We are hostages of our body, but it is not this, Dmitry Kovpak is convinced, that most often hinders us, but a set of psychological restrictions and social clichés.

Borders are blurring

The stereotype that has prevailed for many decades has so far prescribed: a girl must finish school, a university, and in no case should she leave it. “This template will prevent her from becoming Zuckerberg and Jobs, who gave up on higher education, which did not affect their success in the least, rather the opposite. The girl is ordered to be consistent, this helps her to be stable and stable in relationships, create and maintain the integrity of the family, ”explains Dmitry Kovpak.

Social and family system clichés often govern our lives, our choices. Therefore, speaking of male and female logic, we rather mean the habits of thinking and making choices. “The stereotype of the conditional blonde dictates the appropriate style of behavior. The image of the Barbie doll suggests the priority of appearance over intelligence. But the smart blondes themselves break this stereotype.

However, recently there has been another trend: both men and women go beyond the existing stereotypes. In many countries, the difference between the sexes is leveled. The concept of sex has been replaced by the concept of gender — not biological, but social sex. Women and men serve on equal terms in the army, girls and boys are taken to the boy scouts, and previously purely male professions become unisex.

“Transhumanism will definitely force you to write off the usual patterns for scrap,” predicts Dmitry Kovpak. We will become more androids. Thinking and behavior will be unified. Soon they will begin to replace internal organs, change bodies, some kind of crystal will appear on which we can record all information, including neural connections, about a person and transfer it as a file to another. Google CTO Ray Kurzweil’s prediction no longer seems like a fantasy: «In the 70s of the XNUMXst century, a new revolution awaits us, in which not a man and a woman will compete, but people and robots.»

In each other’s language

“For the most part, talking about male and female logic is classic manipulation,” says Lucia Suleimanova. — The reproach of illogicality often arises when a man is simply not ready to listen or wants to prove to a woman that she is less smart than he is. In fact, this is a gender insult. The stories about the blonde are really about him not being ready to accept her associative logic.»

A man speaks specifically, a woman speaks longer, in more complex constructions, adding many images and impressions. He just gets tired of the flow of her information. It is easier for him if the conversation is simpler, and the sentences are shorter: subject and predicate. “A woman wants to get the feeling that she is understood, like her condition, then she calms down,” says the psychologist.

Dry harsh language makes her anxious. To reduce her tension, a man can send her a message with a positive emotional charge, for example: “You are so good, I admire you.” After that, she will be ready to perceive facts and figures. “But in no case should you talk to her from a position from above. In such a dialogue, there is little chance of being heard.