Men are from Mars & Women are from Venus -Nature vs Nurture?

@SViswan (12051)
India
September 23, 2007 4:18am CST
I was reading the book the other day (again!trying to figure out if it did make any sense). Men and women are different and they think differently. Agreed. But are all these differences explained by social conditioning or is it biology? Or do you think that they aren't different at all (except for the physical differences)?
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3 responses
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
23 Sep 07
I think that almost all of the differences are from Nurture rather than biology, but there are some areas where it is hard to say. When I was a student, the psychology department at my college was huge, but there was only one female professor. It is not clear whether she was relegated to doing research on the bonding on infants with their mothers because she was a woman in the same way that I chose language studies over engineering because women were so vehemently discouraged from advancing in the sciences in my day--or if she chose that field because as a woman that was the area that interested her most. Whichever way it was, she became famous for proving that a young child deprived of contact with the mother grows up differently from what used to be regarded as a normal child. But the question that went unanswered at that time was whether the same child would encounter similar developmental problems if s/he were separated from the father. My point is that I don't know how peopl have effectively nurture equal behavior in a child when society doesn't have equal behavior in the research and analysis of that behavior. How could we ever know? People think of social conditioning as something that can be changed, and to a certain extent it is, but in some senses it is even more restrictive than physical differences.
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@SViswan (12051)
• India
24 Sep 07
Do you mean to say that we condition our boys to be boys and our girls to be girls? I have two boys. My older one (as a baby) never wanted to play with cars (though we did get some as gifts). My younger one would automatically pick up a car rather than any other toy. He seems to have typical boyish traits too. I don't believe in stereotypes. And I do feel that we can bring up the child the way we want to. Of course, they do have personal traits and likes....but beyond that....boys will be rough and girls will be soft kind of generalizations are not something that I agree with. I was wondering if everyone thought the same.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
24 Sep 07
People really do disagree about this, but I believe the same as you do, that the opinions parents and society reveal have an enormous impact on how children turn out. Often, though, it isn't so much what they say that is important but what they do. The only thing that is for sure is this: kids are not stupid! They will be and do what they want in the long run.
• United States
27 Nov 07
I believe there are biological reasons and social reasons why people think how they do.But you shouldn't say All women think this or All men think that because there is always an exception.
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@SViswan (12051)
• India
27 Nov 07
I agree. I'd rather go by individuals than generalize. Thanks!
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• Finland
23 Sep 07
For sure men and women are different not only for the physical difference but also for the way of thinking. Women normally judge something by instinct but men, logic. Don't know why either.
@SViswan (12051)
• India
23 Sep 07
Why do they think differently? Do you think we bring up our boys and girls to think differently or do you think they are just wired that way to be different? Couldn't it be that the same thing is called instinct when it is for a woman and logic for a man?