Originally posted by: Tommunist
male to female comparison: apparently there is a problem as that guy at Harvard caught serious flack for it.
All psychologists would acknowledge the existence of average differences between men and women on a range of tasks. The differences are not necessarily huge, but average differences between men and women definately exist:
"Differences between men and women in cognitive pattern are now well
established. On average, men outperform women on a variety of spatial
tasks, with the largest difference occurring on tests of spatial
rotation and manipulation, where an object must be identified in an
altered orientation, or after certain imaginary manipulations such as
folding. Men also excel at tests of mathematical reasoning, with the
differences between sexes especially marked at the higher end of the
distribution. Women, in contrast are generally better able to recall
the spatial layout of an array of objects, to scan perceptual arrays
quickly to find matching objects, and to recall verbal material,
whether word lists or meaningful paragraphs.
Some of these differences are found early in development and last
throughout the life span. The sex differences in verbal memory and in
spatial orientation and math reasoning have been found across
cultures. Most researchers in this field attribute the differences to
our long evolutionary history as hunter-gatherers, in which the
division of labour between men and women was quite marked. Men more
often travelled farther from the home base during hunting and
scavenging, whereas women gathered food nearer home. In parallel with
nonhuman studies, this would tend to select for different navigational
strategies, with men, for example, relying more on geometric cues, and
women more on landmark cues."
http://www.sfu.ca/~dkimura/articles/constraints.htm
Originally posted by: Tommunist
diff between blacks and whites: i see as much of a difference here versus gay - mind you i think a large part of the difference is caused by societal pressures/influences.
What's interesting about the differneces between men and women on various tasks is that they exist cross-culturally, suggesting they could be biologically mediated.
Originally posted by: Tommunist
the generous thing: you are just being silly now 😛
I could give a serious, science-backed explanation of why gay males are more likely to be friendly towards other men than heterosexual guys are, tho.
Originally posted by: Tommunist
I think the violence thing is also largely caused by society - a homosexual should be capable of just as much violence as anyone else.
Should? We are talking about what is, not what "should" be.
Also, I am not saying gay men don't express anger or hiostility, I'm saying they express it in different ways than heterosexual men do. I think gay men are more likely to express their hostility verbally than heterosexual men. (I think heterosexual men are more likely to express hostility physically, than are gay men.)
Are women as violent as men? Should women be capable of just as much violence as men? In fact, studies indicate women do express anger and hostility in less physical ways than do men (they are less likely to resort to physical violence). I am saying I observe a similar effect with gay men. I'd guess gay men are in-between women, and heterosexual men, in terms of their tendency to resort to physical violence as a way of expressing frustration, anger, hostility. Of course, I am talking averages here, and their are always exceptions to the general rule. Of course their are women and gay men who employ physical violence, and of course their are many heterosexual men who eshew violence altogether.
Originally posted by: Tommunist
and back to a former post you made regarding gays being more creative: if you really want to go down this road you should start listing things that heterosexuals are apparently better at (since there is a difference they should be better at something right?). I just find this line of thinking you are taking to be destructive to goal of acceptance by society in general.
Why is it destructive to acceptance to point out that gay people are different than straight people? I am not arguing for different treatment, I think all people, gay, straight, male, female, should be treated equally before the law. However this topic was about seeing gay people as having something valuable and distinct or unique to contribute to society. I am simply pointing out that gay people do seem to bring some abilities to the table, which everyone can benefit from.
I think there are many things that heterosexual men are better at. E.g., fighting, making war, expressing beligerance and aggression, reproducing, over-populating the planet, religious hypocrisy, sexual hypocrisy, sports, football, building things, torturing people and animals, dominating and subjugating women, etc. The list goes on.
🙂
Originally posted by: Tommunist
If you can get some real research on the matter of "what gays are better/worse" at I'd be happy to consider it and think critically about it but to make these blanket statements of - "well homosexuals are great at this or that more so than heterosexuals" is pretty prejudiced I think.
Prejudicd, or simply acknowledging the facts?
All I am saying is that gay men are different to heterosexual men on average, and that the differences might prove to be an advantage under certain circumstances or when engaged in certain endeavors.
There is actually a growing body of evidence on the cognitive differences between gays and heterosexuals.
These differences are small, and they are AVERAGE differences, but they are statistically significant:
Gay men read maps like women
Gay men employ the same strategies for navigating as women - using landmarks to find their way around - a new study suggests. But they also use the strategies typically used by straight men, such as using compass directions and distances. In contrast, gay women read maps just like straight women, reveals the study of 80 heterosexual and homosexual men and women. "Gay men adopt male and female strategies. Therefore their brains are a sexual mosaic," explains Qazi Rahman, a psychobiologist who led the study at the University of East London, UK. "It's not simply that lesbians have men's brains and gay men have women's brains." The stereotype that women are relatively poor map readers is borne out by a reasonable bulk of scientific literature, notes Rahman. "Men, particularly, excel at spatial navigation." The new study might help researchers understand how cognitive differences and sexual orientation develop in the womb, he says.
There's heaps of other differences, which I don't have time to google for right now:
-gay boys, when they are kids, are MUCH less likely to engage in "rough and tumble" play than are boys who later become heterosexual.
-gay men have better verbal fluency and verbal IQs than heterosexual men; also, gay men speak more than heterosexual men (say more words in a day)
-heterosexual men are better at throwing objects to a target than are gay men
-there are differences in voice/ speaking characteristics between gay and heterosexual males (differences in pronounciation)
-gay men are slightly more likely to be left-handed
Researchers talk about a sex "cross-shift" in the cognitive attributes of gay males, by which they mean gay male's have cognitive attributes that are slightly feminized, or part-way between males and females.
