Guys are divergent thinkers, girls are convergent thinkers.

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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Guys are divergent thinkers, girls are convergent thinkers. Guys try to be individuals. They try to be different, unique, they want to stand out among the crowd. So they invest in their creative thinking more readily. Girls, on the other hand, want to form cohesive groups, they want to bond, they want to be just like their peers. So they aim to think like everyone else - that is, those whom they take to be worth imitating. They look for the “right” answers, the “right” ways, and steer clear of the “wrong” ones. Guys, on the other hand, could care less. They want to be themselves.

For men, there is a multitude of possible ways to think, live, and act. There could be a multitude of right answers. Each to his own, they believe. For women, there is only one best, maybe even only one right, way to think, live, and act. They aim to approximate this best way as closely as possible. I’m being hyperbolic, of course, for the difference between the sexes is a lot more blurred than this. Yes, of course there are women who dance to the beat of their own drum without a care in the world for what others think, and yes there are men who want nothing but to conform to what’s socially sanctioned as the best examples for everyone to follow. But I’m making an observation of the averages, and only in comparison to each other.

This convergence of thought, for women, can lead to a lot of competition, for only one can be the best, only one can match the ideal that society holds up in high regards, but it can also lead to a lot of solidification among the group since they all aim to be like this one ideal and thus take on very similar characteristics. Birds of a feather flock together. The competition that we see among men is of a different sort. Men compete when they are in each other’s way, when one must fall for the other to rise. Men are selfish that way. But it also leads to amicability based on impartiality. That is to say, men care less for each other’s business - each other’s unique and sometimes perverse ways - so that judgment of each other’s character is much less in the way of getting along.

Is this a fair assessment of the differences between the sexes? Keep in mind, I often over-simplify and hyperbolize things. I assume the wrinkles and subtle nuances are inconsequential and that my point still stands to a certain degree after all is said and done.

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It sounds very accurate to me - but it only scratches the surface.

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Not to be unresponsive to the OP, but the question i have always been more concerned with is “do great minds think alike?”

not saying that there is anything sexist about your opinion, i just tend to think in terms of an omnisexual measure of thought.

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Um, hi I’m exhibit a. Girl who does everything in her power to REBEL.

You’re very inaccurate. I know plenty of girls, especially young ones, who like to do their own thing.

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But I will grant you this, women are more open and emotional because they’re hormonal and made for mothering. They can also be more submissive because they’re not as strong. This in no way makes them less creative or unique, but it makes them more expressive and even more creative which is why women like to crochet and do art projects and write and chat and decorate and cook more than men who stick to systematic tasks.

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I actually don’t like any of that bullshit, but I hear it’s what women are supposed to do.

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You know, I don’t think people are thinkers, and just about the only time I am not, is when I am asleep. Since I do, I know that we mostly do not think, but live in the world of emotion. People have different strategies for success and survival. And men and women are different, with women more political, and men more individual, with men more linear, and women more holistic, and since their bodies are more nearly tied to nature they seem to trust more in magic, that nature is more tied to them. In my opinion… I live with them, and love them, but I am far from understanding them. For a man, women are one of life’s mysteries, and it is the ultimate insult to them to say you understand them. How can we understand them if we never listen to them?

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How are women more political if out of the 43 presidents we’ve had, none have been in office? Women aren’t observable, absolute artifacts of behavior. To each her, or his, own. You can generalize them, but only on things beyond their control, and women can control a lot.

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Men are superior to Women.

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[size=200]GASP[/size]

ok

you’re right.

But women are way more funner and prettier and they can make BABIES.

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You mean what’s the same about the sexes?

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Creativity is something I’m not so sure about. It’s one of those question marks for me. I think there’s a lot of exceptional women throughout history who have made their mark in art, literature, and other creative endeavors, but if women really are on average more creative than men, it’s got to be in fields we men don’t readily recognize as “creative” (interior design?)

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No more than it would be for anybody else.

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If you have a right foot, and a left foot, and you need each to make any progress; how can you call one superior to the other? Your thinking goes beck to a metaphysical construction of the reality where the creation of men and women was given reason. We were not created. We evolved, as men and women, equally necessary for survival, and in all repects equal. There is not an individual human, exactly. There are individual men, and individual women, but an individual human is a mated pair because anything less is sterile, and so a waste of time, effort, and resources if seen from the perspective of continued survival. Dump the metaphysics and start appreciating women for who they are.

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That is too bad, because men want a world where they can BE babies, and play all day and crap in their britches and have a girl clean up after them. Me too. And not one of us would grow up if a woman did not convince us it was absolutely necessary.

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Not sure what you are gettting at, but at least women listen to each other, and though I guess that they only act as a echo chambre were they hear their own concerns given a voice, that that is often enough.
Come to think of it, there is one worse insult to women. It is gay guys who think that the walk and the talk and the anxiety make them a woman. A woman by choice is not a woman. I trust that it is the futility of being born female in a world dominated by muscles, and testosterone, and bare brutality that is driving the world more and more to jobs anyone can do, and one size fits all everything. If men are becoming more effeminate, then girls are become more manly; and I would prefere that we all become more human, and see that every woman’s point of view is valid. They very often recognize that a world that is not safe for children is not safe for anyone.

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Guys try to be individuals? I don’t think this is anymore true for men than it is women. Many men look up to/emulate their sports heroes (ever heard of that slightly successful ad campaign “Be Like Mike”?), successful businessmen (I don’t think Lee Iococca’s books sell to women only, do you?), and rock gods (can you say “Guitar Hero”?).

Both genders succumb to societal pressures to conform, and to insinuate only women do is disingenuous.

This is also true for women, especially since the dawn of the women’s movement. More women are independent and have the increased freedom to live and act as they choose; they are no longer chained to the “housewife” fate. This, I think, is what worries a lot of men.

But really, who doesn’t strive to have the freedom to think, live, and act on their own terms, it’s part of the human condition to want that, isn’t it?

Ah, the voice of reason rings through. Juggernaut, a million thanks. =D>

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This idea is kinda fucked.

Women are more interested in social things as a general trend, as a hobby or just as an urge they can be more communacative across the board in many situations. This is just a general trend though it says nothing about how they think, whether they engage in ‘group-think’

men get angry a lot more than females. that doesn’t mean 'male thought is angry, we use that anger to reason through circumstances unlike a woman" it makes no sense.

  1. All you need to do is look across religions. Consensus belief is envoked and used just as much by men/women. Men are just as likely as women, across the board, to succumb to ‘group thought’ history gives us too manyy examples, modern religions the same. Its a human tendency, not just a female tendency.

When in scientific discussions, males refer to consensus science just as much as females. In global warming catastrophe claims, males/females seem to be supporting it equally to me. and any situation you could point out; HUMANS ARE BAD FOR IT IN GENERAL.

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We didn’t evolve ‘equally’ actually, whatever that even means applied to biology, I don’t even understand. If we were ‘evolved’ equally, males wouldn’t y’know dwarf females on average, we wouldn’t have different cognitive-spatial abilities, one wouldn’t house the baby while the other didn’t.

We’re differently evolved which means that in plenty of areas men/women are not going to be equals. However, ,the sum of our differences is too small and balanced on each side, for one to say its superior in the other in X context like ‘intelligence’ or ‘reasoning’ or ‘excellence’ or whatever.

But we’re not ‘equal’ only because theres plenty of tasks that males can’t perform like females and vice versa, its just the inequality of strengths/weaknesses is balanced.