Examine the instructions for the Week 1 Journal Topic assignment and discuss whi

Question

Examine the instructions for the Week 1 Journal Topic assignment and discuss which of the three sections you will be choosing to write on for your assignment. Discuss why you chose that topic and how further knowledge of that topic will enhance your learning. Finally, ask your peers to make suggestions on where you can get further information about that topic from the internet. Write in complete sentences and use proper APA citations as necessary.

Week one journal topic is Gender Differences in Brain Processing.

Explanation / Answer

I would chose to focus upon recent research finding on the Gender differences in Brain Processing. This topic lies at the intersection of to major human sciences i.e. 'psychology and sociology'. I've checked out with friends and here is my write-up

Gender differences in brain processing

There is no doubt about the psychological differences in terms of thinking, motivations, perceptions and behaviours between males and females. Today with the technological advances in methods and techniques to investigate cognitive functioning of live brains, psychology is touching new frontiers and addressing problems that were considered difficult to investigate scientifically. One of the important research problem being addressed by psychologists is the differences in brain processing between genders. Scientists generally study brains of males and females in terms of – processing, chemistry, structure, and activity.

Some of key research finding in this area are as follows –

Processing –males use grey matter more than seven time as compared to females whereas females use their white matter ten time more than males. The grey matter areas in brain are specialized in their functions and task specific allowing to focus upon a particular task. The white matter constitutes the networking grid that connects various processing centres, including grey matter, of the brain. The behavioral implications of this differential brain processing is that man are often great at focusing upon single task (one at a time) however women are multitasker and they can easily transisiotn form one task to another.

Chemistry – males and females also differ significantly in their brain composition of neurochemicals, though both the brains comprise of these neurochemicals but the composition differs in proportions. These chemical are serotonin – that helps to relax, testosterone – related to sex and aggressive behaviour, estrogen – associated with female growth and reproduction, oxytocin – basically related to bonding and relationships behaviours. It has been found that males process less of serotonin and oxytocin than females.

Structure – various sub-components of brain and their size and relationships. Females have larges in size and more densly-connected hippocampus – memory centre. Further, the division of labour between right and left hemispheres of brains are differentially organized among males and females. Females having their verbal centres in both the hemispheres whereas males have it only on the left side. Males also have lesser connections between verbal (words) centres with their sensory-emotional memories. The implications of these differences in brain structure are that

                Women tend to absorb and retain more of sensorial and emotive information in their surroundings during day to day business. Women can use more words while describing incidents, stories and have advantage in discussing emotion and senses together.

Brian Activity – Women have higher levels of blood flows throughout the brain (white matter activity) and consequently they ruminate upon the emotive memories more often than men. Due to difference in brain design man reflect upon emotional memories more briefly and quickly move to analyse the incident or to move to an altogether new task. This often give a feeling to an outside observer that boys tend to avoid experiencing feelings and emotions.

Gender differences in brain processing

There are many more differences in brain processing between two genders. These differences have critical implications for psychological functioning of male sand females and their differential

Gregory J Jantz. (Feb 27, 2014). Brain Differences Between Genders. [blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hope-relationships/201402/brain-differences-between-genders

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse E
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.