Why Don't Girls Think Like Boys?

Do you believe that only boys do well in science? Does it seem to you that girls have better vocabularies than boys? In your opinion, are boys better at building things? If your answer to each of those questions is "Yes," you are right, according to an article in Current Science. There are exceptions, but here are the facts.

On the average, males score higher on tests that measure mathematical reasoning, mechanical ability, and problem-solving skills. Females show superior ability in tests measuring vocabulary, spelling, and memory. But these differences will probably not always exist. In the future, a person's abilities may not be determined by sex. As one scientist says, "Nothing is impossible for a person to be or do."

In several recent studies, young babies have been observed and tested to discover how different abilities are developed. A scientific team headed by Jerome Kagan, a psychologist at Harvard University, is studying the thinking ability of children 11 1/2 months old. The test is a simple one. The baby, while seated on its mother's lap, watches a "show" on a small theater stage.

In act 1 of the show, an orange-colored block is lifted from a blue box and moved slowly across the stage. Then it is returned to the box. This is repeated six times. Act 2 is similar, except that the orange block is smaller. Baby boys do not seem to notice the difference in the size of the block, but girls immediately become excited and begin to make noises that sound like language. They seem to be trying to talk.

It is known that bones, muscles, and nerves develop faster in baby girls. Usually, too, baby girls talk at an earlier age than boys do. Scientists think there is a physical reason for this. They believe that nerves in the left side of the brain develop faster in girls than in boys. And it is this side of the brain that strongly influences an individual's ability to use words, to spell, and to remember things.

By the time they start to school, therefore, little girls have an advantage that boys do not have. Girls are physically more ready to remember facts, to spell, and to read. These, of course, are skills that are important in elementary school.

But what have the boys been doing in the years before starting school? They have been developing something called aggression. An aggressive person has courage and energy. He feels strong and independent. He is often the first one to start a fight.

What produces aggression in little boys? It has long been assumed that aggression is caused by male hormones. Scientists today believe that male hormones are only part of the explanation, however. They say aggressiveness in boys is also caused by mothers.

A team of psychologists discovered this by placing mothers and their one-year-old babies in a room filled with toys. The room had a wall through which the scientists could observe what happened without being seen. They took notes on everything the mothers and babies did.

Here is a sample of those notes, taken during the observation of a baby boy and his mother:

"Baby leans against mother. Looks up at her. She speaks to him. She turns him around. He walks away, picks up toy cat. Goes to mother, drops cat, and leans against her. Looks up at her. She turns him around."

From such observations and from conversations with mothers, the scientists learned something about the treatment of baby boys and baby girls. While the mother keeps her daughter close to her, she trains her son to move away from her, to develop independence.

Consequently, it is easy to understand why little girls often perform school tasks better than boys, especially if the task requires sitting still, obeying commands, and accepting the teacher's ideas. A girl may pass easily through the first few grades. While boys of her age bring home low marks, the girl may easily get good grades. Girls seem to have "better brains" in school. Why, then, do so few girls become great scientists? Why is the most important thinking in adult society done by men?

According to scientists, the answer is aggression. Because boys are aggressive, they refuse to accept other people's solutions; they insist upon solving problems for themselves. Thus, while little girls are getting high marks in school for remembering what the teacher has told them, little boys are learning to think in more independent ways.

In the adult world, the aggressive person is usually the one who gets the big salary, the great responsibility, the powerful job. And since males are trained at an early age to be aggressive, males are more often chosen for key positions.

Many people believe this situation is wrong. They think women could be successful in science and industry if they were trained to be independent and problem-solving, as boys are.

为什么女孩不能像男孩那样考虑问题? 

您认为只有男孩才能在科学上有所建树吗？您觉得女孩驾驭词汇的孩子比男孩强吗？依您之见，是不是男孩才最擅长创造一些东西？按着《现代科学》上刊登的一篇文章的观点，如果您对这些问题中的每个问题都回答说"是的，"那你就答对了。但是，这里举出下列事实，足以证明也有例外的情况。

平均说来，每逢在测试数学推理、机械修理的能力，测试解决问题的技巧时，男性的总分总是高于女性。女性在测试词汇量、拼写能力、记忆力方面表现出优越的才能。但是，很可能这些判别并不是永恒不变的。在将来，一个人各方面的才能并不是由性别来决定的。正如一位科学家所说的，"任何一个人只要你想成为一个什么样的人，只要你想做某件事，都不是不能成功的。"

最近做了几次调查研究，观察并测试了很小的婴儿，以便发现不同的能力是怎样培养出来的。以哈佛大学的心理学家杰罗姆o卡根为首的科研组对一批11个半月大的婴儿的思考能力进行了观察。这种测试方法很简单。让婴儿的坐在妈妈的大腿上，观看一个小剧场的舞台上的"表演"。

在第1幕的演出中，把一块橙色的东西从一个蓝色的箱子中拿了起来，然后慢慢地横着从舞台一边移动到另一边。然后再把它放回箱子里去。这样重复做了六遍。这第2幕跟第1幕是相似的，除了那个橙色块小了一点。小男婴儿似乎没注意到这个"块"的大小有什么不同，可是女婴却都立刻激动起来并发现了听起来像是语言的声音。似乎是她们要和人们说话。

众所周知，女婴的骨骼、肌肉和神经都发育得比较快。大多数情况下，女婴也比男婴开始说话时间早。科学家们认为这是因为生理构造不同。他们认为女孩的脑的左侧的神经发育得比男孩快。正是脑的左侧，才强有力地影响着一个人的用词、拼写和记事的能力。

因此，到了他们开始上学读书时，小女孩就有着男孩所不具备的优势。女孩在生理上就更善于记事、拼写和阅读。当然，这一切在小学阶段都是重要的技能。

但是在还没有开始上学之前的几年时间里，男孩子都在干些什么呢？他们都在逐渐养成一种被称为"好侵犯人"的性格。一个惯于侵犯他人的人都有勇气，有力气。他觉得自己身强力壮，凡事自作主张，经常是他，第一个挑起了打架。

是什么使小男孩产生了好侵犯人的性格？长期以来人们一直认为这种好侵犯人的性格是由于男性荷尔蒙引起的。可是，今天科学家们认为男性荷尔蒙只能说明一部分问题。科学家们说，男孩的侵略性也都是由母亲培养出来的。

一组心理学家。把母亲们和她们的一岁大的婴儿都放在一个到处都摆着玩具的房间里，结果就发现了这一事实。这个房间保留有一面墙，通过这面墙科学家们在墙外能观察到房间城所发生的一切情况，却不能被房间里的人发现。他们对母亲们和婴儿们所做的一切都做了笔记。下面就是在观察一个男婴和他母亲的过程中，记下的笔记中的一个片断：

"婴儿偎依着妈。（因为是速记，将虚词尽量删掉了--译者注）。他抬头看她。她跟他说话。她让他转过身去。他走开了，拣起一个玩具猫。回到妈那，他把猫扔了。偎依着她。他抬头看她。她又让他转过身去"。

从几次这类的观察中，从历次同母亲们的谈话中，科学家们知道了对待男婴和女婴的不同方法。母亲尽量让她的女儿躲在自己怀里，可是她却训练她的儿子离开自己，去发展独立自主的精神。

因而，这就很容易明白，为什么小女孩在完成学校布置的各项任务中，都比男孩做得好，特别是像要求静静坐在那里不动，服从命令听指挥、接受老师的思想这样的任务。每一个女孩上学后的头两三年级很容易就能通过考试关。女孩子很容易就能得到高分，而同龄的男孩拿回家的分数却很低。在校读书似乎是女孩的"脑子更好。"那么为什么，几乎很少有女孩能成为伟大的科学家。为什么在成年人最重要的思想都是由男人提出来的？

根据科学家们的意见，答案就是"好侵犯他人"的性格。因为男孩都是好侵犯他人的，他们拒绝接受别人的决定。他们坚持要独立自主地解决问题。就这样，在小女孩因为能记住教师所讲的话而得到高分的时候，而小男孩却正在学习用更加独立自主的方法去考虑问题。

在成年人中，凡好侵犯他人的人通常都是能得到很高的年薪，责任重大，大权在握的人。既然从小男性就被培养成好侵犯他人，上进心强，因而，男性也就更经常地被选拔到关键的岗位上来。

许多人认为这种情况是错误的。他们认为假使妇女们也像男孩一样受过要独立要勇于解决问题这方面的训练，那么，妇女在科学和其他行业中也会像男孩一样取得成功的。