Google+ Positive Psychologist: Built for hunting

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Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Built for hunting

Go right! Stop! You are going too fast! There is a bus ahead of you. Watch out!

Have you ever faced this from your pillion rider? My guess is you would have. If you have, then you would have explained that you have been driving for a long time and that you know all these things happen but the anxiety of the rider behind you is not relieved. You end up doing the same thing when some one else is driving and you are in the back seat. It is human tendency to comment and suggest. What is the solution? Is there an explanation for this?

Well here it is.

MEN are generally better than women on tests of spatial ability, such as mentally rotating an object through three dimensions or finding their way around in a new environment. But a new study suggests that under some circumstances a woman’s way of navigating is probably more efficient.

The theory is that the male strategy is the most useful for hunting prey; chasing an antelope, say, would mean running a long way over a winding route. But having killed his prey, the hunter would want to make a beeline for home rather than retrace his steps exactly. Women, by contrast, would be better off remembering landmarks and retracing the paths to the most productive patches of plants.

The research suggests that in certain circumstances women are better at navigating than men. Which might lend some comfort to a man desperately searching for an item in a supermarket while his exasperated wife methodically moves around the aisles filling the shopping trolley. He is simply not cut out for the job, evolutionarily speaking.



Want a simple explanation? Give him sometime and see how he drives. Either he would slow down(when you are riding with him) or you would get used to it. What say guys?

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