Under Threat, Women Bond, Men Withdraw

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=under-threat-women-bond

by fizx • 16 years ago

8 4 16 years ago

fizx• 16 years ago

I don't know how true the whole article is, but I definitely get anti-social under stress. Worst part of being a startup founder, if you ask me.

LiveTheDream2• 16 years ago

The article doesn't suggest higher-level reasons why men withdraw, but my guess would be because they tend to become more focused on a task, at the cost of human interaction. Maybe this is a result of making hard choices in leadership/hunting scenarios - if your hunting buddies are injured by a sabretooth tiger, worrying about them is probably the worst possible short-term reaction because then the sabretooth will get you, too. Kill the beast first and then save your buddies, or everyone dies.

Losing some ability to empathize would help one make hard decisions that benefit the group at the expense of the few. That could be a bad thing if "benefitting the group" becomes crossed with an arbitrary goal, and "the few" becomes "those not in power", but that's well beyond the scope of this topic.

LiveTheDream2• 16 years ago

I wonder if actual anthropologists hate when unqualified people make wild guesses like the one I just made above...can anyone answer?

mkramlich• 16 years ago

I'd argue that the act of making such guesses, ideally based on some education and insight, are at the heart of science. A professional anthropologist may or may not have any more education in the relevant areas, but I can imagine lots of cases where they might not have as much insight or creativity or natural genius as some particular non-anthropologist.

Under Threat, Women Bond, Men Withdraw

Related Stories