Do you think like a man or a woman, or both.

[Sally]

A scientist, namely Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University, last month presented his findings of a study completed on 278 individuals, designed to measure how much they empathised with other people and their ability to understand and analyse systems.

They found that women tended to have a higher score on the empathy test and men on the systems test, which was consistent with many other similar studies coducted over the years on male and female brains.

They also found that 17% of the men and 14% of the women scored considerably higher on the test in which the opposite sex usually did better. A third of all participants also had 'balanced brains' which displayed characteristics of both genders.

Professor Baron-Cohen's studies have also found evidence that the 'sex' of the brain had already been determined in babies only one day old, he also added,"Our discoveries could have a lot of practical uses, e.g for instance in schools, we believe male and female brains could benefit from different teaching styles.

He also said that not all men had the typical male brain which focussed on systemising and certainly not all women had a female brain which focussed on empathising. He also said that the differences between the brains of men and women are measureable and he found it fascinating to see how individuals fit or don't fit into these trends.

He said that his research shows that one in five men have a 'female' brain and that one in seven women have a 'male' brain.

Below are the 40 questions which formed part of the research.
They scored on the system of 2 points for any statement you strongly agree with which applies to you, one point for any statement you slightly agree with and no points for any statement you slightly or strongly disagree with.

The first 20 questions equals the Systemising Quotient and the last 20 the Empathising Quotient. They scored it so that if your SQ total is greater than your EQ total then you have a 'male wired brain' and vice versa you have a 'female wired brain'. If they are even then you have a balanced brain.

Personally I have never attached much credence to these type of personality tests, but then again I suppose who am I to argue with scientists, we all have to make our own minds up about what we agree or disagree with, I'm always of the firm opinion that who and what we all are is laid out for us before we're born, therefore we have no say in who we are.

Anyway, here are the 40 questions, have fun with it, some of them are not dissimilar from the Cogiati Test, but then there are only so many variations of questions which can be asked.

The Systemising Quotietent.

1. I prefer to read non-fiction rather than fiction

2. If there was a problem with the electrical wiring in my home, I'd be able to fix it.

3. I often read articles or web pages about new technology.

4. I enjoy games that involve a high degree of strategy.

5. I am fascinated by how machines work.

6. I find it easy to follow instruction manuals.

7.When I cook, I think about exactly how different methods and ingredients contribute to the final product.

8. I find it easy to read and understand maps.

9. If I had a collection e.g coins, stamps, it would be highly organised.

10. When I learn about historical events, I focus on the exact dates.

11. When I read the newspaper, I am drawn to tables of information.

12. When I learn a language, I am intrigued by its grammatical rules.

13. I find it easy to find my way around in a new city.

14. I often watch science documentaries on TV or read articles about science and nature.

15. I find it easy to grasp exactly how odds work in betting.

16. I am meticulous when I carry out DIY.

17. I find it easy to understand information the bank sends me on investment and saving systems.

18. When I buy a new appliance I read the instruction manual thoroughly.

19. When I read something, I always notice whether it is grammatically correct.

20. I read legal documents carefully.

....................................................

Now the Empathising System.

1. I can easily tell if someone else wants to enter a conversation.

2. I really enjoy caring for people.

3. I find it easy to know what to do in a social situation.

4. It bothers me if I am late meeting a friend.

5. In a conversation, I focus on what my listener might be thinking, not just my own thoughts.

6. I am good at predicting how someone will feel.

7. I can pick up quickly if someone says one thing but means another.

8. It is easy for me to see why some things upset people so much.

9. I find it easy to put myself in somebody else's shoes.

10. I am quick to spot when someone in a group is feeling awkward or uncomfortable.

11. If I say something that offends someone I feel bad about it.

12. If anyone asked me if I liked their haircut, I'd lie if I didn't like it.

13. I find it easy to understand why people sometimes get offended by remarks.

14. Seeing people cry upsets me.

15. When I talk to people I talk about their experiences rather than my own.

16.I am good at understanding people's thoughts and feelings.

17. I am unable to make decisions without being influenced by other people.

18. I get emotionally involved when watching a film.

19. I don't consciously work out the rules of social situations.

20. I appreciate the other person's viewpoint, even if I don't agree with it.

.......................................

So there it is, so score 2 points for each statement you agree with strongly, 1 point for each statement you agree slightly with and no points if you disagree. Add up your total of the SQ test and the EQ test to give you a total out of the maximum 40 points, and if your SQ total is greater than your EQ total then you have a 'male' brain, if your EQ total is greater than your SQ total you have a 'female brain' and if your scores are even you have abalanced brain, but take it all as serious or as lightly as you wish, it's a personal belief, I don't believe it's definitive, but then as I said, who am I to argue with scientists.

Kind Regards to all.

Sally.

[Loretta Ann]

The Systemising Quotietent. = 19

The Empathising System. = 17

I am comfortable with that, I guess the results are close to what I would have hoped for.

Thank you for posting this Sally.

[Anita]

Thanks, Sally--
On the COGNATI, which I respect, I came out 15, androgyne.

But here I came out:
Systemizing 24
Empathising 34

The questions here are stated in a way that's easier to for me to know exactly how I feel about them.

I do know that in early years as a guy, I just had to be cold and hard a lot of times, to get anything done at all. Otherwise, I was so busy paying attention to everyone else's feelings that I couldn't make a decision. I was ALWAYS seeing the other side, and usually knew how my girlfriends would react to a proposal.

It was always puzzling to me to watch friends fight with their wives--couldn't they SEE that their actions were going to have that effect? But it seemed the manly thing to do was to announce how you intended to do something, and then fight about it when the woman felt she was being railroaded.

It was a big reason why I've never been able to mix career with relationships very well. I was ambitious in an aggressive way, while also being sensitive to everyone's feelings. There must be people who make that combination work, but I was not one of them.

I've always identified with the surveys that showed women feeling that they had sacrificed more of themselves than men had, in marriages. There is a reason I've been single more of my life, than not! Relationships can have a lot of rewards, but the price is very high, for this "gal."
A

[Gaven McLaren]

I started to answer the questions and then decided I was not in the mood to do the math. So I stopped. I may do it later just not in a math mood tonight.

[Beauty]

Hi Sally,

Thanks for posting this. It was a very interesting article/post and an interesting test.

My results:
Systemizing 9.5 (took it three times - Low 8 high 11)
Empathising 34 (took once because most answers a 2 only one 0)

I took the systemizing 3 times because I couldn't believe it was that low. I should have believed it though. The majority of men at work tell me I sound like their wives.

FYI - DIY = Do It Yourself (I had to Google that term)

Beauty

[Celly]

Somehow this result doesn't surprise me at all. I have always felt that, given the physical characteristics (this is a family-oriented board), if I were born today, my parents and the medical profession would have insisted on corrective surgery. Back then, such things were not spoken of or even vaguely considered so I have lived with this dichotomy of thought since birth. I have always believed that my instinctive reactions were female based and have had to "override" these reactions in order to fit into what would be considered "appropriate male" reactions. It hasn't been easy.

SQ - 17
EQ - 38

[Curly(SO)]

SQ 29
EQ 26

Well, according to this I have a 'male wired brain'...just! Anyone who knows me can assure you that this is very wrong! Yes, I can read maps, enjoy non fiction and read legal documents carefully, but I just can't see how these are 'male' things. I find it rather insulting that anyone would think females would have trouble with these things. (Hey, I can even understand information the bank sends me on investment and savings systems ) So a man with a male wired brain wouldn't be bothered about turning up late to meet a friend...that is not a male thing, that is a 'I have no manners or respect thing'....this is like sugar and spice and all things nice..slugs and snails and puppy dog tails!
I'm not interested in science or DIY, so-called MAN things, but also, I didn't agree with many of the female, empathising statements. My brain is just 'me', these statements on this test have nothing do do with my femaleness or maleness! Over-simplistic, this test IMO!


Curly(SO).

[RikkiOfLA]

SQ 19
EQ 28

It's fun to have a female-wired brain. Of course, I wonder if the results would have been different if the questions had been mixed together and the purpose and theory of the test not known to the subjects before hand?

[Loretta Ann]

Hi Curly(SO).

The test draws on more than one way of thinking, and feeling about certain issues, and probably has more to do with what most males and/or females do, and how they respond to these issues. It is my firm belief that this is (at least some what) influenced by what one goes through in life, and from the roles we as individuals fit or fall into.

Being as there are not two of us that are completely identical. I believe we are all a mixture of the two sides. I like to think of an equal score for each side as being a reference point and we all vary in both directions from there.

I had fun taking the test, I think it enables us to understand our selves (and others) a little better, and I am looking forward to seeing the results as more of us participate.

[Laura]

Hi all,

Thanks Sally for going to the trouble to post this. (do I get a point for saying that?) I scored 16 on the systematizing portion of the test, which surprised me. Why does a male brain have to love technology? I scored a 24 on the empathizing portion. So does that mean I am female wired? I take that as a compliment. Still, I'm skeptical of coming up with a conclusion about someone having certain physical characteristics simply on the basis of a 40 question quiz. It seems to me that all behaviors are mixtures of genetics and culture; and let's not forget that culture includes what we make of it.

But, I had fun. And I'm chagrined to admit my wife would be surprised at how high I scored on the empathising part.

Love,

Laura

[Lorna]

Systemizing - 20
Empathising - 25

[Julie M.]

When we are born of one gender or the other our bodies begin to produce the hormones that will utlimately define our physical characteristics. Those same hormones affect how our brain is wired as well as our thought processes. When the experts determine what is male and what is female they do so based on subjects who have had a lifetime of testosterone or estrogen affecting every physical thing about them, and the brain is just as affected as any other part of our bodies.

Taking that into consideration when you look at the transgendered and how they (we) tend to score more towards their identified gender than their physical gender (compared to the non-transgendered), it makes you wonder how they would score had they had a lifetime of the other hormone affecting their thought process too.

I know from personal experience. I was on girl juice for about five months and I can tell you my thought processes changed quite a bit. I know if I had continued, my scores on these types of tests would change dramatically. So it's really hard to determine just how much female brain wiring we have by these tests. Hormones are very instrumental in influencing our thinking as well as determining those "male" and "female" skills. I have no idea how you could take out the hormone factor. I know of no persons who have lived a life without experiencing the effects of either estrogen or testosterone. So the experts really don't have much to go on. That's why I prefer to use the term 'spirit' (not in the religious sense) when I refer to what makes me associate with the female gender.

[Ralitsa]

This was a fun test, I got
SQ=21
EQ=26

but like all the other repliers I have some issues with the questions. Like preferring to read fiction or non-fiction? My main criteria is how well it's written. I love a good romance novel if it's well written, and am interested in most all subjects so I like a good text book also.

In almost every case the answer is: depends how much I try. None of them are automatically one thing or the other and how much I try is totally dependent on how much I care about the situation. So I'm skeptical that the results mean anything, but it was fun!

[Diana Michelle]

Interesting quiz and I scored 29 SQ and 31 EQ. However like many tests and quizzes like this it is definitely based on traditional male and female stereotypes. Questions like about electrical wiring and DIY tend to presume males naturally "know" more about these. The question of fiction versus non fiction has the tendency to believe women are more apt to read a romance novel rather than say a political tell all, though I will admit there is a certain amount of fiction in all tell all books.