Mens’ Brains Are Bigger. So What?

April 30, 2008 11:30 am     Posted in Reality, Sex  Elizabeth-Baruch College g+ page


By Elizabeth

It’s true that men have larger brains than women. The average male brain is around 1.25 kg and the average female brain is around 100g less than that. So there you have it, folks. Men are smarter than women.

Sound like bullsh*t to you? Well, that’s probably because it is, in fact, the filthiest kind of bullsh*t you could ever even begin to entertain. Yet, herds of douchebags everywhere are sinking their teeth into this fact and parading around as the affirmatively smarter sex.

The real subject at hand here is not one of general intelligence. It’s widely understood that men and women differ on multiple levels and it is these differences that MAY account for the literal difference in brain size between men and women.

Researchers have actually proven that those mammals which are more domesticated and emotionally intelligent do have a smaller brain mass. Does this mean they’re less intelligent? Of course it doesn’t. What it does mean, is that they’re less aggressive. Aggression has been directly correlated to larger brains in mammals. The why and how behind this correlation is a mystery still in many ways. However, it is a fact: Any domesticated dog, cat, sheep, or even a pig has a brain that weighs about 25% less than its wild counterpart.

The truth is that both female and male skulls have been shrinking over the last few tens of thousands of years. This suggests that humans, in general, are all becoming more domesticated. However, it makes sense to me that women would have a slightly smaller brain mass. After all, loads of research has already been conducted to verify that women are much more emotionally oriented than men.

Anyone here ever encountered a guy who uses this brain mass information as an excuse to assume men are generally smarter than women? Tell your story!

15 Comments on "Mens’ Brains Are Bigger. So What?"

  1. Joanna says:
    Wed, 30th Apr 20088:48 am 

    Also consider the encephalization quotient. That's a better measure of brain power because it takes into account the amount of gray and white matter in the brain as compared to the volume. Humans have an incredibly high ratio, which is connected with our increased intelligence. Dolphins, I believe, have the next highest ratio, and any zoo will tell you that dolphins are very smart as well.

    The physical mass of a brain doesn't relate to the amount of processing potential at all – I personally think men may have larger brains due to evolutionary pressures and sexual selection over the years.

  2. hanabira says:
    Wed, 30th Apr 20081:22 pm 

    i don't understand how the bigger brain thing has ever been relevent- men are generally bigger overall so would only make sense that all organs were bigger…

  3. Blair says:
    Thu, 1st May 20086:10 am 

    That's right. Men's brains are generrally bigger than womens' brains because men are generally bigger. A woman who is 6 feet tall and has a large build will have a larger brain than a man who is 5 feet tall and has a slight build. Organ size corresponds to body size.

  4. Clay says:
    Tue, 6th May 20085:41 am 

    Just a note; Albert Einstein's brain was significantly smaller in mass than the average male's. He obviously did not lack intelligence. Just a little known interesting fact.

  5. Kait says:
    Fri, 16th May 20086:24 pm 

    The number of connections between neurons is more important. A larger brain might allow a person to have more neurons in their brain, but a person with less neurons and more connections than a person with more neurons and less connections would likely be smarter. There are lots of other factors in any animals intelligence, but the size of the brain usually doesn't really matter.

  6. Babydoll says:
    Mon, 19th May 200811:31 pm 

    Actually, males have larger brains but use less than females do

  7. The Musician says:
    Fri, 30th May 200810:06 am 

    Brainsize is absolutely not a direct marker of the individuals level of aggression. What makes humans smarter than other animals is our larger cortex.

    As for the difference between women and men, men have a 10-15% larger cortex. Meanwhile women has about the same percentage more compact brainmass (per "^3" unit).

    ————

    Educational for the ones who have the time / open mind to perceive the info in this article:
    http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n11/mente/eisntein…

  8. Dan says:
    Wed, 9th Jul 20083:18 pm 

    @Clay

    Einstein's brain was not significantly smaller in mass. It had different properties. It was missing part of the frontal lobe called the Sylvian Fissure, but other parts of his brain were 15% bigger than most other people.

    Still not saying that intelligence is related to brain size, but I just wanted to clear that up.

  9. Johan says:
    Mon, 14th Jul 20087:06 am 

    There's now increasingly compelling evidence that men have statistically significant IQ advantages over women (well, we knew all along anyway), so all this would seem consistent.

    I do love it when feminists stamp their little boots after being run over by hard cold scientific evidence.

    Hmm, now how to undo 40 years of malignant liberalist social conditioning?

  10. Leonidas says:
    Sat, 11th Oct 20089:31 am 

    Of course men are smarter and it's not just because our brains are bigger, it also because of our brains functioning, so feminist should be isolated from society because they are full of shit.

  11. Rosan says:
    Thu, 11th Dec 20089:30 am 

    I just love it when men get all defensive and insist that their brain size makes them smarter than women. Kind of cute of them, really, and makes one want to tossle their hair and chuck them under the chin. Of course this insistence does nothing for their chances of getting laid, but then since when was that a priority for men, anyway?

  12. Joe says:
    Tue, 7th Apr 200910:06 pm 

    Rosan.. you're a fat chick aren't you?

  13. QuickSilver says:
    Fri, 26th Jun 20096:15 pm 

    Joe, are you a fat guy?

    No, seriously, men should refrain from this crap if they ever want to actually get laid. Johan, studies show that men are statistical outliers — they're smarter and dumber than women. Actually, the smartest person in the world right now has an IQ of 228. Marilyn vos Savant. You can find her on wikipedia or google. I'm too lazy to post a link.

    "Leonidas says:

    Sat, 11th Oct 20082:31 pm

    Of course men are smarter and it’s not just because our brains are bigger, it also because of our brains functioning, so feminist should be isolated from society because they are full of shit."

    Yeah..is that why you have such problems with basic grammar?

  14. matt says:
    Mon, 24th Aug 200910:37 am 

    Knock it off Joe and Johan. You are making men look stupid.

    Brain size is a poor predictor of intelligence. Brain size _compared to body size_ is extremely relevant. Women have smaller brains, but they're proportional to their (generally) smaller bodies. Think about it. There are tons of smart small people with itty-bitty little brains.

    Men have a bigger prefrontal cortex, which is helpful for spatial reasoning. This was useful when we hunted. Women don't have any areas that are larger, but that have a far higher concentration of neurons in certain regions. Neurons are a core ingredient in intelligence. This was useful for gathering and remembering how roots / berries / vegetables looked, where they grew, how they felt, and where they are likely to be located. Men are good at seeing subtle movements (like a hidden animal), and women are better at colors / texture. Incidentally, women collected _more_ food than men did.

    This is the primary difference between the male and female brain. It's not much of a difference at all in today's world. And there's tremendous variation within only male and female samples. Some men are terrible at spacial reasoning, and some women are terrible at recognizing and remember textures and patterns.

    All considered, it's basically a wash. Men do slightly better than women on IQ tests, but the difference is negligible and more likely to be explained by how society raises students. Grade point averages are another imperfect measure of intelligence, and women have slightly higher GPAs than do men.

    But the most important point is that there is tremendous differences between individual's intelligence. There are stupid women, and women who are geniuses. Same with men.

    So have fun hating women, Joe and Johan. I don't understand why you are so insecure you derive pleasure by thinking you are superior than others because of your gender, but you'll want to avoid the brain to make those claims.

    So go eff yourselves.

  15. Brooke says:
    Sat, 24th Oct 20096:41 am 

    women use more of their brains & have more neurotransmitters than men, which is why they can multi-task & link thinking, feeling & doing.

    men think about sex 80 – 90% of the time while women only 20 – 30% of the time (apparently, although i beg to differ) so that doesnt really leave much room for much else… except the ridiculous obsession with proving how 'manly' they are.

    neanderthalls had bigger brains, but they were dumber :)

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