Differences between Men and Women

Risk-taking
Men are more likely to take risks than women, making them more likely to die in an accident. (9)

Aggression
In men’s brains, the aggression pathways are directly linked to brain areas for physical actions. On the other hand, the aggression pathways in women’s brains are more closely tied to verbal functions. Accordingly, men generally resort to physical violence when angry while women resort to verbal hostility. (10)

Thought process
The limbic system of women is larger than in men, which is why women are more in tune and expressive with their emotions. Their thinking is generally more empathic and broader in scope as well. Despite their ability to view things and situations as a whole, women’s thinking can be influenced by their emotions. This is not always a bad thing but neither is it always good. (11)

Because men are not as in touch with their emotions as women are, they can view situations with detachment, which allows them to make more rational choices and decisions. They are also able to focus on the exact issues and dismiss details that have no bearing on the subject. While men are able to think more logically, they have a hard time understanding emotions unless they are clearly verbalized. (12)

Ability to recognize facial cues
Women’s brains uses more estrogen and oxytocin, which makes women better able at recognizing facial cues, particularly sadness. Even young girls are better than young boys at distinguishing fake facial expressions. (13)

Ability to empathize with others
The mirror neuron system or MNS is one of the two emotional systems in humans. MNS is involved in emotional empathy or feeling what another person is feeling. The other emotional system is the temporal-parietal junction system or TPJ, which is involved in cognitive empathy. TPJ allows a person to distance themselves from another person’s emotions and focus on analyzing ways to solve the problem.
When having to deal with a person who has a problem, both men and women begin their empathy process with MNS. However, men’s brain promptly switches to the TPJ. (14)(15)