Posted on 08/07/2002 8:06:38 PM PDT by Rodney King
Women on road to nowhere, study finds
Map reading is probably the main source of conflict between couples while driving. But the assertion that women are incapable of reading a map correctly has, unfortunately for the female sex, been backed up by several studies on spatial ability.
Men have used this convenient theory of the female lack of spatial judgment to criticize anything from a woman's ability to reverse into a parking space, to berating her when she fails to differentiate north from south while reading a map.
But now, it seems, the idea that women are wandering around in a kind of spatial vacuum -- where successful navigation is more down to luck than planning -- is only half the story.
While it is true that men find the instructions on a map easier to follow, women do far better when following a verbal set of directions, using landmarks to help them.
Psychologist Deborah Saucier, of the University of Saskatchewan, decided to re-examine the assumption that men are superior to women in their ability to navigate.
"Research into the field of spatial ability time and again concludes that men are superior," she says. "You get the impression that, for most of the time, women are wandering around lost, which is clearly not the case."
Saucier set up a simple experiment using male and female students, assigning them two different ways of getting from one point to another. One set of directions followed the classic Euclidian method employed by map designers, based on compass directions and distances, such as "walk north for 400 metres, then turn east."
The second set used landmarks, such as "carry on until you get to the large oak tree, then turn left and walk until you get to a house with a yellow door."
Having assigned men and women to both sets of instructions, she set the timer and waited at the destination. Her results will vindicate women who say that while they may not be able to read maps as well as men, they can find their way using landmarks.
And we don't get lost.
OK, for the next study we show that women can't differentiate between an article about general trends in groups of people, and a statement about them personally.
my wife pick pocketed my loaded concealed weapon and is making me type this. "women may not be able to read maps, but men are incapable of asking for directions."
there, she's gone. hell, we'd ask for directions if the answer came in the form of a map!
And yes, before I read it, I thought it was a load. But the author is very, very good at explaining his views.
i doubt it. i suspect that the customer got to exactly where she needed to be and even though to you the directions seemed inane, to another women the directions were perfect. instead of sorting through psycho-babble and trying to play guessing games, we men find it much easier and precise to read a map and NOT get a dose of hormones.
how do i get to venus from mars? just draw a map.
It doesn't say "some women." It says "women can't read maps." I'd say it's more like "sweeping generalizations."
BTW, there are few landmarks when one is out at sea. Does the person who did the study suggest I count waves to get us back to port, say, "look for a wave that has a big pointy thing at the top & follow that one?"
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