Women On Road To Nowhere (Study Finds Women Can't Read Maps)

Canada.com ^ | today | some dude

[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.

[OHelix]

LOL!

[OHelix]

LOL!

[Restorer]

Boy, I could have saved them a lot of money.

For about 20 years I worked in people's homes and had to get directions to get there. Women's directions are VERY different from men's, on average.

Women will even give you directions using landmarks that aren't there anymore! "Turn right where the Dairy Queen used to be."

[Dianna]

North, South, East, West are words that do not have meanings.

That's me! I have a horrible sense of direction. After living here for 3 years, I still tense up when I am getting on the highway at an unfamiliar on ramp. I never remember which direction I need to go.

[jwh_Denver]

And do you know when a man is lying? Everytime he opens his mouth!

You know that if a woman doesn't understand what the man is saying or see's no sense in it doesn't make him a liar. Women ain't people and they can't understand normal thinking. Sorry if the truth hurts.

[OHelix]

One of the most frustrating episodes I have ever experienced was talking to a client to get directions to her house. The directions were fine for the most part... I got to the end of the road that I approached from, which ended in a tee about a quarter mile from the lady's house. I had her on the cell phone, telling her where I was and asking her which way to turn. She told me "You turn up the road". I asked her, "do I turn left or right"... Her response was always "you turn UP the road". Apparently she had in her mind that one way was "up the road" and the other way was "down the road", and I could not get her to understand that I had no clue which way "up the road" was. It went on so long my voice was clearly angry trying different strategies of getting a specific response I could use, and she was just as angry and frustrated that I didn't understand what "UP the road" meant.

Another time, I went well out into the country, following directions, later learning she had either mistakenly told me left instread of right, or I had written down left rather than right early on in the instructions. The amazing thing is, that the rest of the instructions (landmark based) made perfect sense. I found every landmark she referred to, even up to where her house was supposed to be. There was the big turn, the trailer park, the dip in the road, only her house wasn't there. I gave up that night and found it the next day from asking her for the closest cross road to her home while looking at a map on the phone with her. I told her about the episode and we both appreciated the humor of it.

[Kermit]

Nautical charts, to Las Vegas? ;^)

[blam]

"Women can't read maps - and real men don't need maps."

Now you're talking. I just use the iron concentrations in my nose to find my way.

[Kaslin]

No, we don't. We explore.

Ha Ha Ha

[Catspaw]

Nautical charts, to Las Vegas? ;^)

First I'll need charts down to Mobile, then it's a quick sail to the Panama Canal, then north to San Diego--and then it's a short land sail to Vegas....Friva Las Vegas....

I'll look for the 4th palm tree on my right and turn there.

[Catspaw]

I had her on the cell phone, telling her where I was and asking her which way to turn. She told me "You turn up the road". I asked her, "do I turn left or right"... Her response was always "you turn UP the road". Apparently she had in her mind that one way was "up the road" and the other way was "down the road", and I could not get her to understand that I had no clue which way "up the road" was. It went on so long my voice was clearly angry trying different strategies of getting a specific response I could use, and she was just as angry and frustrated that I didn't understand what "UP the road" meant.

Oh, that's easy. UP is a right turn. DOWN is a left turn.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, here is another chick that can, in fact, read a map. Now we are a trend!

Plus... this study is about Canadian women. They're different.

[gunshy]

Well said.

[CyberAnt]

I beg your pardon, my dad taught me to read maps. I do just fine. And ... I have driven more than 1500 miles by myself over roads I had never travelled before.

Maybe SOME women can't read maps - maybe SOME men don't ask for directions, either!

[OHelix]

Oh, that's easy. UP is a right turn. DOWN is a left turn.

Heh heh! If only I had known! The home was a broken down house and the lady was a large woman sitting at a small kitchen table with tobacco juice all over her chin and a nasty looking coffee can spitoon on the table.

The other episode was just a fluke, but I went back and forth over a mile stretch of road for about an hour and a half with the lady on the phone describing the area around her house, and I every thing matched except for there being no house where there was supposed to be one! I finally told her I'd have to come back. I was clear on the other side of the county from where her house actually was.

[RightWhale]

I draw maps for a living, and I explain them to people, a lot of people, and have been doing this for many years now. I should point out that most people can't find their own house on a map, not without serious study. There is a difference between men and women on this issue. Women will admit it when they can't find their house on the map. Men will point to the first thing on the map that looks like a house and claim that is their house.

[jae471]

Now you're talking. I just use the iron concentrations in my nose to find my way.

Sounds like me. I'll be driving with my fiancee and do say something like "I'll think we'll go this way" and turn down some strange unknown (to us) road. Her usual reply is "You better not get us lost." I don't get lost.

I find its always useful to understand the numbering schemes of the U.S Highway and Interstate systems also. I've tried explaining it to my fiancee several times, but she doesn't get it and gives up.

[OHelix]

I wrote a utility for Geopac for a friend who worked in your line of work, and he showed me around the operation. Those arial photos take a little getting used to, at least it did in my case, Especially in 3D... but once I got the hang of it, I had fun finding all of my family's and friend's homes on terraserver. That freind of mine is the only person I ever showed a terraserver printout of his home who know immediately what it was.

[elbucko]

..and real men don't need maps.

You do if you fly.