7LikesThe unpleasant reason men navigate better than women
08-09-2018, 01:40 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Miami, Fl.
Posts: 2,269
Just look at the map, honey. Let me know where the next exit is. What number, how many miles. The navigator is very important. I have snacks and drinks to consume before our destination. Throw me a bone here.
08-09-2018, 01:51 PM
#3
Member
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Charleston, SC
Posts: 48
What is unpleasant? Worthless article..
08-09-2018, 01:54 PM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: On The Border
Posts: 5,564
Originally Posted by HydraVector
What is unpleasant? Worthless article..
08-09-2018, 09:18 PM
#6
Admirals Club 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 1,131
They know how to use the apps on their phone.
08-10-2018, 05:46 AM
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: North Palm Beach, FL
Posts: 8,346
I've got no idea how much can be attributed to innate abilities and how much can be blamed on what you learn but developed world = better navigators makes sense to me. If your whole world is between the hut and the waterhole, you don't need much navigation in your life. If you have the ability to go (car, plane, train, boat) somewhere far away, knowing where you are going is helpful. I think the same type of reasoning could be used to differentiate men and women (at least in the developed world). If your world is getting out and doing things, you'll "navigate" there. If your life is wrapped up in dresses and shoes, you'll navigate to the mall.
08-10-2018, 06:42 AM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 2,045
It's kind of like backing a trailer. Logical reverse-logic. A typical woman's brain does not work that way and the harder they try, the more they turn the wrong the way making it worse, which makes them try harder leading to turning the wrong way even more.
Actually, the phone apps revolutionized women's ability to navigate cross country. Too bad there's not an app for trailer backing.
Actually, the phone apps revolutionized women's ability to navigate cross country. Too bad there's not an app for trailer backing.
08-10-2018, 07:13 AM
#9
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Ocean City MD
Posts: 505
Men are inherently better at remembering space, time, distance and landmarks. Women are much better at remembering what you did wrong 10 years ago and how to present it to you again and again and again.
08-10-2018, 07:53 AM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: East Central Florida
Posts: 7,265
Originally Posted by raystein
It's kind of like backing a trailer. Logical reverse-logic. A typical woman's brain does not work that way and the harder they try, the more they turn the wrong the way making it worse, which makes them try harder leading to turning the wrong way even more.
Actually, the phone apps revolutionized women's ability to navigate cross country. Too bad there's not an app for trailer backing.
Actually, the phone apps revolutionized women's ability to navigate cross country. Too bad there's not an app for trailer backing.
08-10-2018, 08:26 AM
#11
Admirals Club
Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 122
There a number of reasons both biological and social.
Think historically. Men would be the hunters, traveling far from the village to hunt game. Relying on the magnetite in their sinus to help orient to magnetic north is thought to have been crucial in this ability. Women would gather near to the village and use situational markers. This is still evident today. When you ask a women for directions they use situational markers. “Drive this way until you see a church and a big blue house, turn right at the next road...” Men navigate more directionally “Drive north for about 2 miles and turn right on Park Dr....”
I know at some point I read that men have more magnetite than women but can’t remember the source and am too lazy at this point to cite so you can take that as you may but the other facts stand and are more than anecdotal. Their are obviously exceptions but make and femal brains operate very differently.
That article and study finding are pure BS are biased towards a social finding. I’d expect that to have come from Berkeley.
Think historically. Men would be the hunters, traveling far from the village to hunt game. Relying on the magnetite in their sinus to help orient to magnetic north is thought to have been crucial in this ability. Women would gather near to the village and use situational markers. This is still evident today. When you ask a women for directions they use situational markers. “Drive this way until you see a church and a big blue house, turn right at the next road...” Men navigate more directionally “Drive north for about 2 miles and turn right on Park Dr....”
I know at some point I read that men have more magnetite than women but can’t remember the source and am too lazy at this point to cite so you can take that as you may but the other facts stand and are more than anecdotal. Their are obviously exceptions but make and femal brains operate very differently.
That article and study finding are pure BS are biased towards a social finding. I’d expect that to have come from Berkeley.
08-10-2018, 09:16 AM
#12
Admirals Club
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 4,099
- Denmark, Finland and Norway have the world's best navigational skills - possibly down to their "Viking blood"
08-10-2018, 11:10 AM
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,722
I'm half Norwegian and can walk around a mall with many legs and turns and always know which way is north. It amazes my wife, she thinks my parents use to leave me in the woods when I was a toddler to practice finding my way home.
08-10-2018, 12:38 PM
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Virginia
Posts: 1,707
Women base navigation skills on the nearest place to squat. Men tend to wait until they get where they are going. As we men get older they lose the ability to navigate due to incontinence. Hard to navigate when all you can think about is how close to the nearest rest stop or clean restroom.
08-10-2018, 04:20 PM
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Eastern NC
Posts: 1,224
I didn't read the article yet.
However, do not, I repeat, Do Not hand my wife a map or ask her to look at google maps and navigate while you are driving. You will not get to your destination by her directions. 100% wrong in 18 years.
I now just memorize my route. Helps when you are on a motorcycle.
However, do not, I repeat, Do Not hand my wife a map or ask her to look at google maps and navigate while you are driving. You will not get to your destination by her directions. 100% wrong in 18 years.
I now just memorize my route. Helps when you are on a motorcycle.
08-10-2018, 04:35 PM
#16
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Middle Sound, NC
Posts: 7,000
Originally Posted by ericinmich
I'm half Norwegian and can walk around a mall with many legs and turns and always know which way is north. It amazes my wife, she thinks my parents use to leave me in the woods when I was a toddler to practice finding my way home.
08-10-2018, 05:40 PM
#17
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Left Hand First knuckle Middle finger
Posts: 1,756
A map just offers them too many decisions to make.
08-10-2018, 11:54 PM
#18
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Tampa, Florida
Posts: 2,285
My wife likes to play navigator whenever we go somewhere. I have to make sure I know exactly where we are going beforehand, or she will get us lost.
08-11-2018, 03:56 AM
#19
Admirals Club
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Gretna, LA, USA
Posts: 6,104
I had trouble navigating through the BS in that article.
08-11-2018, 05:02 AM
#20
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Land O Lakes, FL
Posts: 3,486
When I have my wife play navigator I could give her a map or a blank piece of paper and get the same result.
