Rating: 
Summary: Separate, but Equal
Review: After a lengthy and unwarranted disclaimer that his work isn't "sexist" [whatever that is], Baron-Cohen surveys the foundations of male and female minds. With a long clinical and teaching career, supported by an immense list of studies, he concludes that, in general, there are indeed "essential differences" in cognitive makeup between human genders. While there is a spectrum of characteristics, certain general frameworks exist attributable to men and women. For ease of analysis, he suggests that women are more empathic ["E" personalities] while men are more systematic ["S" personalities]. Each, he insists, has their role, with most people placed well within a median between extremes. The trends, however, are clear.In a chatty style he likely uses speaking with patients, Baron-Cohen shows that women's empathic tendencies give them the power to quickly assess others' emotional states. Women more readily identify feelings in others, respond appropriately when sympathy is required and "reach out" in dealing with people. He stresses that this "intuitive sense" among women is almost universal and is rightfully well-regarded by all cultures. Men, on the other hand, operate under the need to understand "systems", organized conditions, mechanics, technology and are thus driven to know "how things work". This urge leads them away from the intimacy women have with others and, in the more extreme cases, are likely to become "loners". The most outstanding examples are those suffering from autism which is overwhelmingly a male condition. Baron-Cohen has spent years studying autism, offering a range of examples. It may appear amusing that a five-year-old boy may be capable of memorizing dozens of car registrations and explain which car belongs to which house, but there are other factors to consider. Such boys grow into men who cannot readily converse, directly or over the telephone. They become the butt of teasing or hostility at their "withdrawn" state. If lacking compensation in other areas, such as a vocation that allows them to apply a narrow focus to tasks, they risk ostracism from society. Baron-Cohen offers an exceptional case of a mathematician whose genius brought him high awards, but who may fail to keep a lunch date due to some distraction. These are real problems affecting real people. Some of them may be your neighbours. One of them might even, unknowingly, be you. This book challenges much misled thinking that has permeated gender studies over the past generation. Gender differences in outlook appear within a day of birth. Newborns shown a photograph of a face, or an object composed of facial elements resulted in girls preferring the face while the boys tended to select the object. This early division Baron-Cohen thinks may result from the testosterone surge baby boys undergo in the womb. "Maleness" and brain development are interlocked and continue to manifest with development. Baby girls, on the other hand, follow a different, parallel path. They appear to respond to distress in other people more readily than do boys. They will make eye contact with others more readily. The pattern continues through life, although at differing levels with individuals. Baron-Cohen stresses these differences don't represent "better" or "worse" values. Human males and females are overall equally intelligent. That intelligence is expressed in different ways. More to the point, men and women have both E and S traits, individually manifest over a wide spectrum. Extremes are few, but he notes extreme Es are more socially comfortable and acceptable than the autistic extreme S personalities. Baron-Cohen doesn't limit himself to the results of clinical studies and calling for more research. He is keen to have readers begin to rethink how society should deal with those suffering from autism [Asperger's Syndrome]. He calls for a greater tolerance for "coldness" or "lack of sympathy". Self assessment is a good place to start building that tolerance. As a help to readers, a series of comprehensive tests is provided as Appendices. Take the tests and judge for yourself. But first, read the book to understand the issues involved. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: Separate, but Equal
Review: After a lengthy and unwarranted disclaimer that his work isn't "sexist" [whatever that is], Baron-Cohen surveys the foundations of male and female minds. With a long clinical and teaching career, supported by an immense list of studies, he concludes that, in general, there are indeed "essential differences" in cognitive makeup between human genders. While there is a spectrum of characteristics, certain general frameworks exist attributable to men and women. For ease of analysis, he suggests that women are more empathic ["E" personalities] while men are more systematic ["S" personalities]. Each, he insists, has their role, with most people placed well within a median between extremes. The trends, however, are clear. In a chatty style he likely uses speaking with patients, Baron-Cohen shows that women's empathic tendencies give them the power to quickly assess others' emotional states. Women more readily identify feelings in others, respond appropriately when sympathy is required and "reach out" in dealing with people. He stresses that this "intuitive sense" among women is almost universal and is rightfully well-regarded by all cultures. Men, on the other hand, operate under the need to understand "systems", organized conditions, mechanics, technology and are thus driven to know "how things work". This urge leads them away from the intimacy women have with others and, in the more extreme cases, are likely to become "loners". The most outstanding examples are those suffering from autism which is overwhelmingly a male condition. Baron-Cohen has spent years studying autism, offering a range of examples. It may appear amusing that a five-year-old boy may be capable of memorizing dozens of car registrations and explain which car belongs to which house, but there are other factors to consider. Such boys grow into men who cannot readily converse, directly or over the telephone. They become the butt of teasing or hostility at their "withdrawn" state. If lacking compensation in other areas, such as a vocation that allows them to apply a narrow focus to tasks, they risk ostracism from society. Baron-Cohen offers an exceptional case of a mathematician whose genius brought him high awards, but who may fail to keep a lunch date due to some distraction. These are real problems affecting real people. Some of them may be your neighbours. One of them might even, unknowingly, be you. This book challenges much misled thinking that has permeated gender studies over the past generation. Gender differences in outlook appear within a day of birth. Newborns shown a photograph of a face, or an object composed of facial elements resulted in girls preferring the face while the boys tended to select the object. This early division Baron-Cohen thinks may result from the testosterone surge baby boys undergo in the womb. "Maleness" and brain development are interlocked and continue to manifest with development. Baby girls, on the other hand, follow a different, parallel path. They appear to respond to distress in other people more readily than do boys. They will make eye contact with others more readily. The pattern continues through life, although at differing levels with individuals. Baron-Cohen stresses these differences don't represent "better" or "worse" values. Human males and females are overall equally intelligent. That intelligence is expressed in different ways. More to the point, men and women have both E and S traits, individually manifest over a wide spectrum. Extremes are few, but he notes extreme Es are more socially comfortable and acceptable than the autistic extreme S personalities. Baron-Cohen doesn't limit himself to the results of clinical studies and calling for more research. He is keen to have readers begin to rethink how society should deal with those suffering from autism [Asperger's Syndrome]. He calls for a greater tolerance for "coldness" or "lack of sympathy". Self assessment is a good place to start building that tolerance. As a help to readers, a series of comprehensive tests is provided as Appendices. Take the tests and judge for yourself. But first, read the book to understand the issues involved. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 
Summary: More pseudoscience on autism and gender...
Review: An 'extreme male brain'? What patronizing rubbish. I am a WOMAN with Asperger's/highfunctioning autism. If you want the real inside scoop on what living with autism is like, read a book written by an autistic, like "Emergence: Labeled Autistic" by Temple Grandin or "Nobody Nowhere" by Donna Williams (both of whom are, gasp, women). Whatever 'they' say about more autistics being male, I seem to run into male and female autistics online with equal proportion. This kind of stereotyping is degrading to and reflects a poor understanding of autistics and outdated gender stereotypes: to wit, men are superlogical thinking machines who don't feel deep emotional attachments while women are helpless weepy creatures at the mercy of their emotions. And according to the stereotypes of autistics, we're all brilliant mathematical savants who are incapable of experiencing love and affection. I wonder how many autistic people (both male and female) Dr. Baron-Cohen has actually talked to before writing his book, or did he just listen to the statistics of what other experts say? If an autistic child throws a temper tantrum because his or her things are not lined up in the order s/he wants, s/he is feeling genuine emotion. Autism is not about being hyperlogical or emotionless or a mathematical savant, it's simply being on a different wavelength of perceiving the world and sensing things. It is true that autistics will often feel passionate attachment and even love for interests that would seem weird or insignificant to most normal people, but love is love. And for what it's worth, all the other autistics I know both male and female have MUCH more difficulty 'reading' body cues and facial language than any neurotypical male I know.
Rating:
Summary: A gem!
Review: Before you start reading Baron-Cohen's fascinating book, go through the questionaire in the first appendix. The questionaire, "Reading the Mind in the Eyes," has thirty-six photos cropped to show only the region around the eyes. By looking only at this small portion of the face, you have to figure out the emotion being expressed by the individual in the photo. Chance would give only one out of four right answers. As Baron-Cohen remarks in the text, most people, when they take the quiz, find it extremely difficult -- one feels like one is guessing. In fact, nearly everyone does much better than he or she expected. I got nearly two-thirds correct, and most people do even better. This little quiz demonstrates one of the key points in the book: normal humans have an incredible ability to read the expressions, feelings, etc. of their fellow human beings from very subtle clues. Baron-Cohen's thesis in his earlier book, "Mindblindness," was that autistic persons are simply people who lack this normal human "mind-reading" ability. "The Essential Difference" expands this thesis to argue that, in this respect, autistic people are simply at a far end of a spectrum. Females (with numerous individual exceptions) tend towards the opposite end of the spectrum from autistic people: females are usually good empathizers, skilled at "mind-reading." Males tend to be less good at empathizing compared to females and better at "systemizing." Autistic people (who are predominantly male) lie at the extreme male end of the spectrum -- extraordinarily poor empathizers, good systemizers. The author proves this case beyond reasonable doubt by both covering the scientific evidence and wittily discussing case studies. He focuses particularly on "high-functioning autism" and "Asperger's syndrome," exemplified by people who have normal to high intelligence and are able to function to some degree in normal society but who nonetheless exhibit a significant degree of mind-blindness. So is there anything wrong with the book? Baron-Cohen leans over backwards to emphasize that individuals who lean towards the high-systemizing/low-empathizing end of the spectrum are not deficient human beings or uncaring monsters. He states explicitly, "People with autism are often the most loyal defenders of someone they perceive to be suffering an injustice." Yet, in other places in the book, he suggests that it is easier for those who tend towards systemizing rather than empathizing to commit rape or murder! The problem is an ambiguity in the word "empathy." On the one hand, it means the ability to read another's mood, to decode subtle cues of face, tone of voice, etc. As Baron-Cohen puts it, "Empathizing is about spontaneously and naturally tuning into the other person's thoughts and feelings..." But, an alternative sense of "empathy" refers to an individual's ability to imaginatively put himself in the other person's position, to imagine how he himself would feel were he subjected to similar treatment. The two meanings are very different. In the first sense, one cannot really have "empathy" for the subject of a newspaper story: without direct personal contact, you have no cues of facial expression and tone of voice to enable you to "naturally and spontaneously" tune in to the person's feelings. But, of course, in the second sense of "empathy," one might indeed, by imaginatively putting oneself in the same situation, achieve empathy for the person described in the news story. Those who incline towards the Asperger's-syndrome/systemizing end of Baron-Cohen's behavioral spectrum lack "empathy" in the first sense of the word: i.e., they are lacking in the ability to spontaneously decode other people's feelings and intentions in direct social interaction. They lack a perceptual skill. But, they still can (and they often do, as Baron-Cohen's comment about outrage towards injustice indicates) possess empathy in the second sense: this empathy relies on a conscious act of imagination and psychological projection, not on a perceptual ability to "psych out" other people. Indeed, since there are some people (actors, con artists, some sorts of psychopaths) who possess the ability to convincingly project false cues of their feelings and intentions, people who are receptive to such cues (empathizers in Baron-Cohen's sense of the word) may be more likely to be deceived than those whose empathy is based on thought and imagination rather than instinctual response. To put it concretely, Hitler might have found it easier to appeal to "empathizers" in Baron-Cohen's sense of the word than to people with Asperger's syndrome! I am also somewhat skeptical of Baron-Cohen's hypothesis that severe autism is nothing but an exaggeration of normal male behavior. The "mindblindness" exhibited by those with severe autism is so debilitating that it seems likely that there is some underlying physiological cause. On the other hand, the moderately low level of empathizing seen among most males and, to a somewhat greater degree, among those with Asperger's syndrome is more easily explained simply as a matter of focus and interest. Frankly, as a physicist, I find those people who might be deemed "normal" by Baron-Cohen's criteria to be people who demonstrate an extraordinarily unhealthy obsession with their fellow human beings. Humans are an interesting and important part of the universe -- but they're not everything! A small touch of Asperger's syndrome is, from the perspective of the universe at large, clearly more sane than what is generally considered "normalcy." And, yet, I suspect that Baron-Cohen would listen patiently to such objections, acknowledge their possible validity, and consider how they could be validated or refuted. He comes across as a man motivated more by a passion for truth than a desire to win an argument. "The Essential Difference" does not have, and does not claim to have, the final answers. But it does raise some fascinating questions and present the current state of knowledge in an informative, understandable, and entertaining manner. If you have any interest at all in the nature of your fellow human beings, it is worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: At Last Some Answers
Review: For the majority of the human race that struggles to understand and communicate with the opposite sex, Baron-Cohen provides somes intriguing insights and conclusions into the area of male/female brain construction and chemistry in terms of systemizing, aggression, empathy and nuturing. He states that he would not release this book in the 90's due to its politically sensitive nature, but now feels humanity is ready to accept these findings,many of which are case studies conducted by himself and his research team at Cambridge University. Of special interest are his findings on testosterone and estrogen levels in fetal development, and the subsequent prediction of infant and toddler behavior. He also describes
parallels between the brain construction of highly empathetic women and homosexuals, and includes a short section on the almost telepathic qualities of highly empathetic individuals. His chapter on evolution points to the rise of the aggressive or "alpha" male through thousands of years of polygeny, and feels that this is manifesting itself in the rising incidence of males with Asperger's Syndrome, which
he feels is a manifestation of the "extreme" male or systemizing brain. He predicts a concurrent rise of the "extreme" female, or highly empathetic brain, which at this point in humanity's evolution is not as evident as the male counterpart mentioned above. Although he is quick to point out that we should not stereotype, and many males or females have characteristics of either extreme,with some being quite balanced, his findings show concrete evidence of strong inherent behavioral differences between the sexes . He concludes the book with four appendixes, which are self-administered tests enabling readers to get a general idea where they lie on empathy, systemizing and autistic spectrum scales. A must read for anyone struggling to understand the opposite sex.
Rating:
Summary: Vive La Difference
Review: I found this book fascinating, and fail to see how it can be criticised for being "sexist" as the author appears to be concerned about. It takes a rational look at the way the minds of the different sexes work. It does acknowledge that there is no such thing as a "standard" gender behaviour. It does not try to suggest that one is better than the other. I have children of both sexes, and found myself nodding and smiling in recognition at the traits described in the chapters on childhood behaviour. I did get a little bogged down in some of the statistics - but maybe I don't have the " typical" male brain and don't handle figures too well. Anyway - I still say "vive la difference"
Rating:
Summary: Vive La Difference
Review: I found this book fascinating, and fail to see how it can be criticised for being "sexist" as the author appears to be concerned about. It takes a rational look at the way the minds of the different sexes work. It does acknowledge that there is no such thing as a "standard" gender behaviour. It does not try to suggest that one is better than the other. I have children of both sexes, and found myself nodding and smiling in recognition at the traits described in the chapters on childhood behaviour. I did get a little bogged down in some of the statistics - but maybe I don't have the " typical" male brain and don't handle figures too well. Anyway - I still say "vive la difference"
Rating:
Summary: more pop "science" to cause division between the sexes
Review: I read the book and was completely insulted as a woman.Anyone
who believes this book is doing society and themselves a great
disservice.Cohen has no evidence to back his proof to back his
"theory".
Women are only good with make up and social situations and
men have 90% of the most needed abilities to get by in this
world?Hogwash!
Brains are spatial or verbal,but this has nothing to do with
gender.I think of all the men I know with female brains and
women with male brains,and I realize how contrived and
manipulated these "theories" are.
Any woman with mathematical gifts is said to have a male brain.
Any man with verbal and language skills is said to have a female brain.The woman with mathematical gifts has a spatial brain and
the man with verbal language gifts have a verbal oriented brain.
These writers are responsible for causing so many misunderstandings between men and women.I have been asked so many times by people who believe this book,how I could possibly understand higher math.
Rating:
Summary: Best book on male/female brain differences
Review: I've read several books in the area, and this is by far the best. It does include the key scientific findings, albeit without the level of detail that is available from other sources. What's particularly interesting is Baron-Cohen's thesis about the primary difference between male/female brains being along the axes of empathy (female) and systemizing (male), and the experimental evidence he presents for this theory.It is disappointing to see some of the negative reviews posted about this book when Baron-Cohen is so careful to address the points they raise. He is not saying that autistics don't feel strong emotion -- he says they have low levels of empathy, which makes it hard for them to relate well with other people. He is not saying women are inferior -- he says they are superior (on average) in empathy, while men are superior (on average) in systemizing.All in all an excellent work with some interesting new ideas and supporting evidence. Baron-Cohen is careful to indicate what we know and what is plausible speculation that requires more research. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Surprise, Men and Women Are Different...
Review: Simon Baron-Cohen is a research psychologist who advances a radical notion - that the male and female brains are fundamentally different and that these sex differences are "hard wired" rather than largely the result of environmental adaptation. Now, this thesis - that the way men and women think is different - would not have raised an eyebrow a half-century ago, but today, as we only gradually push back the notion that gender is simply a "social construct", it is considered controversial. Baron-Cohen is quick to assure readers that there is a broad continuum of male and female traits, but that in general, the male brain is a "systemizing brain," adept at organizing and constructing schemes and programs while the female brain generally has a greater capacity for empathy. While these conclusions tend to frighten feminists, who fear being stereotyped and pushed into careers that were traditionally thought of as female, the author assures us that most of us have a broad combination of male and female qualities and that he has based his findings on statistical research, anthropological evidence and the latest developments in neurological science. In order to explain his conclusions, Baron-Cohen uses examples drawn from pop culture as well as the scientific literature. He also uses case studies from his own clinical practice to illustrate his contentions. The most fascinating sections of the book are his descriptions of the work that he has done with autistics and those who have Asperger's Syndrome. It is this work that has made him conclude that the autistic brain is the most extreme example of the "male brain," one that is capable of enormous feats of computation and organization but almost totally lacking in warmth and empathy. "The Essential Difference" is a thoughtful and provocative book that seems to explain our behavior. After all, this web site, with its seemingly endless cataloging and categorization of books may be an example of the "extreme male brain" at work but then, why would most librarians be female?
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