4thofeleven | Sex-ID Test (Reply)

There’s a test on the BBC’s website to see how masculine or feminine your brain is. It’s kinda interesting, though I’m somewhat sceptical of some of the conclusions.

The results claim women score higher on the spot-the-difference test; see, I’d have seen that as more of a spatial problem. At the very least, I wouldn’t imagine it would use different parts of the brain than the match the angles problem or reading maps… But hey, the results of free online tests never lie!

‘Right-brained people may be better fighters and artists’. Damn straight! I share many traits with famous lefties; Napoleon’s overconfidence and Leonardo’s inability to ever finish anything, for example.

“Your Empathy Score is: 3 out of 20”. What do I care for your suffering? Learn to overcome the crass demands of flesh and bone!
Anyway, I’ve got an excuse for that, it’s the mad cow Asperger’s. Of course, if I didn’t have that, I’d probably have ended up even further on the feminine side of the chart…

Systemising, I got 10 out of 20, exactly between the female and male average. I’d note here I’d have probably scored higher, if it wasn’t for the question about how if you were buying a stereo, would you want to know about all the technical details? And I said no, no I wouldn’t – but that’s just for stereos. If I was buying a computer or a video card or a DVD player or an MP3 player or whatever, I’d want to know all the details. Stereos, though? I really can’t hear the difference between low quality and high quality recordings, so it’s not something I’m interested in…

Eye expressions – Well, the male and female averages here are identical, and I managed to fall under them both, scoring only 5 out of 10. Are eye expressions really set in stone, though? I’d imagine there’s at least some sort of cultural and social component in what facial expressions mean…

Faces – I prefer feminine faces. Well, yes, that’s why I selected ‘women’ when they asked me what sort of faces to show. And seriously? The differences between the two faces were often so subtle that even after overlaying them in photoshop, I still couldn’t see the difference.

3D Shapes – For once, I score closer to the male average than the female, with 8 out of 12. Is this a sign of biological differences between the sexes? Or is it just that guys tend to have played a lot more Tetris?

Words – I think I over think things. I would have gotten more synonyms for ‘happy’, but then I got stuck trying to decide if ‘satisfied’ is happy enough to qualify…
I also ended up deciding against using ‘Gandalf’ and ‘Minbari council’ as words associated with Grey…

Ultimatum – This isn’t a ‘brain chemistry difference’; this is a ‘how much of a jerk are you’ problem. If you’re splitting $50, and you demand more than $25, you’re a jerk. That doesn’t mean you’ve got a more ‘masculine’ brain, though it may mean men are more likely to get away with being demanding jerks in our culture.
I demanded $24, on the – possibly flawed – logic that if the other guy’s a jerk, they might not accept any deal that they don’t think is giving them an advantage over their 'opponent'. Game theorists, feel free to laugh at me.

Anyway, I’m apparently pretty damn feminine, scoring 50 points on the female side. Huh…