Why are women more superstitious than men?

komencanto

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Hi everyone!
I´ve been around these forums for weeks but only signed up today. Looking forward to some great discussion and getting to know you all! :)

I´ve been thinking about this one for a while.
Why are women more superstitious than men?
As we can see here (and many other better polls)
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_poll3.htm
women are more religious, more likely to believe in Gods, ghosts, heaven, astrology etc. Almost all of the girls I know give some credence to the supernatural, while all the guys I know think it is complete bunk. Why is this? :confused:

I remembered this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/news/page/0,12983,937443,00.html
The theory is that mens brains are designed for systems thinking while women are more wired for empathy. I scored a very high systems score on the test, which might explain my scepticism and love of science, maths etc.
Women on the other hand might be less inclined to look for patterns in results, do double blind tests and studies as would a systems person, and will instead come to the emotional conclusion of "if it makes me or people feel good, why not believe it?". Or at least, their first reaction is less likely to be "Prove it with statistics!" like mine. :D

Interestingly, check out this one:
http://www.businessweek.com:/print/magazine/content/03_21/b3834001_mz001.htm?mz
Boys (like me) are struggling in school (I see it in my school every day :() for a variety of reasons, and schools are not doing much to help them. Aside from hormones, have the differently wired brains got something to do with this?
 
I know three women who are not at all skeptical, and very few men. All three women are extremely intelligent (educated, good vocabulary, eloquent, witty). Two of them counter my skepticism with this approximate quote: "It's fun to believe in stuff!"

It's hard for me to argue with them there. After all, I have loads of fun being a skeptic, i.e. not believing in stuff.

These two women are smart enough to understand evidence and science, but simply would rather not know, or chose to ignore debunkers because they're "party-poopers" or something like that.

As for the third woman I mentioned, I think she's just a bit nutty.
 
It is known that men versus women are better at some things than others.

Of course, these differences may be influenced more strongly by simple social bias, rather than by any biological mechanism.

Girls are encouraged to do "craftsy" things while boys are encouraged to do "handy" things, or sports.

Girls are encouraged to "share feelings", and boys are encouraged to "tough it out".

The list of different expectations society has for boys and girls is extensive before you ever get into the parts about religion and other superstition.

Boys are "supposed to be" practical and pragmatic. Girls are "supposed to be" emotional and dependent. They're raised to be that way, and generally live these roles as they were trained to.
 
evildave said:
It is known that men versus women are better at some things than others.

Of course, these differences may be influenced more strongly by simple social bias, rather than by any biological mechanism.

Girls are encouraged to do "craftsy" things while boys are encouraged to do "handy" things, or sports.

Girls are encouraged to "share feelings", and boys are encouraged to "tough it out".

The list of different expectations society has for boys and girls is extensive before you ever get into the parts about religion and other superstition.

Boys are "supposed to be" practical and pragmatic. Girls are "supposed to be" emotional and dependent. They're raised to be that way, and generally live these roles as they were trained to.
Click to expand...
Yes, it true. Men tend to do better with Visual-Spatial skills, mental mapping. Women tend to do better with communication and tackling projects that require matching objects or complex thinking. I read the article listed... all I learned was how to really really mess up rats... I can make boy rats think theyre girls HEE HEE!
 
Maybe is the fine chemistry differencials in the brains of males and females that make women more open to philosophical questions and superstitions. Men may not be as open or might just be arrogant in disregarding all superstitions... sounds like an insult to men until you think about it for a minute. I dont have any superstitions, they are imbecilic. Will carrying around a rabbit foot (which is cruelty to animals which isnt cool... if you have to kill animals then kill animals in the most humane way possible only for food and shelter) make it anymore likely that I'll throw a 7 when shooting craps at the casino... NO! Will breaking a mirror cause 7 years of bad luck... NO... but its gots lots sharp killy edges that might cut your finger. When a black cat crosses your path is it good luck, bad luck... NO... you run up and pet the kitty because kitties are nice.
 
Well, back in the olden days when mirrors were expensive instruments and owned by the nobles, what better way to get those ignorant serfs to be careful of mirrors than to tell them this sort of tale.

And think of the "step on a crack" thing. If the streets are paved with brisks and/or stones that will tend to get pried up by walking on their edges, you want people to step in the middle, to cut down on maintenance. How best to do it? Explain the economics of it and how their local noble (rich and not well liked) will have to pay more for maintenance, or tell the ignorant peasants it's bad luck, and invent a catchy rhyme or two?

It should be remember that for a time, cats were associated with witches, and were being massacred along with any single woman who didn't gladly submit to being property for people to rape at will.

The origin for these "superstitions" is simply a matter of controling people who you consider to be too stupid to be educated, and too impoverished to be responsible.
 
"Why are women more superstitious than men?"

The same reason most skeptics are slightly geriatric males.

-Who
 
Women may respond more honestly to polls like this than men.
Walk around a casino or go to sporting events and pick out the superstitious quirks men display.
The late Dave DeBuschere was general manger of the New York Knicks of the NBA. He prayed for the first pick in the draft lottery and got Patrick Ewing out of Georgetown. He openly stated this.
His plea appeared to work while whatever everyone else did failed.
Obviously god wasn't a roman catholic in that draft, (DeBuschere was), because the Chicago Bulls got second pick and took Michael Jordan.
The final score is
Jordan...six championships
Ewing....none
His former temmate from the knicks, Phil Jackson converted to buddhism and went on to tie Red Auerbach for most championships by a coach AND he survived a heart attack. DeBuschere bought the farm on the first one.


Go figure.
 
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