CAMDEN, Maine -- Boys are from G.I. Joe Land; girls are from Planet Barbie. This is, of course, no news parents don't already know. But psychiatry professor Louann Brizendine of the University of California, San Francisco (pictured here) has the data that explain why.
Presenting at PopTech 2007 this afternoon, Brizendine cited both research for her recent book The Female Brain and her forthcoming title... wait for it... The Male Brain (2009). Embryonic brains all begin as female, she said, but then for male embryos eight weeks and beyond, testosterone kicks in and, among other things, the part of the brain that's cued for sexual pursuit grows -- Grinch Who Stole Christmas-like -- at least twofold, compared to the nascent girl's brain.
By age two, both boys and girls go through an "infantile puberty," she said, practically wiring them for the relationship role-play and superhero games seen in the aisles of every toy store.
By the onset of regular puberty, she said, boys experience a rush of testosterone 25 times what they'd had in childhood. But, she added, inhaling the cuddly hormone oxytocin makes the testosterone-addled brain feel more unquestioning. One experiment gave men a risky investment decision, and when they'd been given a snort of oxy, they were at least twice as likely to trust their advisor and make the leap.
"Oxytocin nasal spray makes a more trusting male," she said. "There may be room for a new product."
[ADDENDUM: Thanks to commenter Ignotus for raising important caveats to Brizendine's work. Still curious about that nasal spray, though...]
