Apology in Advance: Uninteresting Research Produces Uninteresting Stream of Consciousness.

A recent article about gender differences from Psychcentral* looked very interesting initially so I went back and looked at the scientific journal that reported the original research, conducted by psychologists from Italy and the UK. Here's their final paragraph.

"In conclusion, we believe we made it clear that the true extent of sex differences in human personality has been consistently underestimated."

 Does this paragraph convey any meaningful information? No. What is the take-away?  Nada. So you may wonder why I even wrote this post. Two reasons.  I prefer to have posts based on psychological information and researched facts. I believed that I'm always interested in gender difference research.

As it turns out,  this piece of research altered my thinking about what I read and what I write and what I think.

• Reading Psychcentral as well as the original research told me almost nothing, but it reminded me that although there's lots more accessibility to research and new knowledge on the internet, it doesn't mean that it's fresh, interesting, or meaningful.

• Neuroscience seems to be outpacing psychological science in interesting revelations for new, improved ways to think and behave. 

• The question of gender differences/similarities seems tired after two decades or more. My first book, Genderflex, Men and Women Speaking Each Other's Language at Work focused with intensity on the subject. Maybe I've lost the passion.

•  I'm changing so that I'm mostly interested in research that can lead to improved action. e.g. are there ways to develop and maintain relationships with people who are similar to us that are not the same as those techniques that are useful in relationships with people who are different than us?

• Maybe I'll end up replacing the category of Get It — Gender Differences with Newest in Applicable Neuroscience.

This post might be found wanting in the same way I found the gender research useless. I'm reminded of an early post when I wrote about gender differences in a 3 act play form. Didn't work.  But for me, this exercise was useful; writing out loud a thinking process that will lead to change.

Thanks for your indulgence kind readers. Friday will have to be fascinating.


















   *    http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/01/06/study-supports-gender-differences-in-personality/33384.html