Men and women ...there is a difference.

A sofa discussion on Breakfast TV this morning got onto the question of political correctness and how it had changed over time. They were actually making the comparison between a couple of currently showing TV Detective programmes where one was set in the 60's.  Now the 60's was my "finishing" era as far as adolescence goes so I have to confess to once holding some  "dated" attitudes on the subject of men and women.
However in recent years I have championed the cause of women, particularly when it came to hiring and developing good sales people. My experience was that women just happened to excel at reading body language. So consequently they were better at mirroring and establishing rapport. Which meant they were better qualifyers ..and so on.

So it was an unbiased eye that was caught by reports on some work undertaken by the University of Southern California.

It seems that there are sex differences when it comes to recognising someone else's facial expression when we're stressed. For example us blokes don't respond to angry faces ...so they say.  Although I do think the expression "diminished brain activity" is a bit strong.  But it does seem that there is "decreased co-ordination" in the part that interprets what facial expressions are saying.

The trouble is that these experts now have the brain imaging technology to prove it!! As shown by another  team at University of Pennsylvania who have come up with more or less the same conclusions.    http://tinyurl.com/cymoan
And it seems in this case that when stress abounds in situations involving personal inter-action - like that key client negotiation - us guys are much more inclined to resort to the old fight or flight response. Sadly I must associate myself with those last remarks!
So lads we better brush up on those calming positive affirmations as well as the body language skills before that next big business pitch. Or else we're going to have to leave things to the ladies.
Still there is one comforting thought ...it's no longer politically incorrect to talk about the differences between the guys and the girls???