James Poteet II
How do people behave? What makes us act the way we do? There are as many different answers as there are people. Each person is a unique makeup of individual characteristics which blend together to form the personality, the behavior of the person. We can identify certain broad characteristics of groups of people and apply them to individuals to get an idea of how they will behave in a given situation. This is called stereotyping and, when taken too far, will give a distorted picture of what to expect of a persons behavior. While you can never get a fully accurate picture of how someone will behave based on their demographics and characteristics, you can make certain general guesses that will point you generally in the right direction regarding their behavior.
The most popular and fun characteristic to use to point to behavioral differences is probably gender. Numerous books have been written about the differences between men and women. Certain broad characteristics are identified that point at the broad gap in perspective that each gender has in viewing the world. A man sees a room and may see the functionality of it; what is the room's use, its purpose. Does the room meet the requirements for fulfilling that purpose? What improvements can be made to better use this room? What is the quality of construction of this room? A woman sees the room and sees the color. How does the room look? How does she feel in that room? She envisions her family in that room, her friends. These are broad differences and may not be wholly accurate in the individual case, but in the genders in general, this will prove to be fairly representative of the behavior of the two populations.
I tend to agree with scientists who study the human brain to try to identify the differences between the genders. According to studies, there is a greater link between the left and right hand sides of the brain in women than in men. The right hand