# Are women more thoughtfull than men? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 10, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694 "2013-01-10T01:12:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alnewman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@alnewman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alnewman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/1 "2013-01-10T01:12:51Z")
Women tend to be more emotional then men in my experience (not putting a value on that… simply stating an hypothesis), but are women as a whole more thought full then men? ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/2 "2013-01-10T01:27:04Z")
> [@alnewman](#): > > Women tend to be more emotional then men in my experience (not putting a value on that… simply stating an hypothesis), but are women as a whole more thought full then men? What do you mean by thoughtful? Do you mean it the colloquial way that is basically a synonym for “considerate of other people’s feelings?” or are you suggesting that women might actually use their brains more than men? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/3 "2013-01-10T01:37:19Z")
If you are talking about “considerate of other people’s feelings”, then in my experience it’s true that women are more thoughtful. Women don’t have an exclusive on that, but it swings in their favor. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/4 "2013-01-10T01:52:23Z")
Well for one thing, I don’t think that women are “more emotional” than men. They just tend to be more open about many of their emotions, and a lot of men make a fetish of pretending that their emotional behavior is rational when it isn’t. As for “thoughtful”, I’d have to know what was meant by that. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/5 "2013-01-10T02:27:07Z")
Thoughtful about what? I would say that (on average) women tend to ponder more about how their immediate actions will affect others feelings and how to best main social relationships than men do. I think men (on average) tend to have a more dispassionate, results oriented, and longer term macro view about how things will pan out. Having said this there are obviously men and women who approach problem solving and analysis 180 degrees differently from their gender stereotypes above so individual variation is a lot more important than averages. ---
**Author:** ![IClaudius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c37758/32.png) [@IClaudius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IClaudius)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/6 "2013-01-10T02:39:31Z")
As a generalisation, yes. Women dominate frequency of philanthropic giving, and they tend to respond to exhibit stronger compassion and consideration of others. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/7 "2013-01-10T03:15:43Z")
I think both genders are equally self-absorbed. Most people are not thoughtful. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/858c86/32.png) [@I\_Made\_French\_Toast\_For\_You](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Made_French_Toast_For_You)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/8 "2013-01-10T03:54:04Z")
Men and women are equally [_insert character trait here_]. I do not have a cite for that, though. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/9 "2013-01-10T08:45:19Z")
> [@IClaudius](#): > > Women dominate frequency of philanthropic giving, and they tend to respond to exhibit stronger compassion and consideration of others. And more sadism, both emotional and physical. “Caring about other people” is only a good thing if the person doing the caring means well towards the people in question. Women are both nastier and nicer than men that way, depending on their personal feelings and ethics. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/10 "2013-01-10T09:03:54Z")
Women form a substanstial majority of Conservative party voters, and without female votes we would have had almost solid socialist government since the War. The nickname of the Conservative, or Tory, party is “The Nasty Party”. I am therefore unconvinced. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/11 "2013-01-10T10:35:48Z")
I think an old Seinfeld discussion summed it up well: men give wedgies, whereas women tease someone until she develops an eating disorder. The ratio of good/bad people in both genders is the same, they just use different methods. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/12 "2013-01-10T10:56:58Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > I think an old Seinfeld discussion summed it up well: men give wedgies, whereas women tease someone until she develops an eating disorder. The ratio of good/bad people in both genders is the same, they just use different methods. Or another way I’ve heard it put; a male murderer will kill you. A female murderer will quite often kill [the people you love](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanda_Holloway). ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/13 "2013-01-10T11:11:40Z")
> [@IClaudius](#): > > As a generalisation, yes. Women dominate frequency of philanthropic giving, and they tend to respond to exhibit stronger compassion and consideration of others. Regarding philanthropy it might not be quite that simple ([cite](http://qje.oxfordjournals.org/content/116/1/293.short)). But I would agree that women are more thoughtful in general than guys, if by thoughtful we mean they think more about other people’s mental state without those other people needing to spell it out for them. If we mean thoughtful as in _considerate_, that’s a much tougher call for me. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/14 "2013-01-10T12:34:27Z")
I think women have stronger incentives to be aware of social cues: behavior that is “clueless” or “awkward” in a man is "bitchy’ or “selfish” in a woman. You see this within a lot of family dynamics: mothers and daughters (and female in-laws) are responsible for monitoring other’s feelings, making sure everyone is included, extending invitations, etc., in a way men are often not. A son-in-law who doesn’t show up to family gatherings is “uncomfortable in social situations”; a daughter-in-law who doesn’t show up is “aloof” or “stand-offish” or “doesn’t like us”. Because women are more likely to be penalized for not being aware of other people and missing social cues means they are more likely to learn to notice these things. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/15 "2013-01-10T12:45:19Z")
Actually it’s my understanding that the evidence is quite strong that female social skills have a major inborn, genetic component. Passed down in the paternal X chromosome in fact; women that have a genetic disorder that inactivates one of their X chromosomes have a level of social skills determined according to whether the maternal or paternal X chromosome is disabled. Ones with the paternal X disabled average only about as good as men, while ones with the maternal X disabled average as good as normal women. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/16 "2013-01-10T15:27:15Z")
You don’t have to take differences between men and women to an extreme. With different physiologies you’d expect some differences, but it doesn’t have to be ‘all men do this’ and ‘all women do that’. The differences will usually be a tendency one way or another, with a lot of people overlapping in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![alnewman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@alnewman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alnewman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/17 "2013-01-10T16:55:56Z")
My question is are they more analytical then men as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![alnewman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@alnewman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alnewman)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/18 "2013-01-10T17:01:45Z")
Thank you everyone for your comments, I enjoyed reading them. ---
**Author:** ![Doubticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Doubticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubticus)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/19 "2013-01-10T17:39:46Z")
More thoughtful? Of course they are, more thoughtful in how they will emotionally manipulate you. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694/20 "2013-01-10T23:26:12Z")
> [@alnewman](#): > > My question is are they more analytical then men as a whole. Maybe it’s just me, but thoughtful comes across as a completely different thing than analytical, almost opposites, even. It really changes the question you’re asking. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-women-more-thoughtfull-than-men/646694.md?page=2)