Are women less rational?

Imperator_Red · 2020-01-09T18:49:03+00:00

I try to frame everything in terms of reproductive success and evolutionary biology, because ultimately our brains and bodies are just machines created and refined by random chance to pass on our genes. When examined in this light, women are perfectly rational. Hypergamy, monkey branching, herd-like NPC thinking - these are all evolutionary adaptations that exist because they provided women with the greatest chance of reproducing with high value men and surviving in harsh conditions.

The problem happens when we take women and put them into institutions created by men such as corporations, universities, or as voters in a representative government, and expect them to behave just like us. For example, women are unsuited for life in universities because the vast majority of women (all women that I would consider normal) are not evolved to seek the truth and have vigorous debates. They are very high in the psychological trait "agreeableness," which is a distinct trait that can be definitely measured. This doesn't mean that they are unable to solve problems or perform tasks, it just means they aren't going to question anything. They will do as they are told and believe what they are told.

This makes perfect sense within the context of evolutionary psychology. Think back to pre-agricultural and early tribal times. Groups of related men fought over and controlled territory that produced food and contained females to reproduce with. The females are the natural resource. Their only job is to stay alive and mate with the best males that they can. There is no point in them arguing with men or trying trying to become a leader. Better to just smile, agree, stay alive, and play internal politics to get yourself into the best possible position in life. Even if your side loses a conflict you can mate with the victors. If there is not enough food, you can sell your body to a rich man. Same thing with voting. Women are soooo easily persuaded because they want to be told what to do, and they are less aggressive and less wary of outsiders because conflict is always a net negative for them.

Many men believe women are irrational because of how they behave in relationships. The classic example is the shit test. It seems so irrational. Why are you fucking with me? All I do is treat you well and provide for you, and you're suddenly being a bitch for no reason. You must be insane. She's not insane - she's being perfectly rational. Her biological imperative is find an alpha male to mate with because pregnancy is risky and costly for a woman, as is rearing a small child. She can't take chances. So she shit tests you and your reaction is one of many pieces of evidence she uses to determine your true status.

So while it's true that men are on average slightly more intelligent than women, and also have a wider bell curve meaning there are disproportionately more very intelligent men at the very top, this is not the whole story. Women can solve the high school math problem. They can perform complex tasks at work. What they cannot do and never will do is become independent thinkers, because they are not evolved to be independent thinkers. They have a low risk/low reward evolutionary strategy. They want to mate with the strongest man. They want to reinforce the dominant social narrative. They want to be taken care of.

Everything they do is perfectly rational in this context. It is men who are being irrational by expecting women to act like men and use male reproductive strategies, which we do because of the brainwashing we receive from western culture telling us that women are our equals.

TacticalTacktleneck · 2020-01-10T10:45:21+00:00

I think you are conflating two things here.

Namely what‘s rational for the individual and what‘s rational for society.

Rational behavior on a societal level is what would be called ethical / moral by that society, because it benefits the group even though it might be disadvantageous to the individual.

Rational behavior on an individual level would be considered unethical / amoral by that society, because it only benefits the individual while hampering the society.

Ethical / moral behavior in this regard is nothing else than willfully or not willfully abstaining from behavior that would only benefit the individual, therefore the assessment of that behavior as rational or irrational depends entirely on your point of view (i.e. societal or individual).

So from an individual standpoint women are perfectly rational, albeit not moral. But neither are men. It just appears this way because women hold all the cards in the mating game (at least when they are young and pretty) and most men still operate under the presumption of an outdated social contract. If a man holds the cards in the mating game, he is just as likely to exercise the same kind „amoral“ behavior, but since this is only the case for a very small minority, men as a whole appear more“moral“.

Blackhawk2479 · 2020-01-09T18:09:15+00:00

Only in so far as most women aren’t “less rational”, they are full-on irrational to the point of insanity.

Your point about ethics is probably right; they do tend to leave morals behind in favour of whatever their emotions are urging them to do in the moment.

Red_Raze · 2020-01-10T09:38:51+00:00

Yuh.

RacistMuffin · 2020-01-09T18:47:31+00:00

The world is governed by cold, impersonal, objective, rational rules. These rules are freely available for anyone to understand, but has shaped every individual’s world in their own image.

Rational thinking is one's perception of the world and how the rules are governed. Everyone has their way of rationality when encountering situations since rationality is explained as you controlling your emotions on any given situation.

Rationality is therefore subjective based on that non-objective paradigm everyone has. Yes, females are more emotional, but they are not necessarily more "irrational" since they have shaped a form of complexity that can be noted as rational in their minds.

You also have to remember that rationality within humans are mostly a productions of ones evolutionary needs. Females are wired and more prone to manipulation since it's their form of survival tactic. You may think it's a mere form of irrationality, but it's the opposite if you are placed in their perspective. They all have this fundamental wiring in their brains which can be constitute as "rational thinking".

Title	Are women less rational?
Author	bare_et_spoergsmaal
Upvotes	4
Comments	10
Date	January 9, 2020 6:02 PM UTC (6 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/askTRP
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/asktrp/comments/emdcp9/are_women_less_rational/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/askTRP/are-women-less-rational.305752 https://theredarchive.com/post/305752

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