Mnemonics: Do Men and Women use different strategies for recalling autobiographical memory?

[differenceblog]

Piefke et al. (2005) compared the brain activity of men and women involved in autobiographical memory. They found that while both groups showed bilateral activation in the medial and lateral temporal areas, there were some differential activations. The authors suggest that this may represent a difference in the cognitive methods used to call up

Comments

[sunspiral]

Um, so where does "No shit, there we were" fit in?

[differenceblog]

Heheh... I'm not sure. But you know, I have heard that opening from more men than women.

Actually, thinking about it, "no shit" stories are typically achievement/action oriented, and not affilatively oriented. I mean, you don't get so much of "No shit, there we were, I was completely being snubbed by the class, and then someone included me." It's more like "No shit, there we were, bottom of the ninth, and everyone's counting on me..." etc. The "No shit" story is a very performance oriented archetype. Or is your experience of it different.

One thing I'm not seeing verbalized in the papers that discuss the male achievement orientation is the fascination with failure. I see a lot of "Here's a funny time I fucked up" stories in the men I know. It seems to me that failure and achievement are two sides of the same coin, like inclusion and exclusion.

[sunspiral]

Perhaps my male stereotype is showing, but I thought that the we following the "No shit" made it somewhat affiliative. But your examples do point in the opposite direction. As for "fuck up" stories contrasted with success stories, they're both just "look at me!" behavior.