It predisposes the child to have a biological basis for fear, though he may act and pretend otherwise. The brain is programmed to a state of defensive adaptation, enhancing survival in a world of constant danger, but at a terrible price. Not so, says psychologist Kimura. She argues that differences in the brain are reflected in differences in how men and women think and that talent, not an artificial idea of equality, should determine the choice of occupation. Boys show an advantage on spatial rotation tests and in throwing accuracy at age four, possibly earlier.
Girls show an advantage in verbal memory and finger dexterity by ages five and three, respectively.
Similar patterns are seen in cultures that are quite different from the Western societies where most of the testing is done. Similar sex differences are reported in African, Asian, and East Indian societies. If these sex differences are found to be near universal, with little variation across widely diverse cultures, it will suggest that socialization plays a lesser role than biology. Psychiatrists Siever and Koenigsberg look at the complex interactions between genetic vulnerability, early experience, and coping skills that affect these patients and warn that both patients and the professionals who help them must be held responsible for the outcomes of treatment. We have little trouble understanding how a man with a tumor impinging on his frontal lobes may become irascible and display poor judgement, or how someone with an abnormal organization of her brain may hear voices and act out of touch with reality.