*Man 1 narrating* “It’s common sense that there is basic biological differences between the sexes but do these differences explain the ways that children think? *pause* To find out I’ve come to see Professor Gena Ripon one of the Country’s leading experts in Neuro imaging to see if there’s something about how the children’s brains work, that could explain it.
*Man 1* “This is between boys and girls brains atomically.”
*Professor Gena Ripon* “Er.. $64,000 question structurally there appears to be very few differences which is quite a surprise to a lot of people, who have assumed for hundreds of years that males And females are different because their brains are different, so you can look a brain scan and Say that’s a brain scan of a male or a brain scan of a female.”
*Man 1* “That really doesn’t explain why boys and girls might behave differently then if you say the structure of the brains are er...That there is no differentiation between the structure”
*Professor Gena Ripon* “ Well the other thing we now know about is that the brain is very very plastic, mouldable, changeable that it’s something that isn’t necessary fixed and invariant, which is what was all thought about the brain, what we now know is the brain development is very entangled with society, experiences um.. upbringing and the differences we are seeing are not because they were determined at the moment of conception it’s because this hungry brain arrives in the world and is instantly plunging it into a tsunami of pink and blue and I think we’ve not been aware until recently of how big that influence is.”
It's common sense that there are basic biological differences between the sexes. But do these differences explain the way that children think? To find out, I've come to see professor Jeana Rippon, one of the countries leading experts in neuro-imaging, to see if there's something about how the children's brains work that could explain it.
"What are the differences between boys and girls brains, anatomically?"
"Uh, $64,000 question. structurally, there appears t be very very few differences, which is quite a surprise to a lot of people who have assumed for hundreds that males and females are different because their brains are different, so you couldn't look at a brain scan and say well that's a brain scan of a male or a brain scan of a female."
"That really doesn't explain why boys and girls might behave differently then if you say the structure of the brain, is, uh, there's no differentiation between the structure."
"Well, the other thing we now know about, is that the brain is very very plastic, mouldable, changeable, that something isn't necessarily fixed and invariant, which is what was all thought about the brain. what we now know is that brain development is very much entangled with society, experiences, upbringing, and the differences we are seeing are not because they were determined at the moment of conception. Its because this hungry brain arrives in the wold, and the world is instantly plunging it into a tsunami of pink and blue and I think we have not been aware till recently of how big that influence is."
I hope this helps 🙂