ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the origins of gender differences. It explores the different ways male and female cortical hemispheres function. Gender differences appear to be an issue of long-standing interest to advertisers. The chapter also explores to what extent psychosocial and/or biochemical factors may be responsible for gender differences in hemispheric operation. Social influences also may account for females’ tendency to assume a detail-sensitive processing approach that corresponds with the processing style of the left hemisphere. The data implying greater male dependence in right-hemisphere processing and greater female dependence in left-hemisphere processing raise the question of what might account for this pattern of effects. The biochemical findings suggest that when male hormones are present at a level considered normal for males, left-hemisphere development may be somewhat repressed and/or right-hemisphere functioning may be strengthened. There are several ways by which biochemical factors may influence neural development in the brain and thus influence gender differences in cortical operation.
