Male and Female Psychology
Dean
Researchers at Ohio State University say there is a significant difference in how men and women decide who they trust: Men tend to trust people based on group affiliation, and women tend to trust people based on personal and familial affiliation.
Without guessing why that is, I'd have to say that now that I've had that pointed out to me, it rings very true.
(Yes, yes, someone will come along and say "that's not me!" That's not the point. I don't like watching team sports, but I'm not blind to the fact that most men do, either. Studying what makes us different is interesting, and not about superiority or inferiority. It also makes meeting exceptional people more interesting. Learn a little joie de vivre, why don't you?)
(And you'd know that, if you weren't clueless, like all men...)
The Professor could probably get more mileage out of her research project if she had called it the Ohio State Woody Hayes $ 3.00 Whom do you trust test.
I know, I'm being snarky. But seriously, 147 Ohio State college students participate in a pre-programmed test asking whether they would trust a stranger at the risk of losing $ 3.00 based on: oh, the stranger knows someone from Ohio State. Now that is definitely university science of a level with which I am unfamiliar.
Ah, the college life must be interesting. I'm sure
glad I didn't major in psychology.
How can the lack of a difference be attributed to a difference?
And even if it's possible, it needs some explanation, not just a bald statement.
Here's how I think it might be incomplete.
1. Men trust only people from OSU.
2. Women trust from other schools as well.
3. Women and men trust at the same overall rate.
How do you reconcile 1, 2, and 3? One plausible answer is that women trust from OSU, but at a lesser rate; and then they also trust from other schools. That would actually fit with the researcher's explanation: women are more risk averse in similar circumstances, even if they're more trusting where they feel a connection.
This is why I questioned the reporter's role in the quote. Standing alone, the quote makes little sense. In the context of the larger story, it makes possible sense. I wish the reporter had confirmed the idea, one way or the other.
2. Women trust from other schools as well.
3. Women and men trust at the same overall rate."
I suppose I'll trust some people from OSU (Oregon State University in Corvallis) and U of O (University of Oregon in Eugene), Willamette University in Salem, and especially WOU (Western Oregon University, formerly Oregon College of Education, in Monmouth), and even Reed College in Portland.