The world we see through gender glasses

The sexual question is so important that it appears to us the light of the world.
 
Abstract things are not an exception. Thus, representatives of almost all cultures perceive the odd numbers as an expression of masculinity, and even, respectively, on the contrary.

Of course, a huge role in this is language. For example, in German Luna - masculine (Der Mond), and Spanish - Women (La Luna). I wonder what they think about it bilingual?

Furthermore, items "acquire" gender identity through appearance. David Gal and James Wilkie from Northwestern University (USA) have shown that meats are perceived more masculine, and salads and dairy products - feminine. Table or trash can "change" the floor, depending on what their region - angular or rounded.

Mr. Wilkie and psychologist Galen Bodenhausen of the same university also found that this trend extends to abstract concepts. They asked volunteers to evaluate foreign names (for example, Alexeyev). It turned out that if the name was under an odd number, it is often perceived as masculine, as if by an even - as a female. Curiously, none of the participants in the experiment did not admit that the rooms are somehow influenced his opinion.

Then Wilkie and Bodenhausen showed respondents photographs of babies. The same situation: the first child is often called the boy, the second - a girl. And again - no idea the participants that they are being manipulated figures.

The experiment was first conducted in the US and then repeated in India - with identical results. Interestingly enough, this idea has its roots in antiquity: the Pythagoreans, and Chinese philosophers endowed male born in odd numbers and the even - female.

Our desire to see the floor throughout, even in numbers - is a reminder of how important gender issue in the perception of the world. When people are made to believe that the object has a different floor, and changing attitude. For example, researchers from Stanford University (USA) Clifford Nass, Yong Moon Me and Nancy Greene watched how people interact with the computer, talking to them a male or female voice. It turned out that in the first case, it was perceived as a more user-friendly, reliable and informed, although people were aware that we are talking about the car, not the person.

What is the first question comes to your mind when you learn that familiar completion? If we do not know the sex of who to talk to, we do not know how to talk to him. Paul helps us to understand how this or that person is related to the rest of the world. In part, that's why everything in the world we perceive through the prism of gender.