Can women really multi-task better than men?

Well this one certainly can’t. In theory I’m on Fluther, talking to a friend, doing laundry AND writing my paper but only one is really happening…

It’s “Bull” to generalize in either direction imho. Some women are better. Some men are better. We don’t have identical brains or personalities. Even “studies” on the subject can’t possibly sample enough of the world’s population to be truly accurate. Although if they sampled everyone in the world .. I’m sure you would find that one gender or the other was slightly ahead… no big deal.

Most experts in the field of attention do not believe that anyone can multitask, man woman or anything in between.

I suspect that women who believe this are also more likely to complain about having too much to do.

“True or False: Women are better at multitasking, while men are better when concentrating on a single task from beginning to completion.

True. Ruben Gur, PhD, and Raquel Gur, MD, PhD, at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, measured blood flow and activity in men’s and women’s brains, and they found repeatedly that women use more parts of their brains when given a wide variety of verbal and spatial tasks. They believe that this may contribute to women’s ability to focus on a number of different things at one time.

A new study has raised an important question: Women may be better at multitasking, but is multitasking really the most efficient way to work? Newer research shows that switching back and forth from one task to another takes precious seconds of reevaluation, and those seconds add up. As the researchers point out, in the best-case scenario, this makes you only slightly less efficient—but in the case of someone talking on a cell phone and driving, that fraction of a second may make the difference between life and death. ”

Source

There are always exceptions .. but in my experience, women are better multi-taskers. At least at home, women mostly have a lot more things going on at once. At work… that’s a toss up.

Of course, women might not always be successful at multi-tasking, but they seem to have to do it more often.

Nursing is certainly multi tasking or at least multi-organization and there are some fine male nurses. Anyone at home taking care of children must multi task or die.

i don’t believe it. There is a greater degree of variance between individuals than between the two genders. I have known both men and women who were terrible multi-taskers. One’s ability to multi-task is more a function of both personality and experience. If men don’t do it as well as women, it may be because they don’t engage in activities (like childcare) that sharpen one’s multi-tasking skills.

I can definitely switch my attention back and forth way better than my husband.

I really think it depends on the individual. Some women can’t multi-task at all, and some men are excellent at it. I think men are more “focus-oriented” and “goal directed” than women, so maybe that’s why they have a reputation for not being able to multi-task. Women in general probably “float around” or “go from one place to another” better than men. That’s why they love to shop. Lol. For example—-
http://www.funnyhub.com/content_images/6081_3041_women-shopping.gif

@MRSHINYSHOES Nah…that would be my husband. He wanders and meanders, even in the grocery store! I hate shopping….

In my home the answer is “yes”.

If you cannot multitask, don’t have children.

@bea2345 Bravo That is the truth! Lets see I need to carry the baby, carry a diaper bag, my purse, the keys, the bag of groceries and unlock the door…...OH MY why weren’t women born with 3 arms! I know I could have used anther one.

I have known a lot of men who used that as an excuse to be responsible for as few tasks as possible.

I think the issue really is about the number of parallel autopilot tasks. As @pdworkin pointed out, the conscious mind seems to deal with only one task at a time. I think most neuroscientists agree neither man nor woman can consciously handle more than 100 bits/s. Some think the limit is even lower, between 30 and 50 bits/s.

On average, No. But also on average, women are much better at child birth than men.

I don’t know if women are better at it, but we tend to have more practice, especially if children are included. It is usually the eldest girl who helps with the younger children, with housework, and the multiplicity of domestic tasks; and in many countries she is expected to keep up with her studies at school, as well. Yes, we women get lots of practice.