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Whether it’s the dishes, vacuuming, or tidying up a bit every day: women have been doing it more than men for years. And according to researchers at the University of Cambridge, this has to do with the way we associate things and tasks.
Lemmance link
A speck of dust on the floor, a speck on the coffee table, or just a sock lying around: Women are more likely to notice and clean it, too, than when a man is fired in the same room. Researchers at the University of Cambridge came to this conclusion, which was also published in the journal Philosophy and phenomenological research.
To understand why a woman is more likely to see “work” at home, experts refer to the so-called Bearing-theory“which states that the use of an object is intrinsically determined by its physical form.
Concrete example: When Christine enters the messy kitchen, she sees the mountain of dishes as a washing machine, and the dirty floor is instantly associated with the mop, mop, and litter box? Associated with bag emptying and replacement. According to the researchers, this association or cognition can, in turn, trigger a neural process that prepares you, as it were, to put the association into action – thus clearing and cleaning. “This can range from a mild to overwhelming compulsion, but it often takes a mental effort not to act in the process,” said researcher Paulina Sliwa.
On the other hand, her husband Jan has a different picture. Of course he sees the dirty dishes in the sink, but the association with household tasks, in this case washing the dishes or replenishing the dishwasher, is not automatic. Same with the dirty floor and empty fridge.
sensitivities
Experts also suggest that women are more likely to notice chores, such as dirty dishes, and experience this as an invitation to get in on the action. “This may be due to social conditioning because women are more closely related to the family in popular perception,” says Professor Paulina Sliwa. She is joined in this by her colleague Tom McClelland. “Some skills are almost automatically linked to a person’s gender. Society expects girls to be better at housework. As a result, they are subconsciously trained to look at the local environment differently.”
their message? Men should be encouraged more to notice family sensibilities, those dirty dishes begging for soapy water.
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