Allan Pease is an Australian author and motivational speaker.
Originally a musician, he became a successful life insurance salesman, he started a career as a speaker and trainer in sales and latterly in body language and communication skills.
His best-selling book Body Language brought him international recognition.
Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Mapsmoreless
In 1999 he co-wrote Why Men don't Listen and Women can't read Maps with his wife Barbara. The book uses biology and evolutionary psychology to explain the differences between male and female cultures.
The book considers the historical roles of both men and women from early hunter-gatherer societies. For example, one idea within the books carries the following argument: women used to be the nest-defenders working together whilst the men went out hunting, therefore they have developed superior peripheral vision (to look for predators) and body-language reading (to look for non-verbal signs of distress in babies).
Pease goes on to explain that men used to be the hunters of the tribe. This was a solitary role which required superior angle judgement, hence the popularity of computer games, darts, football etc. with men. This is also why men tend to excel at map reading, while women tend to rely on landmarks. Pease also notes that the rise of sports in Western societies correlated with the rise of agriculture, which reduced the need for hunting to provide food for the table.
Hunters have less need of language than nest protectors. Too much noise can give away the position of the hunting troupe. This is why men tend to develop speech later than women, exhibit a preference for a few long words to several, and why men hate to be spoken to when concentrating. Men also have developed less sensitive skin to avoid possible pain. Hunting is also why men tend to be better at imitating animal noises. As women have a bigger corpus callosum they are far better at multitasking. This is why men don't usually interrupt each other except aggressively. Women think aloud more than men, use more indirect requests (e.g. 'wouldn't it be nice to stop for coffee?') and their speech contains fewer 'ums' and 'ahs'. Men will go silent when under stress while women will talk. Asking for help is seen as a weakness by men.
Women find deep voices attractive because they suggest high testosterone levels and vice versa for men and 'schoolgirl' voices. Men tend to fancy blondes because they tend to have higher oestrogen levels. Men are attracted to the hourglass figure as they are the most fertile while women like men with broad shoulders best-ideal for carrying prey home.The book also supports the 'gay gene' theory explaining homosexuality pointing out that lesbians are outnumbered 8:1 by male homosexuals.Emotions are processed all over the female brain, but only in two areas of a man's right hemisphere, this is why men can separate emotion from speech (on the left hemisphere).In the final chapter, Towards a Different Future, the authors discuss what can be done so that male and female cultures are more compatible. As always, men desire a great job and sex life, but women's desires have changed. They no longer want to be dependent on men but they still put motherhood first. Career women are under pressure to masculinise e.g. by discussing issues in their heads rather than out loud. In school over 80% of expulsions are of boys, partly because nearly all teachers are female and most male role models are violent media characters (sportsmen are an exception). More and more of them live alone with their mums.The main message of the book is that men and women cannot be made the same no matter how much politicians try and treating them identically causes problems. Our differences are biological and permanent and we would be happier if we accepted and adapted.
