Feature Articles and Tests Reveal Gender Quirks, Personality Types on EQSQ.com

(PRWeb) January 18, 2007 -- The ways women and men are stereotyped in the media and the workplace are the focus of the lively "Blame the Hormones" feature at EQSQ.com, home to online personality tests and resources designed to help people make informed career choices. Light-hearted analyses of media stories relating to falling birth rates, map-reading tendencies among men and women and trends in perfume and cologne are among the quirky stories featured on the daily column.

"Like it or not, men and women are different. We only have to look in the newspapers or at the TV to see examples of gender stereotypes that can make us laugh or cry," says Katrina Boydon, EQSQ.com columnist. "Of course, there are many women who can read a map and scores of men who can sympathize for hours over a cup of coffee but, on average, women tend to be empathizers and men tend to be systemizers."

Boydon refers to the Empathizing-Systemizing theory of the male versus the female brain types and the free EQ-SQ personality quizzes available at EQSQ.com. The psychological tests, developed by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Sally Wheelwright at the University of Cambridge, England, help visitors determine whether they are more prone to empathize or systemize. Empathizers identify and react to people's feelings, while systemizers evaluate rules and variables. These traits are shared by both genders, although not in equal proportions.

The personality quizes (http://eqsq.com/eqsqtest.php) help people to identify themselves as systemizers or empathizers and to reconsider the basic man-woman stereotype that human brain types are specific to gender. The stereotype that some careers are more suitable for men and some careers for women also does not hold true. Rather, some careers are more suitable for systemizers and some careers are more suitable for empathizers. Other resources at EQSQ.com help visitors evaluate career choices based on their test results.

"You probably know whether you are more systemizing or empathizing, but it's nice to have a bona fide psychological test that confirms your beliefs," Boydon says. "It's also good to know your EQ:SQ balance so that you don't become a victim of self-stereotyping."

In another regular feature at EQSQ.com (http://www.eqsq.com/columnList.php) readers will find weekly deliberations on "Gender Discrimination in the Workplace," "Male versus Female Bias in the Childcare Debate," "Are Men More Equal Than Women? The Truth About The Earnings Gap," and "A Psychological Assessment of Male Versus Female Superiority."

EQSQ.com centers on the Empathizing-Systemizing theory of the male versus the female brain types. The tests were developed by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen and Sally Wheelwright at the University of Cambridge, England. Systemizers and empathizers can find information and resources around education, educational programs, and career choice.

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