The Male Brain Read Online Free PDF Page B

demonstrated a clear hierarchy by the end of their first play session. Among the girls, some dominance hierarchy was established too, but it was more fluid. In the boy groups, however, by the end of just the second play session, the boys unanimously agreed about the ranking position of each boy, and these rankings remained stable for the remainder of the six-month study .
    How do boys know so quickly who's tough and who's not? While bigger boys typically rank higher in status, researchers found that the leaders weren't always the biggest. In the study, the alpha boys were the ones who refused to back down during a conflict. These boys aggressively demonstrated their strength by picking on, intimidating, or roughing up boys who challenged them. In the hormone tests taken on all the boys in the group, it turned out that alpha boys had higher testosterone levels than did the other boys . And to the researchers' surprise, the rank a boy had attained in the group by the age of six predicted where he'd be in the hierarchy at age fifteen .
    Of course, only one boy can be the top dog, so the rest must find other ways to succeed and avoid being picked on in the boy pack. One strategy is to form an alliance with the alpha boy by giving him things he wants and doing him favors. When my son was in elementary school, he casually asked me to buy him the biggest bags of Chex Mix to send to school with him for snack time. I thought he wanted to share them with his friends, so I didn't question it. It wasn't until I inadvertently bought him the smaller size that I discovered why he'd wanted the big bag. It turned out that he'd been using Chex Mix at recess "to hire everyone he could hire," as he put it or, as I saw it, to buy off the top dogs and appease the bullies. When he saw the smaller bag on the counter by his backpack, he shouted, "Now I'm done for! And all because of you!"
    Boys can usually work things out within the checks and balances of the boy pack, but this cruel Lord of the Flies system still strikes horror in most mothers' hearts--including mine. Regardless of how mothers feel about it, though, boys instinctively know they must learn how to succeed within the male hierarchy. And that's not the only type of learning boys do differently .

SQUIRMING BOYS LEARN BETTER
    Tightly clutching the remotes in their fists, David and Craig punched, jabbed, and dodged, occasionally throwing an insult along with a punch. As with many boys their age, Wii had become their favorite toy . To use this active video-game system, the boys mimicked the action they wanted to see displayed on the screen. When David threw a punch, his video character mirrored him. When Craig dodged the punch, his character did the same.
    Research from Stanford University showed that playing Wii activates parts of the male brain linked to dopamine production . Boys get rewarded by this feel-good brain chemical, just as they do when they're roughhousing. The more opponents they conquer, the more stimulated their male brain becomes, and the more dopamine their brains release. It's a thrill a minute.
    Even in a conventional video game, when a boy is not actually moving, watching every move of the athlete or video character still gives him a thrill. Moreover, the signal gets sent from his brain through the neurons and into the muscles in his body even if he isn't moving . If we were to watch David's body and brain with an fMRI camera when he plays a game like Super Mario Brothers, every time he makes Mario jump, we'd see David's brain activate the neurons that control his own jumping muscles . He would embody the movement he sees even though he's not really jumping. Boys react more physically to their environment than girls do in this way . Their muscles are practically twitching in response to everything they see going on around them. And that difference may mean that boys use their muscles and nervous systems more than girls to think and express themselves as well .
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