How good are you at reading other people’s feelings? And does this vary with gender – both theirs and yours? To find out, read the vignette below.
Sandra is hosting a dinner party. Cliff arrives first and the two enjoy talking about his recent holiday to Sweden. But then Michael turns up. He dominates the conversation and talks only to Sandra, showing off with a story designed to make himself look good. Sandra is a bit annoyed by this. She looks at Cliff, then asks Michael if he’s ever been to Sweden.
Why does Sandra ask Michael if he’s ever been to Sweden? (a) to find out if Michael has anything interesting to say about Sweden; (b) to see whether Cliff or Michael has a better Sweden story; (c) she doesn’t believe Cliff’s Sweden story and wants Michael to confirm it; (d) she’s more interested in Sweden than what Michael is talking about; (e) a different reason.
If you said (a), (b), (c) or (d) then – sorry – you’re not a great reader of social interactions. If you said (e), well done! As you realised, Sandra doesn’t care about Sweden, she’s just trying to bring Cliff back into the conversation. A recent study that posed 45 questions of this type found not only that women outperform men, but that this was particularly true when the character in question was also female. Furthermore, scores started to decline after 30. So if you want to know what a younger woman is thinking, ask another younger woman – not an old male.
Order Are You Smarter Than a Chimpanzee? by Ben Ambridge (Profile Books, £12.99) for £11.04 at bookshop.theguardian.com
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