By KIP BROOK
New Zealand women smile more than Australian women and Kiwi men interrupt more than their Aussie counterparts.
These are some of the findings of acclaimed Australian authors Barbara and Allan Pease, who this week released an updated version of their book Why Men Don't Listen and Women Can't Read Maps.
The book has already sold more than three million copies in 31 languages.
Mr Pease says there are no brain differences between Australian and New Zealand men.
"There are differences in how we converse and interact. New Zealand men interrupt more than Australian men. When Australian men are talking with women, 75 per cent of interruptions are by men. In New Zealand it runs at around 85 per cent. So men interrupt even more here and tend to dominate and control more.
"New Zealand women smile more in a conversation with men than Australian women. Smiling is a submissive signal. It's a way of trying to create friends and showing that you are not aggressive.
"In business it can be disastrous for women, because it can show men you are weak; though socially it is terrific. We tell women in business here in New Zealand not to smile as much with men because it is going to work against you rather than for you."
Mr Pease says men's brains are mono-tracked and are organised to do just one thing at a time. So, when they go to read a street directory, they turn the radio down.
If they are driving around a roundabout and a woman talks to them, they'll miss the turn-off. Men can't have sex and talk at the same time, he says.
"Women's brains are organised for multi-tasking, which means they can do up to four unrelated tasks simultaneously."
The male brain, however, is solution-orientated and organised to solve problems. Men look for solutions.
This becomes frustrating when they are talking with women, because women talk for the purpose of talking.
The purpose of talking is to bond and reward and make people feel important, Mr Pease says.
"So when women talk to men, men think they are hearing a problem. So men keep interrupting women, giving them solutions ... which is the worst thing men can do."
Women speak 20,000 to 24,000 words a day, while men speak 7000 to 10,000 a day.
At night, men are better drivers because it is a form of tunnel vision and allows them to look in front.
"But men are more dangerous drivers. Most fatal accidents involve men. Women have more accidents where there are hits and grazes when they are trying to estimate how far away a car is when they are parking it."
Mr Pease says they rarely get complaints about the book, but they are usually from women.
"Some feminist types refuse to accept there is a difference between men and women. Everyone knows men and women are different. We are not better or worse; we are different. Men tell me, 'Of course I don't listen'."
Women, he says, are less able to see the world in three dimensions, adversely affecting their map-reading ability.
But they are far better at seeing things up close. Men notoriously cannot find what they are looking for when it is under their own noses.
Women are better at communicating because they use both sides of their brain, back and front, for speech, while men only use the front left.
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