Why MenWon’t Ask for Directions:
It’s more complicated than saying they’re just being jerks.
GPS Complicates The Picture
We have to get issue GPS out of the way. GPS isn’t the magic wand that makes this tension go away. It becomes another player in the car. Men and women respond differently to it, even to seemingly basic aspects of GPS. For example, the guiding voice, is an issue. Men prefer a lower pitched voice, which they endorse as strong, wise and indicative of a better leader. But GPS voices are often the sound of a disembodied female voice. Some companies are switching to using well known voices to narrate a route. The premier voice of Morgan Freeman not only had the right attributes, but it probably doesn’t hurt that he’d played God in several movies. He could catapult his guidance, from simple“instructions” to “orders.” If Freeman said, “Take a right, I’d be damn sure to take it!”
So Why Don’t Men Ask For Directions? It’s been a question women have asked with frustration for years? The answer is more than, “They think they know everything.” In fact, it’s far more complicated than that, and actually has its roots in biology and psychology.
Men and Women Navigate Differently
There is a ton of research demonstrating gender differences in the different ways we “find our way.” For women, navigating is an…
