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Distractability

June 25, 2009 by Anonymous, 21 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 37532

Your description of female shopping describes my husband quite well. And the male shopper is me. I am always the frustrated one who thinks he is dawdling, rather than vice versa. Granted, I am a computer scientist and probably quite a bit more left-brained than many women.

I would tend to give some weight to the impact of gender-based cultural roles. Men like to shop for cars, for instance. Women specialize in grocery store and mall items. Neither feels comfortable being dragged out of their comfort zone and looks at shopping in hostile environments as a chore, rather than a pleasure.

And, what about hunting vs. gathering? Shopping is the modern form of gathering. Perhaps women have been selected to enjoy gathering and men to enjoy hunting. This would not necessarily have to do with a task orientation vs. experiencing orientation. Gathering and hunting are both tasks, and to those who enjoy one or the other of them, they might be an experience to savor.

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