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Nimetic · 03-12-2006, 05:33 AM

Hard to say.

It could be.

Going slightly off topic though.... I have a slight "beef" with multi-tasking, because the term became very fashionable for a bit - particularly as with management.

Perhaps this was because microcomputer multi-tasking hit the media in the late 90's, and perhaps because of a few pop-pysch books. I seem to recall seeing something by De Bono... "Parallel Thinking" I think it was called.

To me, it seems self evident to me that doing multiple tasks at once will be less efficient than doing one thing at a time - except for those situations where there are significant wait periods involved (eg "boil for 10 minutes"), or where the tasks are simple - using a small fraction of our ability or leveraging practiced skills.

Getting back to the topic. I think that it's quite possible that women are, on average, slightly better at this. But then also - it might be that their life and career choices (ie environment) hones this ability slightly.

By the same token, some professions teach people to focus on a single task or thread of thought/logic at once.

So yeah. If there's an effect - it could be environment and training related.

03-12-2006, 05:33 AM	#27 (permalink)
Nimetic Junkie Location: Melbourne, Australia	Hard to say. It could be. Going slightly off topic though.... I have a slight "beef" with multi-tasking, because the term became very fashionable for a bit - particularly as with management. Perhaps this was because microcomputer multi-tasking hit the media in the late 90's, and perhaps because of a few pop-pysch books. I seem to recall seeing something by De Bono... "Parallel Thinking" I think it was called. To me, it seems self evident to me that doing multiple tasks at once will be less efficient than doing one thing at a time - except for those situations where there are significant wait periods involved (eg "boil for 10 minutes"), or where the tasks are simple - using a small fraction of our ability or leveraging practiced skills. Getting back to the topic. I think that it's quite possible that women are, on average, slightly better at this. But then also - it might be that their life and career choices (ie environment) hones this ability slightly. By the same token, some professions teach people to focus on a single task or thread of thought/logic at once. So yeah. If there's an effect - it could be environment and training related.