Although many people would agree that men and women view the world differently, not everyone knows that men and women see the world differently because of their actual vision.
A study from Brooklyn College conducted by psychology Professor Israel Abramov found that men and women tend to attribute different shades of colors to the same objects. Researchers have an answer for this; “Across most of the visible spectrum, males require a slightly longer wavelength than do females in order to experience the same hue,” source: Biology of Sex Differences.
Because longer wavelengths are associated with warmer colors, a yellow may appear more orange, or an orange may appear redder to men than to women. For women’s eyes, colder objects such as leaves almost always appear greener to women than men.
It also appears that men are less skilled at distinguishing shades in colors from the center of the spectrum such as (blue, yellow, and greens).
According to National Geographic, vision findings can be attributed to the hunter-gatherer hypothesis. This hypothesis argues that men and women evolved with distinct psychological abilities to fit their prehistoric roles, i.e. because men were hunters and women were gatherers, their vision adapted accordingly.
It was noted that men had “significantly greater sensitivity for fine detail and for rapidly moving stimuli,” researchers wrote. Prehistoric hunters “would have to detect possible predators or prey from afar and also identify and categorize these objects more easily.”
Also noted was that the women, gatherers, were more likely to adapt to recognize close-at-hand, static objects such as wild berries, which could be the reason women have an advantage when it comes to color vision.
The next time you see a couple arguing about paint swatches, try not to judge. They might not see the same color. Men are actually more likely to have red-green colorblindness, according to the National Eye Institute. This is because red-green color blindness is passed down on the X chromosome.
Men have 1 X chromosome, which is from their mother. If the X chromosome has the gene for red-green color blindness, the son will have red-green color blindness.
Women have 2 X chromosomes, one being from their mother and the other being from their father. In order for women to have red-green color blindness, both X chromosomes would need to have the gene, which is less common.