Take those classic car flashpoints between partners: map-reading, asking for directions, and back-seat (or passenger seat) driving. Studies have shown that they are indicative of specific differences between the male and female brain, differences that inevitably cause conflict. Men can get incredibly frustrated at women’s problems reading maps, their inability to decipher whether they should turn left or right from the information on the printed page (at least, not without turning the map around). But study after study has shown that men are hardwired to resolve spatial puzzles far better than women and are particularly good at imagining how a figure would appear if a pattern is rotated. Experiments at the University of Hamburg have confirmed that this ability is directly linked to testosterone levels.

Women, on the other hand, are continually frustrated at men’s stubborn refusal to ask for directions, and their defensiveness about their driving and navigating abilities. This arises from a man’s biological need to be seen as a strong protector in situations where there are potential hazards — it’s all about our inheritance from the cavemen again. Being vulnerable to error hits to the core. Allan Pease, an American relationships and body language author, says:

“When a woman says ‘Let’s ask for directions’, a man hears, ‘You’re incompetent: you can’t navigate’.”