
HOME	who am I	resources	course notes	FAQ	contact

COURSE NOTES: Social



	Based on the course PSY/SOC 301, taught at The Sage Colleges by Prof. Susan Cloninger. This class uses the following textbook, which provides the chapter organization that you see on the menu on the left side of this page: Myers, D. (2005). Social Psychology (8th ed.) New York: McGraw Hill.

Chapter 5:

Genes, Culture, and Gender

HUMAN NATURE AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

evolution or culture?

Genes, Evolution, and Behavior

natural selection

favored giraffes' long necks and white polar bears
food preferences
social behavior (authority and status; economic justice)

evolutionary psychology

What is the survival function of the differences?
Does women's nurturance contribute to their babies' survival?
Does men's aggression contribute to their survival?

Thought questions:
If you could save, in a boating accident, only your 20-year-old daughter or your 40-year-old daughter, which would you save?
Another:
What do you value in a mate?
exciting personality?
industriousness?
physical attractiveness?
financial prospects?
Another:
What would be the ideal age of your mate?
Another:
How smart would a person have to be before you would consent to having sex with them?
What do these answers mean? How would evolutionary theory explain them?

The Coolidge Effect
"In certain animal species, a male that has become sexually exhausted from repeated copulation with the same female will demonstrate renewed vigor if presented with a succession of females."
Evolutionary interpretation: natural selection of men who can fertilize many women
Who would mourn the death of a grandchild more: the grandfather or the grandmother?
Evolutionary interpretation: The grandmother, since she is certain the child is genetically hers.
Do you think that evolutionary theory could explain anything?

Culture and Behavior

Culture: the enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next (example: attitudes about morality of unmarried parents (Myers, p.172)

(Obviously, culture change change!)

Cultural Diversity

global village; migration and refugee evacuations

Norms: Expected Behavior

rules for accepted and expected behavior; prescribe "proper" behavior
- ex: "When in Rome, do as the Romans."
According to Myers, "Norms grease the social machinery."
personal space (norm with cultural variation); greater for adults, men, Northern Europeans, North Americans

Cultural Similarity

norms for war (surrender; humane treatment of prisoners)
universal incest taboo
norms for friendship (privacy; eye contact; keeping secrets
"Big 5" universal dimensions of personality: stable, outgoing, open, agreeable, conscientious
5 social beliefs: cynicism, social complexity, reward for application, spirituality, fate control (Figure, p. 176 of Myers)
norms of address based on status

Social Roles

acculturation and repatriation

role changes (e.g., Patricia Hearst)

High- and Low-Status Roles

experimental studies show that high status has advantages
discuss: Why is a true experiment important for determining cause-effect relationships in this case?

Role Reversal

can improve communication

GENDER SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

gender

the characteristics people associate with male and female
nurturance (feminine gender role)
dominance (masculine gender role)
[art images presented in lecture]
Some people think it is a mistake to focus on differences.

Independence versus Connectedness

empathy ("being able to feel what another feels")
smiling
women superior at decoding others' emotional messages and at expressing their own emotions nonverbally

Social Dominance

Men are more dominant and verbally directive.
Should women try to act more like men? (Nancy Henley)

Aggression

"behavior intended to hurt"
greater among men

Sexuality

Men are more accepting of casual sex and more likely to initiate sex.

EVOLUTION AND GENDER: DOING WHAT COMES NATURALLY?

Gender and Mating Preferences

relative cost of sperm vs. eggs (parental investment)
jealousy (men are more jealous about sex, women about emotional attachment)
preference for younger partner (men)

Gender and Hormones

testosterone influences aggression
...but is androgyny in old age hormonal, or cultural?

Reflections on Evolutionary Psychology

Does the theory predict, or only explain?
Does what was adaptive in the past, still have adaptive value?
Does the theory ignore the role of culture?
How biased our our assumptions, anyway? If you had to give an evolutionary reason to explain why women are stronger than men, could you?

CULTURE AND GENDER: DOING AS THE CULTURE SAYS?

gender roles: "behavioral expectations for males and females"
We sometimes behave differently to live up to these expectations, as in Zanna and Pack's study of women describing themselves to a man with traditionally feminine or less restrictive gender roles.

Gender Roles Vary With Culture

more similarity in nomadic, food-gathering societies
more differences in agricultural societies

Gender Roles Vary Over Time

attitudes toward women working outside family, and number of women who do so

Peer-transmitted Culture

Judith Harris: The Nurture Assumption
evidence of differences among children in the same household
peer influence

CONCLUSIONS

Biology and Culture

coevolution of biology and culture
interaction of biology and culture

The Power of the Situation and the Person

Social situations interact with individuals to influence behavior:
- A given situation affects different people differently.
- People choose their situations.
- People create their situations.
Why is this woman crying? [graphic presented in lecture (time permitting)]
- (And what does your answer reveal about your theory of gender differences?)