Transcript Slides
Sex, Gender, Interpersonal attraction and closeness Sex: is the biological aspects of femaleness and maleness Gender: is the acquired behavioral and psychological aspects of being a woman or a man What’s the difference For sex: chromosomes, hormones, gonads, and external genitalia A great deal of how we proceed to know ourselves and others comes from this initial assignment. Theories Biological theory ◦ Because we have different chromosomes, levels of hormones and reproductive capacity, this explains gender differences? Testosterone tightly linked to aggression Bushman Why are men and women different/similar? Sexual dimorphism Evolutionary perspective Darwin believed that evolution via sexual selection occurred when certain characteristics gave certain individuals a reproductive advantage over rivals ◦ Directly competing with same-sex (e.g. better weaponry like larger antlers or larger teeth) ◦ Having characteristics that opposite-sex mates preferred (e.g. large tail feathers on male peacocks) Successful organisms produce and raise offspring Attraction is sign of fertility Different for males and females Resources vs. physical appearance Hypergyny Paternity certainty Evolutionary Perspective Socialization and learning theory ◦ Beginning at birth people are socialized into their gender Conform to rules Gendered role models Individual learning history of male and female within your culture Cultural socialization into male and female norms: Do we always adhere? Culture and Sex and Gender Becca Swanson ◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UpSgFA50 _4 ◦ Hijra How do we get to where we are? Tina Brandon Biological sex was female, gender identification was male. Dead because of it…. Does this matter? How universal are our standards of attraction? Does friendship and romantic relationship vary across cultures? How do people relate to others in different cultures? Key questions Faces: ◦ Complexion Sized up the health of potential mate in ancestral environment ◦ Bilateral symmetry Developmental stability: given ideal growing conditions both sides develop identically ◦ Average size Less likely to have genetic abnormalities Attraction Who is more attractive? Propinquity effect: frequent contact Mere exposure effect: more contact the more we are attracted. What if we lived in unsegregated societies? Who are we most likely to favor? People are attracted to those most like themselves. Strongest predictor cross culturally Similarity attraction effect: What does a friend mean to you? 26% of Americans report having an enemy: good to have many friends 71% of Ghanians (Adams, 2005): foolish to have many friends Close relationships Beware of friends Some are snakes under grass Some are lions in sheep’s clothing Some are jealous behind their facades of praise Some are just no good Beware of friends Ghanaian poet Why in a cultural context that emphasizes people’s fundamental connection with close others, can those others be viewed with such suspicion? Connections are formed because you choose to: Default is null: Individualist Relationships exist by default and are not chosen: Default is relationship: Collectivist Difference in the fundamental nature of relationships What is love? Why do we love? Love Correlates with dominant family structure (Goode, 1959) Romantic love should increase as extended family structure decreases. Is it random? (Fisher, 2004) ◦ Impetus is the long vulnerable period of childhood. ◦ Hormones are released for around 4 years that increases oxytocin (love hormone) ◦ This is about the time to meet, get pregnant and raise a child out of infancy Evolutionary perspective What does this imply about monogamy? You will only love someone you have chosen (expectations) ◦ Puppy Marriage without love is bound to be miserable ◦ Unification church (moonies) Assumptions about love marriages Draper and Harpending (1988) ◦ Individuals have evolved to be sensitive to specific features of their early environment and exposure to different environments biases individuals towards different reproductive strategies. First 5 years of life induces an understanding of male-female relationships and father investment which then has predictable outcomes for girls at maturity Do some of our earliest relationships predict later behavior Broadened father absence to early stressful environment: poverty, single parenthood, marital discord, and rejecting, harsh inconsistent parenting. Added puberty as outcome variable, added physical development Belsky and Draper (1990;1991) Tested this Found support: time spent with father in child care predicted pubetal timing. SES also predicted puberty More positive verses negative dimensions Ellis et al. (1999) Spurious: genetic transmission is related to pubetal timing Exposure to unrelated adult males: inn other mammals phermones of nonrelated males accelarates pubertal timing Phermones of related adult inhibits pubertal timing. Prairie dogs first ovulation is delayed if remain in contact with biological father Possible mechanisms