Why are Men and Women so Different?

1. Why are Men and Women so Different? Morgan Brown, Emma Kite, and Nicole Groeneweg

2. Sex Differences • Video • http://youtube.com/watch?v=8CWMCt35oFY = Disney and masculinity

3. Men and Women are different • But why? • Possible theory: gender socialization • Culture and society are what make boys and girls different, not biology • Toy trucks and guns vs. dolls and tea sets • According to the standard social science model, men and women think and behave differently because they have been socialized differently by their culture and society • Male and female babies are born identical except for a few anatomical differences

4. Gender Socialization Cont… • Men and women think and behave differently because society expects them to • Gender neutral society would raise gender neutral individuals • If raised in a gender neutral society men and women would be the same in behavior, cognitions, values and preferences • Biology has no influence

5. Disproving Gender Socialization • Studies show that this is a false theory • Study #1 • 102 newborn babies shown a mechanical mobile or a picture of a woman’s face • Measuring which object the baby paid attention to the longest • Boys gazed longer at the mechanical mobile while girls gazed longer at the woman’s face • Helped conclude that biology must play a role in gender differences with men generally showing interest in machines and women more interested in social relationships • SSSM can no way explain how 24hrs of life can constitute gender socialization

6. Disproving Gender Socialization • Study #2 • Across species: 44 male and 44 female monkeys • 2 masculine toys, 2 feminine toys, 2 neutral toys • Results: male monkeys showed significantly greater interest in the male toys and the girl monkeys chose the female toys. There were no differences in the neutral toys • Gender socialization cannot be correct since these monkeys never were socialized by humans and had never seen the toys before • Thus, differences in behavior, cognition, values and preferences are largely innate, universal across cultures, and in many cases constant across species

7. Biological Differences • Nurturing and care giving vs. aggression and competition • Anisogamy: female sex cell is larger in size and fewer in number; male sex cell is smaller in size and greater in number. This means that the egg is biologically far more valuable than the sperm. This leads to… • Fitness Variance: men’s potential to reproduce is much greater than women’s. Men can reproduce infinitely while women can have a max of 25ish pregnancies

8. Fitness Variance Exemplified • Greatest number of children a single woman has ever had is 69! • Russian peasant, 18th century • 27 pregnancies: 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets, 4 sets of quadruplets • Greatest number of children a man has ever had is 1,042! • Sharifian Emperor of Morocco: Ismael the Bloodthirsty • The point of this is that women can never come remotely close to the amount of offspring that a man has the potential of producing

9. The Point of Fitness Variance • Competition • Men are more competitive, aggressive, and violent because they gain far more by competing with each other for access to mates • The reward of competition gives men the greater potential to see their genes passed into the next generation • The potential cost of not competing is greater than actually competing • Women are less aggressive because competing for mates has a greater potential cost of injury or death. To be reproductively successful, women need just one pregnancy to assure their genes into the next generation

10. There is Only One Human Culture • Cultures only differ on superficial levels • The world does not consist of many different cultures • All cultures are the same on the abstract level • All human cultures eat animal proteins (beef, pork) and all human cultures worship animate objects (Jesus, Buddah) • There is no infinite variability in human culture

11. Exotic Cultures that Never Were • Many have tried to prove that the world consists of radically different human cultures • Margaret Mead and the Samoas • Gentle Talisday • Native American Environmentalist

12. Example Slide for us Samoa • She went to Samoa on a research expedition looking to find a culture displaying radically different male and female gender roles compared to the west (video we have been watching) • Two native females told Mead that gender roles in Samoa were opposite of gender roles in the West, lending great support to the gender socialization theory • The native girls later admitted the information they supplied was false. They thought her questions were funny so they decided silly answers would be appropriate

13. Example Slide for us Talisday • Since there existed the Yanamamo, an extremely aggressive culture, it was thought that there must also exist an opposite culture that was extremely peaceful • Researchers thought that they found such a culture in the Philippines, but again this turned out to be a hoax • The Philippine government was found to have manufactured this culture in order to attract positive publicity to distract attention away from an unpopular regime

14. Example Slide NA Environmentalism • It is widely believed, even today, that the NA have an extremely environmentally friendly culture • However, the NA were responsible for the extinction of many plant and animal species long before the Europeans ever set foot on the continent. • This myth is still perpetuated today, though, through film and television shows that portray the Native Americans as protective of the environment • In reality, all human cultures are known for exploiting the environment to the maximum in order to survive.

15. 3 Interesting Things • Wife of Russian Peasant • Gave birth to 69 children, had no single births, lived during the 1700s and survived 27 pregnancies! • Across species comparison • Even male baby monkeys showed a preference for the stereotypically male toy--it is just interesting that the biology of male and female gender differences is represented in another non-human species. • There is really only one human culture • Cultures may vary superficially but scientists have yet to find a human culture that is truly fundamentally different.

16. Weak Arguments • Only allowed room for biological • Doesn’t take into account how society and parenting may influence a person’s behavior • For example a little girl raised by single dad or in a home with all brothers may play more aggressively or engage in more stereotypically male activities. • Native American Environmentalism • The Native Americans did live off of the land, and use its natural resources, yet it is not fair to say that they had the same disregard for the life around them that the European settlers had from the moment they set foot on the continent. In regards to nature; animals like beavers became extinct after trade and money came into play, after the Europeans got there.

17. Test Questions • 1. Gender socialization is… • A. Idea that all cultures are the same at the abstract level • B. Men and women think and behave differently because society expects them to • C. Biology is the sole influence on behavior • B. Men and women think and behave differently because society expects them to

18. Test Questions 2. True or False -- Human culture has been found to vary even at the most fundamental level? • FALSE

19. Test Question • 3. Margaret Mead researched the… • A. Yanamamo • B. Gentle Talisday, • C. Samoa • C. SAMOA

20. Test Questions • 4. In the study, baby boys gazed at what the longest? • A. A woman’s face • B. A mechanical mobile • C. A stuffed animal • B. mechanical mobile

21. Test Question • 5. True or False? Gender roles in the Samoan culture are radically different from Western culture? • False

22. Test Question • 6. Men are more competitive than women because • A. they like sports • B. fitness variance • C. they are less intelligent than women • D gender socialization • B. Fitness Variance

23. References • Miller, A.S. & Kanazawa, S. (2007). Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters: From Dating, Shopping, and Praying to Going to War and Becoming a Billionaire—Two Evolutionary Psychologists Explain Why We Do What We Do. New York City: NY: Perigee Inc.