Chapter 4: Nature, Nurture, Human Diversity (Part 2)

Chapter 4: Nature, Nurture, Human Diversity (Part 2) Eliza Kronenberger, Kayla Russell, Abby Lagunov

3 Critiques of Evolutionary Psychology: • Starts with effect and works backward to propose explanation • Unethical and immoral men could use such explanations to rationalize behavior toward women • Explanation overlooks effects of cultural expectations and socialization.

Douglass Kenrick • When referring to nature and nurture, he compares humans to a coloring book the outline is given to us at birth.

Rat Studies for Brain Development • Rats were either raised alone in an impoverished environment, or they were raised with others in an enriched environment. • In enriched environment, rats developed significantly more cerebral cortex (relative to rest of brain’s tissue).

Kolb and Whishaw • Because brain weights increased 7-10%, documented that # of synapses had mushroomed by 20%.

Fields Study on Premature Babies: • If a baby is born underweight (around 3-4 ibs), it will receive massage therapy for 15 minutes. Within weeks, the baby develops neurologically and will gain weight. •  Power of touch

Pruning Process • Connections that are not used eventually whither away and die.

Language • According to psychology, a child should begin learning a language at a young age– at around 2/3 years old.

Brain Role in Maturation • “Use it or lose it”– If certain parts of brain are never used, then they will not be able to be used in the future.

Plasticity • Term used to describe how the brain is always changing.

Chimpanzees • “Even among chimpanzees, when one infant is hurt by another, the victim’s mother will often attack the offender’s mother” (Goodall, 1968). • Parents’ job to help their child

Power of Family Environment Shows in… • Political Attitudes • Religious Beliefs • Personal Matters

Selection Effect • Kids seek friends who relate to him/her, similar tastes/interests

Peer Influence • “Men resemble the times more than they resemble their fathers.” • Shows power of peer influence over genes

Parental/Teen Influences • Parents more influential: education, discipline, orderliness, charitableness, ways of interacting with authority figures • Teens more influential: leadership, road to popularity, inventing styles of interactions

“It takes a village to raise a child.” • Both parents and peers play very important roles in the growing up years of a child.

Nature’s greatest gift: • Our ability to learn and adapt

Culture • The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

Designed for Culture • We are very social animals- we live in “packs”, we are designed for culture.

Cultural Diversity • More relevant in Los Angeles than Japan.

Norm • Definition: An understood rule for accepted and expected behavior. • Example: Girls with Uggs

Personal Space • The zone we like to maintain around our bodies. • Ex. Mexicans often go too close to body, Canadians prefer more personal space.

Culture Shocks Two greatest culture shocks for peace corps volunteers: • The differing pace of life • The people’s differing sense of punctuality

Modern Times • 3 conveniences: email, air-conditioning, flying (planes) • 3 negatives: divorce, delinquency, depression

Individualist/Collectivist Culture • Individualist culture: gives priority to one’s own goals over the group goals. • Collectivist culture: priority to one’s group over one’s self.

Individualistic Cultures • Common in North America, Western Europe • Strive for personal control and individual achievement

Collectivist Culture • Sense of belonging • Network of caring individuals • Set of values

Korea • Korea is an example of a collectivist culture

Individualist Culture • Personal Freedom • Less geographically bound to families • More privacy • Take more pride in personal achievements

Table 4.1

Gender • Biological sex in turn helps define our gender; the biological and social characteristics by which people define as male or female.

Chromosomes • Out of our 46 chromosomes, 45 are unisex which proves that men and women are very similar.

4 Differences between Men/Women during Puberty • Average woman enters puberty 2 years sooner • Average woman lives 5 years longer • Women have 40% less muscle • The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man

Gender Differences • Women: Smell fainter odors, express emotions more freely, offered help more often • Men: more often diagnosed with autism, color-blindness, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and antisocial personality disorder

Relational Vs. Physical Aggression Aggression is defined as any physical/verbal behavior intended to hurt someone. • Relational- excluding somebody • Physical- acts such as hitting/harming in some way

Male Activities • 2 traditional examples: hunting, fighting • Men are more likely to support war

Perceptions of men vs. women • Men: dominant, forceful, independent • Women: deferential, nurturing, caring

Men vs. Women • Men place more importance on power/achievement than women throughout the world

Who plays in larger groups? • Boys play in larger groups • Girls play in smaller groups

Male answer syndrome • Men are more likely than women to make up answers to questions that they do not know the answer for.

Women vs. Men • Women are more interdependent than males, spend more time with friends, less time alone, more time on social networking sites, take more pleasure talking face to face, and use conversations to explore relationships.

Talking • Women and men talk about equally. This tends to be very surprising due to the stereotype

Mother/Daughter Connection • 96% of women feel closer to their mothers than their fathers

Facing Problems • 3 reasons that both men and women turn to women when they face problems: • Women seem more nurturing/caring, more enjoyable to talk to, seem more understanding

Tend and Befriend • Concept where women turn to other women for support

Spirituality • Women are more likely than men to be spiritual

Different Sex Characteristics • Over time, each sex develops traditional characteristics of the opposite sex.

X Chromosome • Definition: sex chromosome found in both men and women • Females have 2, men have 1

Y Chromosome • Sex chromosome found in males. • X + Y = Male

Testosterone • Most important male sex hormone

Chapter 4: Nature, Nurture, Human Diversity (Part 2)