CHYS 2P10 Lecture 7

Question 1

What is a persons sex

Answer 1

A person’s biological identity

-Chromosomes, physical identity and hormones

Question 2

What is a persons Gender?

Answer 2

• A person’s social and cultural identity

- The two are typically strongly correlated

Question 3

Why have two sexes?

Answer 3

-Sexual reproduction produces greater diversity, parasite resistance, and reduces negative mutations

Question 4

Reproductive Fitness

Answer 4

• women gives birth to 69 children
• last Sharifian Emperor of Morocco, Mulai Ismail. In 1703 he had at least 342 daughters and 525 sons
• 16 million people worldwide (.5% of men) — and 8 per cent of Asian men — were descended from Genghis Khan and his relatives!!!

Question 5

HEXACO Personality Traits?

Answer 5

1. Honest-Humility (♀+)
2. Emotionality (♀++)
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Conscientiousness (♀+)
6. Openness to Experience (♀-)
   Men and women have different average levels of basic personality traits

Question 6

Why the sex differences?

Answer 6

It makes sense for mothers to worry more (neuroticism), be more dependable (conscientious), and be less aggressive (antogonistic) when looking after children

Question 7

Parental Investment Theory is?

Answer 7

• Trade off between investing time and resources in parenting and mating lead to sex specific strategies and preferences
• Misconceptions relating to evolution of male and female choices: Thinking males and females are coldly conscious when making mating decisions; that sex differences are “natural” and should be promoted; that the only purpose of sex is reproduction

Question 8

Cultural Influence

Answer 8

• because Culture MATTERS, but mostly as a means of refining underlying patterns
• This can be a strong (e.g., Ancient Greece, Saudi Arabia) or a weak effect (e.g., San Francisco)

Question 9

Factors Influencing Pubertal Timing?

Answer 9

Factors Influencing Pubertal Timing:
-Increased health and nutrition appear to be the largest contributors to trend for puberty to begin at lower ages
Menarche delayed by low levels of nutrition (as is menstruation)
-Adult height permanently stunted by poor nutrition
-Adolescence, Puberty, and Sexual Development
-Aspects of rearing environment can affect girls’ reproductive strategy

Question 10

Girls’ rate of pubertal maturation affected by:

Answer 10

• Socioemotional stress
• Maternal relationship
• Father absence and relationship quality with father

Question 11

Adolescence, Puberty, and Sexual Development, key traits?

Answer 11

• Early maturing girls experience more emotional problems and behavioral problems relative to other girls
• Early maturing boys experience positive and negative outcomes of their development
• Longitudinal research suggests that late maturing boys may benefit from having additional time to develop social and intellectual skills

Question 12

The Development of Gender Identity and Cognition:

Answer 12

-Gender operates at the macrosystem level; identity involves four dimensions:

• Knowledge of membership in gender category
• Gender typicality
• Pressure for gender conformity
• Attitudes toward gender groups

Gender identity is related to overall psychological adjustment- forced to conform

Question 13

A Biosocial Perspective of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity:

Answer 13

• Prenatal and adolescent hormones, in addition to experiences during childhood, determine one’s sexual identity (Congenital adrenal hyperplasia - CAH)
• Erotic orientation is not determined at puberty but sex hormones produced at puberty assist in the activation of that content

Question 14

Homosexuality (Male), explanation?

Answer 14

• Possible life strategy (Fafifene; sisters)
• Possible by-product of maternal immune system
• More biological older brothers
• Disruption of 2nd trimester masculinization
• Associated traits (e.g., 2:4D ratio)
• These don’t discount social hypotheses but reinforce nature/nurture

Question 15

Asexuality

Answer 15

• Roughly .5-1 % of adult population reports asexuality (no feelings of sexual attraction; romantic feelings may exist)
• More common amongst women, shorter individuals, delayed menarche, minorities, religiosity, and individual lower education; suggesting both biological and environmental routes

Question 16

R Strategies:

Answer 16

a reproductive strategy in which many offspring are produced with minimal investment or nurturing

Question 17

K Strategies:

Answer 17

a reproductive strategy in which few offspring are produced but each requires substantial investment in terms of resources or nurturing

Question 18

Westermarck Effect

Answer 18

the phenomenon that people who cohabitate with one another from early in childhood rarely every find one another sexually attractive regardless of their genetic relationship

Question 19

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH):

Answer 19

a condition in which a fetus is exposed to excessive levels of androgen; in females this can result in greater male-stereotyped behaviours

Question 20

Biosocial Theory of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation:

Answer 20

-the theory that prenatal and adolescent hormones, in addition to experiences during childhood, determine one’s sexual identity

Question 21

Sexual-Minority Youth

Answer 21

youth whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual

Question 22

Primary Sexual Characteristics:

Answer 22

characteristics associated directly with reproduction, such as maturation of the gonads and anatomy of the genitals

Question 23

Secondary Sexual Characteristics:

Answer 23

physical characteristics developed in puberty that signal sexual maturity but are not directly related to changes in reproductive organs (for example – pubic and underarm hair, breasts in girls, changes in the voice and shape of the face in boys)

Question 24

Adrenarche:

Answer 24

the onset of androgen production by the adrenal glands