Cluster (Quiz 2) Flashcards
How do Foucault’s “History of Sexuality” and the creating story in Genesis help us imagine how to think about history and how historical change occurs?
They construct a narrative filled with drama that demonstrates change.
Is there an analogy between biological adaptation and historical change in culture and society?
Yes, but analogy isn’t the only way to think about the relation between biological and social/cultural processes.
Analogous does NOT mean identical. It means ________.
resembling in some respects
What 2 things does “history” mean?
H1) events (“facts”)
H2) the application of meanings of events (“facts”)
What are “grand narratives”?
myths or rationalizations to explain how things came to be or to legitimize a belief…
- Cyclical/linear accounts of history
- Creation stories (i.e. Genesis 1-3)
- Secularization narrative (shift from religious to non-religious beliefs)
_______’s idealism is ________ while _________ idealism is ___________.
- PLATO’S idealism is VERTICAL. (“meta”: beyond, transcending) & immaterial forms/ideas)
- HEGEL’s idealism is HORIZONTAL with a built-in spiral.
What is dialectical idealism and who is it associated with?
- The idea of freedom is a project that discloses its parameters in history, but not all at once. Because of its dialectical character, the idea advances through conflicts or contradictions in (unpredictable) changes toward a transformed understanding or realization of the founding idea or question.
- Hegel
What’s the pivotal gap in Genesis 2?
- After creating the first human (Adam), God recognized that it was not good for him to be alone so he made Eve to sustain him.
- God’s recognition of the human potential for loneliness prompted Eve’s creation and further developed the idea of gendered identities
What is Marx’s code of analysis known as?
Dialectical materialism
What is materialism?
The dynamism of material forces and interactions that produce mind and ideas about the nature of the world, historical process, etc.
Who developed the idea of discursive formations?
Michel Foucault
History proceeds step by step iterating itself_____, not ______
relationally, not randomly
The interplay of three different and interactive dimensions of culture are _______, _______, and ________.
- Residual
- Dominant
- Emergent
What is the dominant dimension of culture?
- “world-view” or “prevailing ideology”
- can’t include/exhaust all human practice so…
- excludes the full range of human practice
What is the residual dimension of culture?
- attitudes, habits of thought formed in the past that remain in play in the present
- taken up as alternative or oppositional to dominant culture
- often incorporated into dominant culture to assimilate dominant views of common sense
What is the emergent dimension of culture?
- alternative perceptions of others
- typically have a phase of pre-emergence, meaning something that you cannot yet name but that is there as a feeling or attitude.
Aristophane’s narrative does NOT present a strict hierarchy of gendered/sexualized types, though a cultural value is placed on the _______ type
male/male
A value presented in Arisophane’s narrative is the idea of sexual/erotic desire as found in _____.
- lack (“longing to find… [the] other half”)
- comes from myth of us being cut apart from our other half
What is the key question for Diotima’s vision that has survived to the present time?
WHAT do you desire in what you desire?
What are the four causes?
- formal
- material
- efficient
- final
Explain the formal cause.
- the informing idea
- It isn’t actually there and you imagine it in essence.
- Ex: imagined statue of a woman
Explain the material cause.
- the actual object.
- can be anything that is material or anything that is made
- ex: a marble statue of a woman
Explain the efficient cause.
- what brings about the object
- ex: the art of sculpting the statue + the artisan’s trade
Explain the final (teleological) cause.
- the purpose of the object or what it is actually made to do or be.
- Ex: ritual, aesthetic, devotional object
The elements are _______ and they acquire ____________.
interactive, gendered associations
Considering genital difference, Galen favors ____________.
resemblance theory (genital homology)
What are Darwin’s 3 postulates?
- Struggle for existence
- Variation in fitness
- Inheritance of variation
Explain Darwin’s postulate: struggle for existence.
- The ability of a population to expand is infinite.
- However, the ability of the environment to support a population is always finite.
- This creates a struggle for existence.
Explain Darwin’s postulate: variation in fitness.
- Individuals are not all alike.
- Individuals differ from one another in their fitness.
- Those individuals with traits better fitted to their environment leave more descendants than do less fit individuals.
Explain Darwin’s postulate: inheritance of variation.
Some traits are heritable, meaning that they can be passed down from parents to offspring.
Whenever Darwin’s three postulates hold, ___________.
evolution by natural selection must occur
What does evolutionary psychology do?
uses evolutionary thinking to answer questions in all areas of psychology
Does the mind begin as a blank slate?
No, it is prepared to respond to environment in certain ways
What are the key premises of evolutionary psychology?
- Mind does not begin as a blank slate; rather, it is
prepared to respond to environment in certain ways
(e.g., language learning) - Evolution shaped the brain (and, hence, mind and
behavior) just as it shaped the rest of the body - Mind is “modular,” contains specialized modules
(psychological mechanisms) shaped in response to
recurrent challenges faced throughout evolution
What is an adaptation?
- a variation favored by natural selection because
it increases fitness relative to other variations in that
population - ex: umbilical cord
What is a byproduct?
- a variation that is not itself favored by natural selection but instead arises as an incidental effect of selection for some other adaptation
- ex: belly button
What is noise?
- random variations that are selectively neutral—neither
favored nor disfavored by natural selection or that have resulted from mutations - ex: “innie” vs. “outie” belly button
Not all traits have been _______
selected
Why is “survival of the fittest” an inaccurate description?
Two corrections needed:
- Reproduction, not survival, is what makes a
difference in evolution
- Trait that is “fittest” in this particular
environment might be less fit in another
Better way to say it:
- “Reproduction of those best suited to the prevailing environment”
What is the naturalistic fallacy?
the false notion that what is evolved, natural, or biological is good, moral, or excusable (and vice versa)
Describe the sexual selection theory.
- process through which heritable traits that increase fitness by helping an individual reproduce become more frequent in the population
- Sometimes, a trait that’s costly/decreases an individual’s
chances of survival nonetheless evolves - Ex: peacock
What is natural selection?
Process through which heritable traits that increase fitness become more frequent in population
What is intrasexual selection?
- Intra = within (within sex)
- Favors traits that aid in competing with
members of same sex over mating opportunities - Ex: Weapons, large body size, aggression/dominance (sea lions)
What is intersexual selection?
- Inter = between (between sexes)
- Intersexual selection favors traits that aid in attracting members of other sex
- Ex: Ornaments, displays of desirable qualities (peacocks)
compare intrasexual and intersexual selection.
- Intrasexual selection ≈ Competition (within)
- Intersexual selection ≈ Attraction/mate choice (between)
What makes up premating?
- Intra sexual selection
- (male-male competition)
- Intersexual selection
- (mate choice)
What makes up postmating?
- sperm competition
- cryptic female choice
Explain testes size in chimps, humans, and gorillas.
- Chimps = largest (because they mate promiscuously w/ 1 male having sex w/ lots of males so the sperm has to compete)
- Humans = in the middle (potentially committed in 1 relationship but not without some sperm competition)
- Gorilla = smallest (males compete and if they win, they have sex w/ lots of females so no sperm competition)
What are the mechanisms of cryptic female choice?
- ejaculate size
- sperm ejection
- sperm storage
- differential access to egg
Describe the parental investment theory
- The sex w/ higher obligatory investment in reproduction will be more selective in choosing sex partners
- The sex w/ lower obligatory investment will be less selective & more interested in “casual” mating opportunities
- More investing sex cannot reproduce as quickly and thus becomes limited resource
- In turn, less investing sex becomes very competitive for mating opportunities
- (Rotert Trivers)
Explain role reversal.
- Theory is not about male vs. female, but investment
- When males invest more, they become choosier and females more competitive
- Ex’s: Seahorses (carry offspring in
pouch until fully developed), some birds, some insects
What patterns do we see in short-term vs. long-term mating for men and women?
- We see that short-term mating interests (i.e. one-night stands) are more prevalent in men
- Long-term mating interests, however, are similar between men and women
Which sex reported a larger number of partners desired?
Men
Who has more regrets for sexual actions? Who has more regret for sexual inactions?
- Women had more regrets for sexual actions (things they did that they wish they hadn’t)
- Men had more regrets for sexual inactions (opportunities passed up)
- These results are transcendent of sexual orientation, as are most sex differences
Compare the casual sexual desire and behavior of gay vs. straight men.
- Straight men and gay men did not differ much in survey → they had similar levels of desire in casual sex (straight slightly more)
- Gay men actually had a lot more casual sex in their behavior than straight men
What sex differences did David Buss predict in regards to preferences in marriage partners?
- Physical Attractiveness: M>W
– Youth: M>W
– Access to Resources: W>M
What can women look for in a mate to maximize the chances of their children surviving?
Preference for partners who will invest in them and their children (social and material resources)
What can men look for in a mate to maximize their
number of surviving children?
Preference for partners who are capable of producing many children
What are some sex similarities and differences in attributes preferred in marriage partners across 37 cultures?
Men & women both have…
1) kindness & understanding
2) Intelligence
4) Exciting personality
Also have sex differences…
3) Physical attractiveness → men (women have this as #6)
8) earning capacity (resources) → women (even though its #8, it is still way higher than it is for men)
When women are promoted, what do we notice?
They are more likely to leave the marriage (for men it stays almost the same)
“Sex-difference” refers to an ________ difference between men and women
on-average
Are men and women categorically different?
No
How do straight and lesbian women’s preference for status compare?
Straight women care more about status than lesbian women.
Mate preferences are often _______: biological
sex relates more closely to preferences than does
the sex of the target of desire.
sex-typical
The studies are consistent with the idea of the mind as containing _________.
many isolable mechanisms
What do we see when it comes to occupational preferences?
- There are differences based on sexual orientation
- There are huge sex differences in occupational preferences
Compare mating and marriage.
- Mating is a biological concept whereas marriage is a cultural construct
- All sexually reproducing species mate, but only humans marry
- With only a few exceptions, marriage is a human universal
What is the function of marriage?
- Establish norms of residence, property, division of labor
- Forms a social bond between families, useful for economic and political alliances
- Regulation of sexual behavior
- Legitimizes children born into the union and regulates their care, socialization, descent and inheritance
Is there a higher variance in reproductive success (RS) for males or females?
Males because they stand to gain a lot from copulations with additional females whereas females do not
What is a female’s potential reproductive success (RS) limited by?
how many eggs she produces
What is a male’s potential reproductive success (RS) limited by?
how many mates he can copulate wit
Define monogamy, polygyny, and polyandry
- Monogamy: one husband, one wife
- Polygyny: one husband, multiple wives
- Polyandry: one wife, multiple husbands
What type is most common in human mating?
Polygyny: one husband, multiple wives
What type is most common in human marriages?
Monogamy
What predicts whether a society is monogamous or polygynous?
1) Male contribution to subsistence
- When women rely more on male provisioning they should be disinclined to share a man’s resources with another woman
- More reliance on male provisioning –> less polygyny
2) Pathogen stress
- Women should avoid mating with men who have deleterious traits as they invest large amounts in producing each offspring
- Therefore, in societies where pathogen levels are high women may trade-off the costs of sharing their husband for the benefits of access to a highquality mate
What type of polyandry is most common?
Fraternal polyandry
Give an example of a polyandrous community.
Tibet
What was Bateman’s principle?
- Male reproductive success should increase with number of mates, whereas female reproductive success should not
- Females almost always expend more energy in producing offspring than males so they will be more choosy in mate selection
- Females generally don’t gain anything by having sex with more than one male but males stand to gain a lot from copulations with additional females
Compare marriage and monogamy.
MARRIAGE
* Social contract between 2 (or more) people
* Expectation of sexual exclusivity
* Cooperation common (DOL, co-parenting)
* Cross-culturally universal
* Exclusive to humans
MONOGAMY
* Pair-bond between two individuals
* Expectation of sexual exclusivity
* Cooperation common (bi-parental care)
* Occurs across species
* Common in birds
* Rare in mammals (2%)
What is monogamy?
An exclusive sexual union with one other person
When might more partners for females be better than one?
- When male mortality is high
- When resources are stochastic
- When partners offer complementary resources
- When partner availability fluctuates
- When male resources are less critical/more substitutable
Why would men tolerate high levels of female concurrency?
- Costs of mate guarding are high
- Surplus of females lowers cost of desertion
- Low investment expectations reduce cost of misallocation
- Child labor further reduces investment costs
Describe romantic partnerships/marriage for Himba people?
- All marriages formally arranged by kin with brideprice
- Love matches allowed and common after the first marriage
- Polygyny is common
- Child marriage for girls
- Divorce is common and can be initiated by either sex
- Concurrency is also common for men and women
How do Himba women gain from multiple mating?
- Women with greater resource stress
are open to more partners and have
stronger preferences for wealthy
partners - Women with both a husband and a
boyfriend have greater food security
than women with only one or the other - Boyfriends help to buffer against
stochastic resource availability - Women get emotional and instrumental
support from boyfriends and husbands
Is multiple mating very costly to men?
No…
- Over their lifespan men shift from being boyfriends (“stealing” paternity) to being husbands (“losing” paternity),
and these gains and losses tend to even out - Men depend on child labor, whether it is from a biological child or not
- Men get status gains from being generous toward nonbiological children
Sexual selection theory sets up clear predictions
about ______________.
the expected behavior of men and women
Non-traditional gender roles can still be _______.
adaptive.
Mating, marriage and monogamy are distinct but ______ terms
semi-overlapping
What can we use to make predictions about patterns of variation?
evolutionary theory
What do we need to do to understand why social and genetic monogamy may be mis-aligned?
We need to understand the cultural context, and the potential costs and benefits to each party
What are etiological myths?
Creation stories (explanation of how things came to be)
What is primal androgyny?
- Idea that humans started as single nonbinary fusion
- No distinction between genders
- Not clear in Genesis 1 this is how Adam is
Did Foucault think that the way sex and gender were in Victorian society was repressive?
He did not think it was repressive
What are discursive formations?
- Every day structures that govern knowledge in culture
- Established by particular discourse practices
Describe the parts of the four element theory. Compare Aristotle and Galen’s views on the theory.
- Fire: hot and dry
- Air: hot and wet
- Water: cold and wet
- Earth: cold and dry
Aristotle:
- Males are naturally hot whereas females are naturally cold
- Females are deformed males
Galen:
- Rejects biological focus on genitals
- “male and female genitalia are essentially the same, except that they are turned inward in the female and outward in the male”
- A “proportional difference in natural temperature” (the hot cold scale) affects the sex of the fetus
- spatial position or reproductive organs also a factor
What is included in humans’ unique life history?
*Long period of dependency
*Short inter birth intervals –> stacking of children
*Difficult for one person (mother) to raise children w/ out help
*Marriage (pair-bonding) provides a solution
What does dialectical mean?
Not a stable state of affairs (changes over time)
