final (textbook and lecture) Flashcards
what is culture?
- distinctive elements of a society or a community that are passed on from generation to generation and are the basis for everyday behaviours and practices
what is cultural identity? how is it formed?
- cultural identity: a person’s sense of belonging to a particular culture or group
- formed by internalizing the beliefs, values, norms, and social practices of one’s culture
how does sex differentiate from gender
- sex: biological categorization of people as female, male, or intersex
- gender: socially constructed, social and cultural meanings or interpretations of the different sex categories, including its commonly associated attributes
what is the difference between gender, gender identity, and gender expression
- gender: social and cultural construction of the different sex categories
- gender identity: a person’s deeply-felt inherent sense of being a certain gender that may or may not correspond with sex
- gender expression: how one presents/expresses themselves that communicate aspects of their gender or gender roles (e.g., clothing - butch/femme)
what is the difference between sexual orientation and sexual identity
-
sexual orientation: which gender(s) one is sexually attracted to
sexual identity: which sexual orientation one identifies with
what are two different ways of categorizing/measuring sexual orientation?
- as a binary construct (straight or gay?)
- on a scale, where one end has someone being exclusively straight, whereas the other end someone is exclusively gay
explain the genetic component of sexual orientation, and what this suggests?
- multiple genes play a role in determining same-sex sexual orientation
- the role of each gene on its own is relatively small, suggesting that differing sexual orientations is a natural variation of human experience
what is the “chosen lifestyle” theory
- one can “choose” to be a certain sexual orientation
- not supported by science
what are and aren’t the factors that play into gender identity
- are: environmental and biological factors
- aren’t: a matter of choice or confusion
- even transgender children showed patterns of gender cognition more consistent with their expressed than their assigned gender at birth
what is identity clarity? how might it relate to non-straight individuals?
- identity clarity: the extent that one understands their identity and the extent that it makes sense (I CANNOT FIND DEFINITION)
- among trans people, low gender identity clarity has been associated with suicidal ideation
- in gay and straight women, ambiguity about sexual identity has been associated with alcohol misuse and suicidal ideation
what is intersectionality?
- study of intersecting and overlapping social identities and labels
- related systems of discrimination and oppression
what are three problems with the historical study of sex differences
- reliance on sex/gender binaries and cisgender people
- possible exaggeration of differences, stereotype reinforcement (statistically-speaking there aren’t any significant differences in personality between sex)
- insufficient attention to intersecitonality
what is the most common way that sex differences are measured? describe the statistic used
- commonly measured using meta-analyses: where the results of multiple different studies are analyzed together
- effect size (d-statistic): the difference between groups in standard deviation units
what is the meaning of different effect sizes, and what are some nuances with interpreting these effect sizes in populations and individuals?
0.2: small
0.5: medium
0.8: large
nuances
- effect sizes don’t have implications for any one individual–they’re a population wide measure
- more differences are small, so statistics shouldn’t be used to exaggerate the differences between sexes
compare and contrast the maximalist and minimalist views toward the study of sex differences
- maximalist: SEX DIFFERENCES IMPORTANT–even if differences are small, they add up over time
- minimalist: sex differences are unimportant, and even when they do exist, the effect size is so small that it has no real impact
describe the gender similarity hypothesis
- males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables
what are the sex differences on nurturance?
- sex differences show women with a higher tendency towards nurtuance
- females across cultures consistently score higher on all aspects of agreeableness
- also score higher on warmth (extraversion) and empathy
what are the sex differences on aggressiveness? what does this mean, in terms of other personality traits?
- men show higher aggression, which equates to lower agreeableness
- this is true across cultures
- men are also higher in the dark triad
what might be skewing the data on sex differences in aggression?
some outliers, where rando dudes are HYPER AGGRESSIVE
compare and contrast overt and relational aggression, with respect to the trait and its sex differences
overt aggression
- obvious
- often-physical aggressive behaviours
- more common in men
relational aggression
- less obvious
- more about exclusion and gossip, imagine mean girl in high school
- more common in women
what are the sex differences on emotionality? what might be causing these differences?
- women tend to report experiencing both more negative AND positive emotions
- at greater frequency AND intensity, even early in life
- after puberty, females show depression 2-3X more
- females also ruminate more, which contributes to depression
- might be that there’s a sex difference in the willingness to express and report emotions
what are the sex differences in self-esteem, and how does it change across a lifespan?
- before adolescence: same across sexes
- after puberty: men higher than women
- throughout adulthood: men higher than women, but the gap lessens as people grow older
how do self-esteem and cultural orientation interact, with respect to sex differences?
- collectivistic culture: less sex differences
- individualistic and egalitarian cultures: more pronounced sex differences
what were the original definitions for masculinity and feminity, along with their updated ones?
OG
- masculinity: possession of psychological and physical attributes traditionally associated with men
- femininity: possession of psychological and physical attributes traditionally associated with women
UPDATED
- masculinity: instrumentality (Agency)
- Femininity: expressiveness (communion)
compare and contrast the initial and updated conceptualizations of an ideal expression of masculinity and feminity
inital
- being androgynous was the ideal expression
- it was the most adaptive, carrying the best traits of masculinity and feminitiy
updated
- most adaptive was being gender-aschematic
how was the measure of sex differences on various personality traits reinterpreted, instead of just having people possessing a certain amount of masculine vs feminine traits?
- it was reinterpreted as the extent to which one fufills sex role expectations and sees the world through a gendered lense
compare and contrast unmitigated agency and unmitigated communion
unmitigated agency
- so much focus on the self that it hurts others
- problems stem from unwillingness to attend to relationships and negative views of others
- correlated with hegemonic and toxic masculinity, as well as the dark traits
unmitigated communion
- focus on others to the exclusion of self
- problems stem from tendency to subjugate one’s own needs, dependence on others for esteem
what is the gender schema theory?
explains how individuals become gendered in society and how gender stereotypes are maintained over time
what are gender schemas?
- cognitive orientations
- leads people to process information through a sex-linked perspective
what are gender stereotypes, and what are its 3 components
-
beliefs about how men and women differ or are supposed to differ, in contrast to that the actual differences are
1. cognitive: social categories
2. affective: positive or negative feels that result from stereotypes
3. behavioural: treating people differently
compare and contrast socialization theory, social learning theory, social role theory
socialization
- people are reinforced by parents, teachers, and the media for acting according to their sex
social learning theory
- people learn by modeling their behaviours after people in their environment
- this provides a guide to what behaviours are masculine or feminine
social role theory
- males and females are distributed differently into different occupational and family roles
- over time, children learn behaviours associated with these roles
what is some evidence for socialization?
- boys and girls are treated differently across cultures
- exposure to counter-stereotypical role models can influence aspirations of young people
how does evidence from matrilineal societies give support to the importance of social factors in sex differences
- in patriarchal society, girls are found to be less competitive than boys
- but in a matriarchial society, there’s no such difference
what is the link between hormones and behaviour?
- sex differences in testosterone are linked with traditional sex differences in behaviour
- estrogen is also associated with empathy and oxytocin secretion
- but this link is BIDIRECTIONAL
- actions lead to more testosterone
why is evolution a consideration when studying sex differences?
- the sexes are predicted to differ only in domains where people are recurrently faced with different adaptive patterns
- such as in mating and sexuality
what is the integrated theoretical perspective? and what factor is the most supported?
- takes all levels of analysis into account
- all levels, whether it be socialization, hormonal, evolutionary, are compatible
- but socialization is the most supported cause for personality
what is evoked culture? how might it shape personality? give examples
- cultural differences created by differing environmental conditions activating a predictable set of responses
- food variance -> differences in egalitarianism/cooperation
- economic livelihood -> differences in honour
- pathogen prevalence -> differences in big 5 traits
how might pathogen prevalence over time be associated with different personality traits? why might this develop?
- pathogen prevalence -> decreased extraversion and openness to experience
- develops because having high levels of these traits would have increased exposure to pathogens
what is the relationship between pathogen prevalence and cultural differences? define the terms
- pathogen prevalence -> increased conformity to cultural norms -> decreased likelihood of pathogen exposure
- conformity: tendency to adapt behaviour in response to unspoken group pressure
- pathogen prevalence -> increased authoritarianism -> similar reason to above
- authoritarianism: blind allegiance to conventional ideas, respect for submission to authority, belief in aggression towards those who disagree or are differences
what is transmitted culture? how might it shape personality? give examples
- ideas, values, attitudes, and beliefs that are communicated from one person to another
- the things that are transmitted vary by culture, which contribute to cultural differences in personality
- e.g., cultural orientation (individualism vs collectivism), self-construal, self-enhancement
compare and contrast evoked and transmitted culture, as well as how they shape personality.
- evoked
- differences in the environment
- environmental and cultural
- implicitly shape behaviour and personality
- transmitted
- differences in the things that are communicated by individuals
- social
- has an explicit effect
compare and contrast the two main cultural orientations
- individualism
- focus on uniqueness, independence
- agency
- value identity and self-enhancement
- independent self-construal
- collectivism
- focus on relationships
- communion
- value unity and selflessness
- interdependent self-construal
explain and describe the expanded model of cultural orientation
- two dimensions: inequality-status/equality; individualistic/collectivistic
- vertical individualism: individualistic with inequality/status
- vertical collectivism: collectivistic with inequality/status
- horizontal individualism: individualistic with equality
- horizontal collectivism: collectivistic with equality
what happens if you’re high in both cultural orientations? what does this often result from? name the term
- you develop a bicultural orientation
- often results from acculturation: process of adapting to the ways in life in a new culture, living in 2 different cultural contexts
how might individualism and collectivism both manifest in an individual? name the two ways that they’ve been studied
- it can appear in their knowledge structures and value systems
- cultural orientations have been studied according to:
- (1) value orientation: beliefs about the importance of personal vs. collective goals
- (2) Self-concept: self-construal involving separateness vs. social imbeddedness
what is a self-construal? name and describe the 3 types. which is associated with which cultural orientation?
-
the grounds for self-definition
1. independent: based on internal attributes; individualistic cultural orientation; agency
2. interdependent: based on relationships with others and social embeddedness; collectivistic cultural orientation; communion
3. metapersonal: based on unified connection, self fundamentally interconnected with all living things and the universe
why might individualism be on the rise?
- economic advancement has led to a lesser need for collectivism
- decreased pathogen prevalence
what is the ‘optimal’ cultural orientation? how might this relate to the expanded model of cultural orientation?
- collectivistic independence
- collectivistic value orientation
- independent self-construal
- similar tp horizontal individualism from the expanded model
how do different cultures differ or stay the same in terms of personality?
- not huge variation!
- the largest difference is in extraversion
- the parts of personality that appear to be universal include beliefs about women and men, emotional expression, and the 5-factor model
how might the big five personality test be inadequate for cross-cultural examinations of personality?
- it be solid for cross-cultural replicability, but…
- HEXACO model offers an additional dimension that holds across cultures
- the Chinese personality assessment has an additional dimension (interpersonal relatedness) that isn’t associated with any of the big 5
- some small-scale societies only have 2 factors
what are 3 different measures of personality across cultures
- HEXACO model
- Chinese personality measurement
- prosociality/industriousness in small-scale societies
describe the chinese personality assessment
- used lexical method to identify traits in Chinese
1. dependability (emotional stability)
2. social potency (extraversion)
3. individualism/accomodation (agreeableness)
4. interpersonal relatedness (harmony, reciprocity in relationships… none of the big 5)
what are the 2 principle factors in personality that’s common in small-scale societies? Why?
- prosociality (socially-beneficial behaviour)
- industriousness
- due to less social complexity, so there’s less diversity of traits that matter in smaller-scale societies
what are the 2 dimensions used to describe/evaluate personality traits of OTHERS across culture? which evaluation is made first? what might be the function of these traits?
- warmth/trustworthiness: approach/avoid: intent to harm; “can I trust this person?”
- competence/dominance: strengths, weakness, their ability to harm us; “Can I respect this person?”
what is the history of the study of sex differences?
- mostly men were participants
- used to further social hierarchies
why is studying temperament important in the examination of sex differences?
- helps determine which behaviours may have a biological basiss
what are the sex differences they discovered in temperament? name and define the terms
- inhibitory control: degree to which someone can inhibit a behaviour, like self control
- perceptual sensitivity: ability to detect subtle stimuli from the environment
- surgency: approach behaviour, high activity, impulsivity
what is inhibitory control?
- degree to which someone can inhibit a behaviour, like self control
what is perceptual sensitivity?
ability to detect subtle stimuli from the environment
what is surgency?
approach behaviour, high activity, impulsivity
what are some sex differences amongst the big 5 traits
- neuroticism: F>M
- agreeableness: F>M
what is the people-things dimensions? how does this compare to the empathizing-systemizing distinction?
- refers to vocational interests
- people: social occupations, thinking about others, caring for others, directing others
- things: careers impersonal obeject
- empathizing: tuning into other ppls thoughts and feelings
- systemizing: comprehend how things work
what is empathizing vs systemizing?
- empathizing: tuning into other people’s thoughts and feelings
- systemizing: drive to comprehend how things work, how systems are built, how inputs into systems produce outputs
when would someone be labelled androgynous? according to the original questionnaire, what does this signify?
- possessing high levels of both masculine AND feminine traits
- signifies adaptive??
what are 3 criticisms of the concept of androgyny
- items in the inventory were iffy and not correlated with each other
- no support for the idea that androgynous people are more highly developed
- overlooked the mutidimensional construct of feminity/masculinity
What is instrumentality and expressiveness?
- instrumentality: working with objects, tasks completed in a direction fashion, independence, self sufficiency
- expressiveness: ease with which one can express emotions
what is instrumentality vs expressiveness? why is this categorization significant?
- femininity: expressiveness—ease with which one can express emotions, showing empathy, showing nurturance
- masculinity: instrumentality—working w objects, getting tasks done in a direct fashion, independence from others, self sufficiency
- significant because it takes the associations away from gender
compare instrumentality/expressiveness with agency/communion and empathizing/systematizing
- associated with femininity
- expressiveness
- communion
- empathizing
- associated with masculinity
- instrumentality
- agency
- systematizing
what is hegemonic masculinity? how is this believed to develop?
- masculinity that involves traditional and culturally idealized notions of men
- results from early socialization and exposure to healthy and often unattainable notions of what it means to be a man
what often results from deviations from social stereotypes?
- social exclusion, sigma, discrimination
what is hostile sexism and what is associated with?
- discrimination based on overtly negative stereotypes of women as inferior to men
- negative evaluations of men and women who violate traditional gender role expectations
what is gender dysphoria?
- when one’s interactions with the world does not align with their gender identity
- results in extreme distress
what is the daughter-guarding hypothesis?
- daughters will continue their bloodline, so must protect to save the genes
why is considering bidirectionally significant in the study of sex differences? what are two theories where this is important to consider?
- hormonal theories of sex differences: you cannot attribute sex differences to hormones
what are hormonal theories of sex differences? explain how sex differences can begin in utero
- women and men differ bc of their differing hormones
- more testosterone = more aggression, “masculine” behaviours
- sexual desire is also associated with levels of circulating testosterone
what are 2 limitations of hormonal theories of sex differences?
- bidirectional effect of hormones and behaviour
- does not prove that sex difference RESULT from hormones… correlations and causation
what are some definitions of mental health?
- a dynamic state of internal equilibrium which enables individuals to use their abilities in harmony with universal values of society
what is psychological adjustment? how does this relate to the definition of mental health?
- process of altering behaviour to reach a harmonious relationship with one’s environment
- definition of mental health refers to using their abilities in harmony with universal values of society
what are the 3 different ways of defining stress? explain each one
- stimulus (THE BEAR CHASING YOU)
- response (THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYTEM AROUSAL)
- transaction (APPRAISAL OF STRESS IMPORTANT)
what is the transactional model of stress? what does it emphasize? explain its 2-step process
- emphasizes appraisal
1. primary appraisal: is it relevant? threatening or demanding? or a challenge?
2. secondary appraisal: do I have the coping resources to deal with the event? what is the best course of action?
what is coping?
- the behavioural responses that one engages in with the effort to manage both internal and external demands of a situation
- regardless of whether It is successful or not
what is the connection between personality and coping? name and describe this model
- transactional model of personality-illness connection
- personality affects coping, how a personal appraises events, and the events themselves
how do the big 5 personality traits affect stress appraisal?
- neuroticism: anxiety levels, appraisal, stress reactivity
- extraversion: appraisal of events as challenges instead of stressors
- conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness: associated with lower appraisals of threat
which personality traits result in maladaptive coping strategy? which result in adaptive coping strategies?
- maladaptive:
- neuroticism
- lesser stress response
- openness to experience
- agreeableness
- conscientiousness
- extraversion
what is a hardy personality? list and explain the 3 main characteristics. what other concept is this similar to?
-
a personality that tends to be protected from negative effects of stress
1. control: perceived control, internal locus
2. commitment: involvement in life and sense of purpose
3. challenge: appraise events as challenges - this is similar to resilience
what is psychological resilience? what personality is this concept similar to?
- recovery from stress/adversity without a lasting impact
- positive adaptation/successful coping
- similar to a hardy personality
if there are high levels of 3 positive aspects of personality, what is this called? which 3 aspects?
-
trait resilience
1. self-esteem
2. personal control
3. optimism
what is ego-resiliency?
- an individual’s adaptive reserve
- dynamic ability to temporarily change reactions and perceptions to meet the situational demands of life
- ability to adjust ego control across situations
what is ego-control? how does it relate to ego-resiliency?
- self-control
- person’s ability to control their behaviour and impulses in a situation
- will result in higher amounts of ego-resiliency