L8/CH16/CH17 Flashcards
Culture
distinctive customs, values, beliefs, knowledge, art, and language of a society or community that are passed on between generations and the basis for everyday behaviors and practices
Cultural variations
physical, psychological, behavioral, or attitudinal within-group similarities and between-group differences
Cultural identity
a person’s sense of belonging to a particular culture or group
How is cultural identity formed?
internalizing the beliefs, values, norms, and social practices of one’s culture
Sex
biological categorization of people as female, male, or intersex
Gender
social and cultural meanings/interpretations of the different sex categories, including commonly associated attributes (e.g. woman/man, feminine/masculine)
Gender identity
a person’s deeply-felt inherent sense of being a man, woman, or alternative gender that may not correspond with sex (e.g. cisgender, trans, queer)
Gender expression
a person’s presentation and expressed behavior that communicate aspects of their gender or gender role
Sexual orientation
a person’s sexual or romantic attraction to others based on their sex and/or gender
Sexual identity
a person’s identity as it pertains to their sexual orientation (e.g. straight, lesbian, gay, bi)
Role of genes in determining same-sex sexual orientation
multiple genes each play a relatively small role, suggesting that sexual orientation and identity are a natural variation of human experience
Factors affecting gender identity
environmental and biological factors; not a matter of choice or confusion (e.g. trans children are statistically indistinguishable from cis children of the same gender identity)
What has low gender identity clarity been associated with among trans?
suicidal ideation
What has ambiguity about sexual identity been associated with in gay and straight women?
alcohol misuse and suicidal ideation
What has low cultural identity clarity been associated with in indigenous youth?
low subjective well-being and low self-esteem; suicidal ideation; physical and relational aggression
Intersectionality
study of intersecting, overlapping social identities and labels, and related systems of discrimination and oppression
3 problems with the historical study of sex differences
reliance on sex/gender binaries and cisgender people; possible exaggeration of differences, stereotype reinforcement; insufficient attention to intersectionality
How are sex differences measured?
effect size or d-statistic from meta-analyses
Effect size or d-statistic
used to express each sex differences in standard deviation units then averaged across studies to give an objective assessment of the difference
Small, medium, vs large effect size
.20, .50, .80
Positive vs negative effect size
men are higher; women are higher
Sex difference in extraversion
men are higher in assertiveness (similar to agency) while women are higher in enthusiasm (similar to communion)
Sex difference in neuroticism
females are higher in volatility and withdrawal; moderate difference
Sex difference in openness and conscientiousness
no significant difference
Sex difference in agreeableness
females are higher in compassion and politeness; holds true across cultures
Sex difference in nurturance
females consistently score higher in all aspects of agreeableness (specifically trust and tender-mindedness), warmth (extraversion), and empathy
Nurturance
tendency to care for others
Sex difference in aggressiveness
males across cultures show higher aggression by age 4 or 5, are higher in the dark triad and antisocial personality disorder
Sex difference in overt vs relational aggression
boys show more overt aggression while girls show more relational aggression
Sex differences in emotionality
females across cultures report experiencing more positive and negative emotions early in life, rumination, and 2-3x more depression after puberty
Masculinity-femininity dimension
the possession of psychological and physical attributes traditionally associated with men or women
Androgyny
the possession of high levels of both masculine and feminine attributes
Bem sex-role inventory
the extent to which one fulfills sex role expectations and sees the world through gendered lens
How are masculinity and femininity studied today?
instrumentality/agency and expressiveness/communion
Unmitigated agency
focus on the self to the exclusion of others; associated with problems in relationships and psychological well-being
Where do problems in unmitigated agency stem from?
unwillingness to attend to relationships and negative view of others
What is unmitigated agency correlated with?
hegemonic and toxic masculinity; dark traits
Unmitigated communion
focus on others to the exclusion of the self; a negative form of femininity
Where do problems in unmitigated communion stem from?
tendency to subjugate one’s own needs; dependence on others for esteem
Gender schemas
cognitive orientations that lead people to process information through a sex-linked perspective; shaped through learning and socialization early in life
Gender schema theory
how individuals become gendered in society and how gender stereotypes are maintained over time
Gender stereotypes
beliefs about how men and women differ or are supposed to differ in contrast to what the actual differences are
3 components of gender stereotypes
cognitive (how we form social categories); affective; behavioral
2 real consequences of gender stereotypes
prejudiced behavior and discrimination on the basis of gender
Sandra Bem’s legacy
suggested that society should decrease the use of gender dichotomy and try to be gender-aschematic
Socialization theory
males are reinforced by parents, teachers, and the media for being masculine, and females for being feminine
Social learning theory
children learn by observing and modelling the behaviors of same-sex others, which provide a guide to what is masculine or feminine (can happen without reinforcement)
Social role theory
sex differences arise because males and females are distributed differently into different occupational and family roles
2 evidences for influence of socialization in gender stereotypes
boys and girls are treated differently (e.g. toys, chores) across cultures; exposure to counter-stereotypical role models can influence aspirations (but Swedish teenagers still choose gender-typical careers)
Findings about competitiveness in matrilineal vs patrilineal societies
girls are less competitive than boys only in the patriarchal society while no difference was found in the matrilineal society
Between-sex differences on toy preferences
at age 1, male infants were more likely to look at cars while female infants were more likely to look at dolls
Within-sex differences on toy preferences
at age 1, both males and females preferred to look at dolls and the color red over blue
Hormonal differences after puberty
little similarity in levels of circulating testosterone (males have about 10x more)
What are sex differences in testosterone linked with?
traditional sex differences in behavior (e.g. aggression, dominance, career choice, sexual desire, depression, empathy)
What are estrogen levels linked with?
empathy and oxytocin secretion (affects tendency to approach and trust other people)
Influence of evolutionary pressures on sex differences
sexes are predicted to differ only in domains in which people are recurrently faced with different adaptive problems (e.g. mating, sexuality)
Adaptive problems
problems that must be solved to survive and reproduce
Integrated theory of sex differences
takes all levels of analysis (socialization, hormonal, evolutionary) into account because they’re all compatible
Most supported cause for sex differences in personality
socialization
Evoked culture
differences in physical environments lead to different social and psychological adaptations among different groups of people
3 examples of evoked culture that have shaped personality
food variance, economic livelihood, pathogen prevalence
Effect of food variance on personality
differences in egalitarianism/cooperation (e.g. high food variance leads to cooperative sharing)
Effect of economic livelihood on personality
differences in honor (e.g. cultures that use animal herding for subsistence endorse violence for protection and in response to insults)
Effect of pathogen prevalence on personality
differences in the big 5 traits (e.g. more prevalence leads to more introversion, less openness, and more restricted sexuality)
What 2 behaviors can increase likelihood of pathogen exposure?
deviating from cultural norms; not strictly obeying authority (parasite stress hypothesis)
Result of deviation from cultural norms
cultural differences in conformity
Conformity
tendency to adapt behavior in response to unspoken group pressure
Result of not strictly obeying authority
cultural differences in authoritarianism, authoritarian governance, and conservative political ideologies
Authoritarianism
blind allegiance to conventional ideas; respect for submission to authority; belief in aggression toward those who disagree or who are different
Transmitted culture
ideas, values, attitudes, and beliefs that are communicated from one person to another (e.g. cultural orientation, self-construal, self-enhancement)
2 kinds of cultural orientation
individualism and collectivism
Individualism
focus on uniqueness, independence, agency; values identity and self-enhancement; independent self-construal
Collectivism
focus on relationships and communion; values unity and selflessness; interdependent self-construal
Who fueled individualism in the west and collectivism in the east?
Descartes; Confucius
2 dimensions in the expanded model of cultural orientation
individualistic-collectivistic; inequality/status-equality
Vertical individualism
concern for individual rights and freedom; driven to achieve higher status over others (e.g. USA)
Vertical collectivism
high interdependence but also high tendency for competition/comparison; authoritarianism/fascism typical (e.g. China)
Horizontal individualism
concern for individual rights and freedom but no desire for dominance (e.g. Sweden)
Horizontal collectivism
high level of conformity/interdependence but no submission to authority (e.g. Israeli Kibbutz)
Bicultural orientation
having both strong individualistic and collectivistic orientations in one’s knowledge structures and valuie systems; often results from acculturation
2 ways in which cultural orientation has been studied
value orientation and self-concept
Value orientation
focuses on individual’s beliefs about the importance of personal vs collective goals
Self-concept
focuses on self-construal involving separateness vs social embeddedness (i.e. extent to which one is defined independently or interdependently of others)
3 kinds of self-construal
independent, interdependent, metapersonal
Independent self-construal
self-concept in which self-definition is based on internal attributes (e.g. traits, abilities, values, preferences); associated with individualism
Interdependent self-construal
self-concept in which self-definition is based on relationships with others and social embeddedness; associated with collectivism
Metapersonal self-construal
self-definition based on unified connection and fundamental interconnectedness with all living things (i.e. at one with the universe)
Result of a metapersonal self-construal
biospheric value orientation (inherent value of the environment beyond the rights of any one species); pro-environmental behaviors
Collectivistic independence
involves a collectivistic value orientation and an independent self-construal
Largest cultural difference in the big 5 traits
extraversion (NAs, australians, europeans score slightly higher than asians and africans)
Cultural universals
features of personality that are common to people in all cultures (i.e. human nature)
3 cultural universals
beliefs about women and men; emotional expression; big 5 traits
Which 7 countries/languages showed evidence of the HEXACO model?
dutch, french, german, hungarian, italian, korean, polish
4 trait dimensions found in Chinese personality (and their corresponding big 5 traits)
dependability (neuroticism/instability); social potency (extraversion); individualism/accommodation (agreeableness); interpersonal relatedness (none)
2 principal factors that reflect socioecological characteristics common in small-scale societies
prosociality (combination of agreeableness and extraversion) and industriousness
2 key dimensions used for evaluating personality traits of others across cultures
warmth/trustworthiness; competence/dominance
Agency
status, need for power, traditional masculinity, instrumentality, industriousness, individualism, independence, dominance/competence
Communion
love/nurturance, need for intimacy, traditional femininity, expressiveness, prosociality, collectivism, interdependence, warmth/trust
Alternative labels for masculinity and femininity
instrumentality/expressiveness; agency/communion; competence/warmth
Hegemonic masculinity
traditional and culturally idealized notions of men as successful, self-reliant, socially dominant, tough, competitive, lacking in sensitivity, fearful or avoidant of being perceived as feminine
Gender dysphoria
one’s sex or gender assigned at birth causes distress or impairment in one or more life domains
Self-enhancement
tendency to describe and present oneself using positive or socially valued attributes
