Test 2 Flashcards
Charles Darwin
“The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to sex”
- applies theoretical principles to human evolution
- patriarchy: Darwin argued for male superiority over women
Core principles of evolutionary theory (2)
Natural selection: survival to facilitate reproduction
Sexual selection: reproduction, even at expense of survival
Key sexual selection processes (evo)
Parental investment: leads to different mating dynamics and occupation of different roles
Intersexual selection: because reproduction is costly, women get to be the one’s who choose who to have sex with
Intrasexual competition: Arms race for non-human animals
I: Generalized Theory Phase (evo)
David Buss: introduced evolutionary approach to studying sexuality
Randy Thornhill: American biologist/evolutionary psychologist, “Natural History of Rape”
II: Localized theory phase (evo)
- advancements in theory development; researchers developed psychology-specific theories of how evolutionary processes shaped sexuality
- advances in measurement; individual-difference variables
- ecologically valid/captivating studies
Sexual strategies theory
men and women have evolved both short-term and long-term sexual strategies in order to solve unique adaptive problems
Women’s short-term mating strategies
resource extraction
mate-switching
evaluating long-term potential
Women’s LT mating strategies
willing/able to invest
physical protection
commitment
Mens ST mating strategies
sexually available
minimizing investment
fertility
Mens LT mating strategies
paternity
reproductive value
commitment
Sociosexual orientation
To what extent does a person desire sexual contact outside a committed relationship context
- ranges from very restrictive (exclusive relationships only) to unrestrictive
- Schmitt found that on average men were found to be less restrictive or more permissive than women
- small but detectable differences between countries
Clark & Hatfield - Just ask
- how you respond to a date solicitation vs a casual sex solicitation
- in terms of responding to a date, men and women were pretty comparable in their favourability (50 vs 55% said yes)
- for casual sex, 75% of men said yes vs 0% women
III: Modernized theory phase
- moving away from self-report measures
- social cognitive revolution; want people’s immediate gut response
- moving towards ‘multivariate analyses’
Strengths of evolutionary perspective
- explicitly theory-driven
- often very clear predictions
- historically, methodologically innovative
Limitations of evo perspective
- continues to have a falsifiability/competitor theory problem
- has resorted to specious and hypocritical counter-argument
- struggling to not become a caricature of its own principles
- patriarchal, sexist, etc
Gender similarities hypothesis
Dr. Janet Shirley Hyde
- in most psychological respects, we should be expecting no differences between men and women
- in some cases, there will be small differences
- most psychological variables are in 96% overlap
- can have lots of diversity within groups
Cognitive social learning theory
- gender differences may be a product of learned/modelled behaviour
- effect sizes may change over time - online porn consumption changing by their increasing popularity
- differences in gender should decrease across time, as society becomes more sexually liberal
- evidence: decreased for some variables, but increased for others
Social structural role theory
gender differences may be a product of gendered division of labor and disparities in social power
- evidence: smaller gender differences in nations with less gender inequality, and smaller gender differences in particular racial groups
- seems to be something about patriarchal context that exacerbates gender differences
Eagly and Wood reply to Schmitt (2005)
- representation in government was one of the best predictors of size and gender differences
- better than some evolutionary perspective-inspired predictors
- good reason to think results would have been different if more egalitarian hunter-gatherer societies included
Dr. Terri Conley
Women’s studies researcher, best known for research on consensual non-monogamous relationships and critically evaluating gender differences in sexuality
Problem with Clark & Hatfield (1989)
- focus too much on receiver; not really some deeply preferred preferences for mating in the receiver
- finds that women are less likely to accept casual sex from spontaneous offers because they are concerned for their safety as well as they thought the man would be sexually incompetent
- if safety and sexual competence were controlled, can knock out gender differences
Attenuated/eliminated gender differences
- ideal vs actual mate characteristics
- social sensitivity of number of sexual partners
- methodological sensitivity of jealousy responses (forced yes/no answer when really people don’t like any type of infidelity)
- sexual thought frequency
Limitations of Contra-EP studies
- relatively low precision/statistical power
- philosophically questionable use of traditional statistical testing methods
- trying to ‘prove the null’ has too much weight
Autokinetic effect
- using visual illusion to study group influence
- known reality: light is not moving
- despite this, consensus emerged that it was moving - indicates conditions that may drive norm formation
Festinger et al: Social norms emerging from group interaction
- put people together and they form norms
- norms target goals important to the group
- adherence to norms dictates relative social standing in the group
- social ecology can exacerbate/inhibit norm influence
- explicit and implicit rules of thinking and behaving occurs organically
Crandall: Social Contagion
- emergent norms vs assortative affiliations
- groups determined localized norms and over time people would conform to that standard
- group-specific standards of conduct were determined by idealized group leaders
- even though individuals started off much different, they began to approximate the behaviour of the most well liked person
- those that didn’t saw their social status decline
Motives to form a norm
- Collective tasks requiring efficient coordination
- Collective stressors/threats (actual or perceived)
- Identity based esteem needs
Sexual script theory
norm formation occurs at three levels:
- cultural, interpersonal and intrapsychic
- people put their own spin on norms at the interpersonal level
Wiederman: developmental/social learning and epistemic perspctives
- anatomical differences between men and women set the stage early in development to form different relationships with their bodies
- men are encouraged to touch themselves, women are socialized to be more cautious around genitals
- sets the stage for formation of these rules later in life that produce varied sexuality of men and gate-keeping of women
Defining characteristics of norms
- Descriptive vs. injunctive
- do they refer to what people do or what people ought to do - Content
- what are the particular social expectancies/rules? what is the nature of the pre/post scripts?
- will vary across social groups - Strength
- do they manifest in a way that makes them more/less likely to be followed
Evidence for a Sexual Double Standard
- Strong perceptual consensus
- 90%+ of university students think it’s a thing - Lexicon size/valence for describing sexual men/women
- most people have bigger vocabularies when describing women’s sexuality, especially for expressing disapproval
- language reflects that we are more preoccupied with reinforcing and critiquing women’s sexuality - Ethnographic evidence
There is NOT a SDS
- Very weak effects in person-perception experiments
- Individuals demonstrate confirmation bias with SDS-congruent information recall
- they are more likely to remember demonstrations of a narrative congruent with SDS
SDS endorsement
- men endorse more than women; relatively stable over time
- may depend on moderating factors:
1) type of behaviour
2) stage of relationship
3) level of cognitive evaluation (implicit vs explicit; distracted vs deliberative thinking)
4) intersectional identities
Chromosomal sex
- determined at the moment of conception
Gonadal sex
- specific gonads (ovaries vs testes) present within the body
- begin to develop in response to genetic signals approximately 6 weeks after conception
- once developed, begin releasing sex hormones which differentiates the internal and external sexual structures of the male and female body
- hormones also masculinize or feminize the brain before birth
Lordosis
a sexual posture that occurs naturally in female rates in which the back curves upward to assist copulation
Preoptic area (POA)
- tends to be larger in adult men than women
- affects copulation behaviour
Bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST)
tends to be larger in men
size might be related to gender identity
Intersex
- a person who possesses both male and female biological traits
Klinefelter’s syndrome
1 in every 1000 male births
- results when a Y carrying sperm fertilizes an egg that possesses 2 x chromosomes
- anatomically male in terms of genital appearance, but their testes are usually smaller than average and sperm production is very low
- bodies often have feminized features
- tend to identify as male
- overall interest in sex tends to be low
Turner’s syndrome
- individual is born with a single x chromosome
- feminine body appearance, but tends to be shorter than average and typically have little breast development
- external genitals appear feminine, but internally the ovaries are underdeveloped and may only appear as streaks of tissue
- menstruation does not occur at puberty and sexual reproduction is not possible
- usually identify as female
- not linked to same-sex attraction
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)
- occurs when a biologically male fetus is insensitive to the production of its own androgens
- despite possessing XY chromosomes, testes, and high levels of masculinizing hormones, the end result is a body and genitals feminine in appearance
- can be either complete or partial
- diagnosis generally not made until adolescence
- usually raised as girls and almost always adopt a feminine identity
5-alpha-reductase deficiency (5aRD)
- occurs when a biologically male fetus is unable to convert testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT) due to insufficient levels fo the 5-alpha reductase enzyme
- resulting in feminized genital appearance
- male gonads are present internally
- usually raised as girls until puberty when increase in testosterone causes their bodies to become more masculine, in which case most people switch to identify as male
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH)
- occurs when a person’s adrenal glands produce excessive amounts of androgens from birth
- can happen with both men and women; with men - normal development
- with women, females become more masculine both physically and psychologically
- most females with CAH adopt female gender identity but tend to have interests more common among men
Self-fulfilling prophecy
parents’ expectations elicit and reinforce gendered behaviour, effectively making gender stereotypes come true
Transsexual
persons who have a gender identity that does not match their biological sex
- less common than someone who is intersex
- more common among MTF than FTM
- heritable to some degree
- most transsexuals appear to be attracted to people who match their biological sex
Gender dysphoria
- when the incongruence between one’s physical sex and one’s psychological gender identity results in persistent unhappiness and discomfort
Gender affirmation surgery
previously sex reassignment surgery
consists of:
1) psychological evaluations of motives and consequences
2) transition period of 1 year (before surgery)
3) hormone therapy
MTF surgery
Vaginoplasty
FTM surgery
1) metoidioplasty
- clitoris is turned into an erectile phallus
2) phalloplasty
- skin is taken from other parts of the body and transplanted to the genital area to create a functional penis
- much larger end result but cannot erect on its pwn without penile implants
Transvesticism
the act of obtaining sexual gratification from wearing clothing of the other sex
Non-binary or genderqueer
- umbrella terms for gender identities that go beyond the 2-gender system
Sex differences in psychology
Women tend to be more trusting and compliant, and experience more anxiety and negative affect in comparison to men
- agreeableness and neuroticism
- sex differences in big 5 vary considerably across cultures, therefore these differences are a product of culture and society, not genetics
