Genes, culture and

gender
 Influence of cultural diversity and human
nature
• Human behaviors that are defined by our universal behaviors arise from
our biological similarities
• Natural selection – evolutionary process by which heritable traits that help
organisms survive and reproduce are passed to the subsequent generations
• Organisms have many and varied offspring
• Those offspring compete for survival in the environment
 • Certain biological and behavioral variations increase their chances of surviving and
reproducing
• The offspring that do survive are more likely to pass on their genes to next
generations
• Over time, the population characteristics might change
• Evolutionary psychology – the study of the evolution of cognition and
behavior using the principles of natural selection
• We carry not only the physical legacy but the psychological legacy of our
ancestors’ adaptive preferences
• Negative emotions
• The most important similarity among all humans is their capacity to learn
and adapt
• Our genes enable an adaptive human brain which allows us to live in changing
environments
• Culture – enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes and traditions shared by a
large group of people transmitted from one generation to the next
• Nature and nurture interact in forming us
• Our human biology allows us to socialize with others, and therefore we
are able to form cultures because of this
• Our cultural diversity shows that much of our behavior is socially
programmed and not genetically hardwired
• Confronting another culture is sometimes a startling experience
• Cultures have standards on what is accepted and what is not
• Norms – standards for accepted and expected behavior
• One way of learning our norms is to go to a different culture and observe
the differences in behavior
• In unfamiliar situations when the norms aren’t clear, we just observe others’
behaviors and adjust ours accordingly
• Differences in norms:
• Expressiveness
• Punctuality
• Rule breaking
• Personal space
• Cultures not only differ in their norms of behaviors, but also with the
strength of such norms
• In spite of this, it is important to note that even if there are cultural
differences, there are also cultural universalities
• Friendship norms
• Universal trait dimensions
• Universal social belief dimensions
• Universal status norms
• Incest taboo
• Norms of war
 Males and females – gender similarities and
differences
• Females and males are similar in many physical and psychological traits
• However, differences actually exist between males and females
• Men and women differ in their social connections:
• Play – girls talk more intimately and play less aggressively than boys
• Friendship – women more intimate than men
• Vocations – men gravitate more towards jobs that enhance inequalities, while
women gravitate to jobs that reduce inequalities
 • Family relations – women more family-oriented than men
• Smiling – women’s greater connectedness in higher rate of smiling than with men
• Empathy – women tend to show more empathy than men
• Reading others’ emotions
• Expressing emotions (nonverbal)
• Men are more socially dominant than women
• Men act more impulsively and take more risks than women
 • In their conversation and writing
• It is important to note that the style employed can also vary depending on the social
situation
• Aggression – physical or verbal behavior meant to hurt another
• Men tend to be more aggressive than women
• However, interaction with the context can once influence our behavior, whether we
are male or female
• There is also a gender gap when it comes to sexual attitudes and
assertiveness, with males being more “liberated” with their sexual
attitudes
• These findings also carry over to behavior, as males are more likely than females to
initiate sexual activity
• Compared to lesbians, gay men tend to be more interested in uncommitted
sex, more frequent sex, more interest in pornography and more concerned
with partner attractiveness
• Cultures often put higher sexual value on the female
• Even sexual fantasies express the gender difference
• However, in spite of these differences between gender, individual
differences matter, especially among females
 Evolution and gender
• Are sex differences due to experience or biology?
• There are salient biological differences between men and women
• Evolutionary psychology does predict sex differences in mating
reproductive behaviors
• Males have greater sexual initiative due to the amount of sperm they
produce, while females still have to invest in the fetus and care for it to
term
• This influences selection
• Females invest their reproductive opportunities wisely
• Males compete with other males for the chance for optimal sexual
investment
• Physically dominant males have excelled in gaining access to the females
• Not a conscious process
• Emotions help facilitate the process
• Evolutionary psychology predicts that each gender will offer what the
other is said to want.
• Scientists have a problem with evolutionary psychology due to hindsight
bias
• Examples of evolutionary psychology:
• Jealousy
• Parental investment
• Gender differences can be also affected by hormones
• Androgynous- having both masculine and feminine characteristics
 Culture and gender
• Like biological creatures, even cultures vary and compete for resources
and also evolve in time
• Evolution occurs thru a culture cycle
• Humans are culture shapers that have been shaped by culture
• Gender role socialization – how men and women should behave
• Gender role – set rules and expectations for males and females
• Culture can help construct gender roles
• Gender roles vary with culture
• Some cultures support gender socialization, while others don’t
• Gender roles vary over time
• Peer-transmitted culture
• Peer influence vs. parental influence
 Genes, culture and gender
• Biology and culture interact
• Our biological heritage may indeed be emphasized by our culture
• Epigenetics – explores how environments trigger genetic expression via molecular
mechanisms
• Also a variety of factors can influence gender division of labor, such as biological
experiences and childhood socialization
• As gender equality is more practiced, the psychological differences between men
and women shrink
• Power of the person and the situation
• The power of the situation is strong, but so is our personal capacity to follow or
resist it
• Interaction between social situation and the person is seen in 3 ways:
• A given social situation affects people differently
• People often choose their situations
• People often create their situations