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Royalty-Free/Digital Stock/Corbis Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display How Are We Influenced by Human Nature and Cultural Diversity? Genes, Evolution, and Behavior Natural selection Process by which heritable traits that best enable organisms to survive and reproduce in particular environments are passed to ensuing generations Evolutionary psychology Study of the evolution of cognition and behavior using principles of natural selection Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. Natural Selection In our ancestry, we competed for survival Certain biological and behavioral traits increased the chance of reproduction and survival Those who survived in a given environment were more likely to live longer, to have children, and to pass on their genes to their children The concept of natural selection implies that certain genes, those that predisposed adaptive (survival) traits become more widely-spread. Human Nature All over the world, we share common biology and common behavioral tendencies. We all are social animals We all share similar developmental sequence and milestones e.g. in language development, separation anxiety, fear of strangers The universal behaviors arise from our biological similarity A shared human capacity is to adapt to new circumstances and new environments Evolutionary Psychology Investigates how the principle of natural selection predisposes not just physical traits suited to particular context, but also psychological traits and social behaviors that enabled us to “spread our genes”- that is, to have children. The purpose of life is to continue life We carry not only the physical legacy but also the psychological legacy of our ancestors’ adaptive preferences that helped them survive and reproduce The evolutionary perspective points to our universal human nature Our Capacity to Learn and to Adapt Evolution prepared us to live successfully in a changing world and to adapt to different environments Our shared human biology enables our cultural diversity as we want to belong and adjust our behavior to the culture we are living in; people moving from one country to another are adapting to the new culture, a process called acculturation The expression of our genes depends on the environment, as Caspi et al found (2003): a gene variation that puts people at risk for depression was activated only when there was an environmental stress How Are We Influenced by Human Nature and Cultural Diversity? Culture and Behavior Culture Enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next Cultural diversity Our behavior is socially programmed One in eight Americans is an immigrant Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. How Are We Influenced by Human Nature and Cultural Diversity? Culture and Behavior Norms: Expected behavior Norms Standards for accepted and expected behavior Individual Choices Expressiveness Punctuality Rule Breaking Personal Space • Buffer zone we like to maintain around our bodies Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. How Are We Influenced by Human Nature and Cultural Diversity? Culture and Behavior Cultural similarity Universal friendship norms Universal trait dimensions Universal social belief dimensions Universal status norms Incest taboo Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. How Are Males and Females Alike and Different? Gender Characteristics, whether biological or socially influenced, by which people define male and female Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. How Are Males and Females Alike and Different? Independence Versus Connectedness Play Friendship Vocations Family Relations Smiling Empathy Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. How Are Males and Females Alike and Different? Women Men Describe themselves in more Focus on tasks and on relational terms Experience more relationship-linked emotions More empathetic Gravitate toward jobs that reduce inequalities connections with large groups Respond to stress with “fight or flight” response Gravitate toward jobs that enhance inequalities Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. How Are Males and Females Alike and Different? Social Dominance Men are socially dominant Women’s wages in industrial countries average 77 percent of men’s Men tend to be more autocratic; women more democratic Men take more risks Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. How Are Males and Females Alike and Different? Aggression Physical or verbal behavior intended to hurt someone In the U.S., the arrest ratio of male to female is 9 to 1 When provocation occurs the gender gap shrinks Women are slightly more likely to commit indirect aggressive acts Spreading malicious gossip Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. How Are Males and Females Alike and Different? Sexuality Men: More often think about and initiate sex Women: Are more inspired by emotional passion Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. Evolution and Gender: Doing What Comes Naturally? Gender and Mating Preferences Men seek out quantity Spreading genes widely Women seek out quality Protecting and nurturing of offspring Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. Evolution and Gender: Doing What Comes Naturally? Reflections on Evolutionary Psychology Evolutionary psychologists sometimes start with an effect and work backward to construct an explanation Way to overcome the “hindsight bias” is to imagine things turning out otherwise Evolutionary psychologists disagree with this theory Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. Sample Predictions Derived from Evolutionary Psychology Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. Evolution and Gender: Doing What Comes Naturally? Gender and Hormones Gender gap in aggression seems influenced by testosterone As humans age they become more androgynous Mixing both masculine and feminine characteristics Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. Culture and Gender: Doing as the Culture Says? Gender Role Set of behavior expectations (norms) for males and females Gender roles vary over culture Gender roles vary over time Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. Culture and Gender: Doing as the Culture Says? Peer-Transmitted Culture 50 percent of individual variations in personality traits is by parental nurturing The other 50 percent is peer influence Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display. What Can We Conclude about Genes, Culture, and Gender? Biology and Culture Biology and experience interact when biological traits influence how the environment reacts A Social-Role Theory of Gender Differences in Social Behavior Copyright 2016 © McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.
