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What part of your personality
has helped you to survive?
“Survival of the Fittest”
Personality Development –
Trait Theory
PS 330
Kevin Wickes
(Unit 6 Seminar)
Overview – Trait Theory
• Influences of evolution and natural
selection on personality traits.
– What emotional responses and social
behaviors are derived from natural selection?
– How do these factors affect individual
personality?
– Do you think that there are gender differences
in personality traits? Why or why not?
– How might natural selection account for these
gender differences?
What is Evolution
Evolution is the theory that modern
organisms have descended from ancient
organisms.
Darwin is the man who came up with the
Theory of Evolution.
In 1831 he went to different remote islands.
The trip lasted for 5 years.
30 years later he actually published a book
on his theory of Natural Selection.
How many species have already
died out?
QUESTION
What personality/attribute/character is extinct?
ö Fitness- the combination of physical traits
and behavior is what helps organisms survive
and reproduce in their environment.
ö Common descent- if you look back far
enough in time all species have shared or
have common ancestors.
More Definitions
• Adaptation-successful adaptations enable
organisms to become better suited to their
environment.
• James Hulton- In 1788 he proposed that
rocks, mountains, & valleys had been
changed gradually by rain, heat & cold.
• Fossils-preserved remains of ancient
organisms.
Artificial Selection
The intervention of humans ensures that
only individuals with the more desirable
traits produce offspring.
What personality
produces offspring?
Darwin's theory of Evolution – What
emotional responses and social
behaviors are derived from natural
selection?
Evolution by Natural selection
Wild animals show similar tendencies like
what domestic animals have.
Deer- competition amongst males to be a
suitor.
Taller plants will receive sunshine.
Plants that root deeply will get water.
Animals competition for food- bird nests
What personalities follow the similar path?
How do these factors affect individual personality?
DISCUSSION
Survival of The Fittest
Individuals whose characteristics are well
suited to their environment survive.
Individuals whose characteristics are not well
suited to their environment either die or
leave fewer offspring.
Rattlesnakes with no rattles
Genetics of Evolutionary Theory
Darwin did not
understand how traits
were passed on to each
generation.
Today we define
fitness, adaptation,
species, and process of
evolutionary change in
genetic terms.
Genetics continued…
 No organism can change its DNA, because
it wants to.
 Some physical traits passed on by DNA are:
widows peak
tongue shape
first finger
ear
Whole Organism
In evolution the struggle for existence
depends on the entire organism not
individual genes.
Brown eyes for example may or may not
secure existence of organism- Entire
combination
Male & Female, Masculine & Feminine
definitions of terms:
• Sex: biological maleness and femaleness.
– Genetic (chromosomes), anatomical (organs, structures).
• Gender: psychological, sociological, and cultural
characteristics associated with sex.
– Learned, not born.
– “feminine,” “masculine”
• Gender identity: each individual’s subjective sense
of being male or female
• Gender role: attitudes & behaviors considered
appropriate for people of a particular sex.
– Culturally specific; not fixed.
Population
 Populations- a collection of individuals of
the same species in a given area whose
members can breed with one another.
Example: all fishes of a certain species in a
single pond can be one population.
Individuals in another pond would be a
different population.
How do we learn gender roles?
• Socialization: the process by which our
society conveys behavioral expectations to
the individual.
• Five agents of socialization
– parental expectations
– peers influence how child plays
– school teachers and textbooks
– television and gender-based stereotypes
– religious training
Parents as shapers of gender
roles
• Encouragement of gender-typed play activities
and household chores.
• Modeling gender-typed behaviors.
or
Parents as shapers of gender
roles
• Baby girls often receive more attention than
baby boys do.
• Baby girls often treated as fragile.
• Girls may be comforted when they cry; boys
may be told that “boys don’t cry.”
• Parents are more protective and restrictive of
girls; boys receive more freedom.
• Boys receive parental encouragement for being
assertive and limiting emotional expression; girls
are rewarded for positively interacting with
others.
Gender Differences in
Socialization
• Gender roles vary by culture but are
changing
• Many societies still expect traditional roles:
– Agenic roles: men are expected to be
assertive and have certain skills
– Communal roles: women are taught to foster
harmonious relationships
Androgyny
• Androgyny: possession of both
masculine and feminine traits
– Androgynous people function
well in social situations
• Sex-typed people:
stereotypically masculine or
feminine
– Females more sensitive to
pieces of info
– Men consider overall themes
Female Sex Roles
• New managerial class of women has forced
marketers to reexamine strategies
• Sporting goods, car accessories, and electronics
products targeted to women
• Example: Burton’s shoots photos of their female
models to make them look strong and empowered
Male Sex Roles
• Masculinism: study of
male image and the
complex cultural
meanings of masculinity
• Three traditional
models of masculinity:
– Breadwinner
– Rebel
– Man-of-action hero
Male Sex Roles (cont.)
• Metrosexual: straight, urban male who
exhibits strong interests and knowledge
regarding fashion, home design, gourmet
cooking, and personal care that run
counter to traditional male sex role
• Prosumers/urban influentials: educated
consumers who are willing and able to
focus attention on their personal
appearance
Do you think that there are gender differences in personality traits?
Why or why not?
How might natural selection account for these gender differences?
DISCUSSION
Schools & educational environment
• Research suggests that girls and boys receive
different treatment in the classroom.
– Teachers call on and encourage boys more.
– Boys who call out answers w/o being recognized aren’t
usually punished, but girls are.
– Teachers tolerate bad behavior in elementary school boys
more than girls.
– Boys are more likely to receive attention, help, and praise
from teachers.
– Teachers give girls more attention when they act
dependently, but give boys more attention for acting
independently or assertively.
– Girls frequently suffer a loss of confidence in their math
and science abilities in middle school years (around
adolescence/puberty).
Television & gender stereotypes
• Men appear as active, intelligent, adventurous,
in charge.
– More emphasis placed on the character’s abilities.
• Women appear as passive, less competent,
more domestic.
– More emphasis placed on the character’s
appearance.
• Television industry is gradually improving
– Better than it was in the 1950s
– Still far from gender-neutral.
Organized religion & gender roles
• Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions
– Emphasis on male supremacy
– God presented as male using language as Father, He, or King.
– Ex: biblical concept of Eve as created from Adam’s rib shows
endorsement that females are secondary to males.
• Leadership of most religious organizations in the U.S. is
mostly male
– No female Protestant clergy until 1970.
– No female rabbis until 1972.
– Roman Catholic church still does not allow female priests.
• There are current movements to change traditional
patriarchal nature of organized religion in U.S.
– More females becoming religious leaders.
– Efforts to reduce sexist language in religious writings (I.e. replace
“God the Father” w/“Creator;” replace “mankind” with “humanity;”
replace “sons of God” w/”children of God.”
Gene Pool
Gene Pool-group of genes in that
population. Each gene contains a number
of alleles.
Alleles-certain gene at a given point on a
chromosome- for each trait-including for
recessive trait.
Bla Bla
Relative Frequency- the number of times an allele
occurs in the gene pool compared with the
numbers of times other allele for the same gene
occurs.
Evolution is any change in the relative frequency of
alleles in the gene pool of a population
-eyes-still no red or pink?
Impact of gender role expectations
on our sexuality
• Women as undersexed, men as oversexed
– Mistaken belief that women don’t want sex or don’t enjoy sex as
much as men.
• Men as initiators, women as recipients
– Idea that men should initiate sex (could be the first time, or even
after years together).
• Men as “sexperts”
– Idea that men know what to do, that they don’t need to ask women,
and that women shouldn’t make suggestions.
• Women as controllers, men as movers
– Especially in adolescent years, women are “supposed” to pay more
attention to regulating “how far the guy gets” than to her own sexual
enjoyment.
• Men as unemotional and strong, women as nurturing and
supportive (“men lust, women love”)
The process of survival
SUMMATION