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Psychology 320: Gender Psychology

Lecture 15

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Invitational Office Hour Invitations, by Student Number for October 22nd 11:30-12:30, 3:30-4:30 Kenny 2517

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Exam Preparation Tips

• The exam will include questions unique to the textbook content, questions unique to the lecture content, and questions that reflect overlap between the two sources of information. You are encouraged to study both sources of information thoroughly.

• The goal of the exam is to assess your mastery of thecourse content. Accordingly, the more thoroughly you know the course content, the stronger your performance will be.

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Identify the primary points of each section with key words or phrases and use these key words or

phrases to test yourself.

• With respect to the textbook:

Familiarize yourself with all terms that are bolded or italicized.

Create questions with the title and subtitles of each section. Use the content of each section to answer the questions that you have generated.

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• You need not memorize the names of researchers who conducted idiosyncratic studies or the dates of those studies. However, you should familiarize

yourself with the names of all major theorists (e.g., Bem).

• The exam questions will assess your ability to recall, synthesize, and apply course content. Examples:

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Recall:

Which of the following is not among the attributes associated with the Cult of True Womanhood?

a) Purity.b) Submissiveness.c) Domesticity.d) Piety.e) Emotionality.

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Synthesize:

Compare and contrast traditional sexism, modern sexism, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism.

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Apply:

a) The desire for fatty foods.b) Bipedalism (i.e., having two feet, walking upright).c) Earlobes.d) The desire to belong to social groups.e) Hair.

Which of the following human characteristics is least likely to have evolved through the process of natural selection?

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• In order to correctly respond to questions that require synthesis and application, recall of information is

necessary. The correlation between recall questions and synthesis/application questions typically exceeds .70.

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One-Minute Paper Results (Sections 001 and 002 Combined)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Hostile Sexism Benevolent Sexism Discrimination

FemalesMales

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Words to Describe How Your Experiences Made You Feel

Surprised

Repulsed

Awkward

Uneasy

Alone

Humiliated

Contemptuous

Embarrassed

Offended

Hopeless

Expendable

Angry

Lazy

Weak

Anxious

FrustratedSuperior

IndifferentCherished

Protected

Vulnerable

Privileged

Depressed

Small

Challenged

Incapable

Violated

Feeble

Belittled

Disgusted

Abused

Misunderstood

Sad

Confused

Powerless

SpecialCared for

Helpless

Frightened

Frightened

Inferior

Degraded

Indebted

Loved

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Biological Theories of Gender Differences

1. What biological theories have been proposed to explain gender differences? (continued)

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. distinguish between natural selection, sexual selection, intrasexual selection, and intersexual selection.

2. generate examples of characteristics that are the product of distinct forms of selection.

3. discuss sex differences in reproductive capacity and minimal parental investment and their impact on

psychological processes.

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What biological theories have been proposed to explain gender differences? (continued)

1. Evolutionary Theories (continued)

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(b) Intersexual selection

Occurs when organisms of one sex prefer to mate with organisms of the opposite sex that possess

specific, desirable characteristics.

Organisms that possess characteristics that are desirable to the opposite sex are more likely to mate and to pass these characteristics on to the next generation.

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Evolutionary explanations of gender differences emphasize sex differences in reproductive capacity

and the minimal parental investment that is required to produce offspring.

Reproductive capacity: Males > Females.

Minimal parental investment: Females > Males.

Biologists have come to believe that natural selection and sexual selection operate through differential gene reproduction.

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Given sex differences in reproductive capacity and minimal parental investment, evolutionary

psychologists maintain that males and females have developed distinct strategies to maximize their

reproductive potential.

In turn, these distinct strategies have resulted in divergent psychological characteristics among males and females.

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Example 1: Gender Differences in Sexual Behaviour

Hypothesis:

Given sex differences in reproductive capacity and minimal parental investment, males have evolved to seek more sexual partners than females and are less discriminating in their choice of sexual partners than females.

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Evidence:

Had confederates approach students of the opposite sex on campus.

After saying “Hi, I’ve been noticing you around campus lately and I find you very attractive,” the confederates asked the students 1 of 3 questions:

Clark and Hatfield (1984)

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“Would you go out on a date with me tonight?”

“Would you go back to my apartment with me tonight?”

“Would you have sex with me tonight?”

Percent Who Agreed

Male Female

50 55

69 6

75 0

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Buss and Schmitt (1993)

Asked unmarried male and female participants how many sex partners they would like to have in the next month, the next year, the next 5 years, and so forth, through to the end of their lives.

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Desired Number

of Partners

15

20

0

5

10

Time (Years) 1 2 3 4 5 10 20 Life

Females

Males

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Example 2: Gender Differences in Mate Preferences

Hypothesis:

Given sex differences in reproductive capacity and minimal parental investment, males have evolved to value appearance in a mate more than females, and females have evolved to value resource potential in a mate more than males.

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Evidence:

Had participants rate several characteristics for desirability in a potential mate: 0=irrelevant, 3=indispensable.

Buss and Angleitner (1989; see also Buss et al., 2005)

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Pleasing disposition

Sociability

Neatness

Mean Rating

Male Female

2.54 2.69

2.10 2.32

1.95 1.90

Dependability 2.54 2.77

Good looks 2.10 1.68

Good financial prospects 1.11 2.03

Ambition and industriousness 1.84 2.46

2.17 2.17Good health

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Biological Theories of Gender Differences

1. What biological theories have been proposed to explain gender differences? (continued)