social psych: 9/17/26 lecture

WEIRD Societies

• Much of the research done on westerns are mostly college students enrolled in psychology that they have to be enrolled in and are forced to take surveys. (Does not represent society as a whole)

• Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic  societies

• Only 7% of the world population gets a college degree

• A 2008 survey found that 96% of people in these studies are in WEIRD societies which ONLY represents 12% of the world population

Global statistics of populations

• 60% of earth's population comes from asian countries

• 33% of the earths population identifies as christian (⅓)

Gender

• The picture of FDR.. he was dressed like a girl (to us) but he is a boy and at the time his culture was this 

• Now we have more flexibility on how we can see gender

• Associate clothes, hair, facial features, etc to being feminine or masculine

• Gender varies from culture to culture

David Reimer

• Born as identical twin boy (Bruce)

• His mother took them for a circumcision and he went first before his brother. The tool overheated and completely burned his genitals off. The mom didn't have the other son do it

• The husband and wife consulted a doctor and he recommended that they raise the child as a girl. So they did her name was brenda

• But she never did identify as a girl. She wanted to play with boy toys, didn't care for dresses, peed standing up

• They wanted her to get more surgeries and he said no if you do im going to end my life

• So he decided he wanted to live as a man (David) he didn't want to be bruce, he wanted a fresh start

• He ended up committing suicide because his wife wanted to leave him

• He felt like an IT

Kayla to Kaden

• Biologically a girl

• The news reporter says… 11 years old is quite young to know who you like

Genes influencing…

• Temperament (what temper we have)

• Anxiety… anxiety can run in a family (Ethan worrying about bad men… her nephew…)

• Depression

• Aggressiveness

• GENE EXPRESSION

Epigenetics

• heritable changes in gene activity and expression without alteration in DNA sequence

• Determines what genes turn on or off

• Environment that we expose ourselves too determines what genes we get

Rachael Yehuda on epigenetics of trauma

• Her parents survived the holocaust but rarely mentioned it

• Despite her comfortable upbringing here in the US, she was confused why she was struggling with anxiety, she tied it to her genetics

• She experienced the after effects of her parents trauma

• The gene FKBP5 is what they looked at. Not a change in the gene itself but a chemical change that is attached to it

• 2 generations later they still see the effects of the famine