Chapter 10 - How gender shapes connection, choice, and care

Marriage

the practice of formalizing a domestic bond between individuals

• has also organized resources, family networks, childcare, and inheritance

Need to belong

a fundamental need for a small number of close relationships offering frequent, positive interactions

• prioritizes quality over quantity of relationships

Social network

the extended circle of people with whom an individual regularly interacts

Frequent contact

___________ with other people alone does not tell us whether a relationships meets belonging needs

stronger relationships

a meta-analysis involving over 300,000 participants linked ______________ with better survival

mortality

Smaller social networks predicted earlier __________, even after accounting for initial health, smoking, and exercise

inner circles

Dunbar - Women and men have similar network sozes overall, but women tended to have more close ties in their ___________

• women also reported more motional availability and support from their networks

Gender role explanation

Friendship activities and intimacy

• Emotional restraint can discourage disclosure.

• Homophobia can restrict male-male closeness.

• These concerns correlated with less disclosure and satisfaction

Measurement explanation

Friendship activities and intimacy

• Disclosure-only measures can miss activity-based closeness.

• Shared activities predicted closeness for young men.

• Shared activity and personal disclosure can occur together.

Homosocial perspective

men may achieve intimacy in cohesive, hierarchical groups with shared goals and activities.

• Affection can coexist with competition; humour can coexist with aggression

larger all-male, two-woman

David-Barrett et al. analyzed over 12,000 Facebook profile pictures across major world regions.

• Men appeared more often in __________ groups; women more often in ___________ photos.

Audience problem

observers assume that platonic friends are romantically involved, especially in cross-sex friendships.

Heterocentrism

_____________ can encourage romantic interpretations of women-men friendships.

Hookups

uncommitted sexual encounters

Friends with benefits

friends have occasional casual sexual interactions without an expected romantic relationship

Chosen families

LGBTQ+ friend circles that can stand in for biological families and offer understanding and support

Passionate friendships

friendships characterized by intense longing for proximity, affection, and substantial physical touch.

Mate preferences

desired qualities in a sexual or romantic partner.

• Both men and women ranked love, dependability, and emotional stability highly

resources, appearance

Long-term mate ratings more often show women prioritizing _________ and men prioritizing __________

attractiveness

Li & Kenrick - Both women and ben prioritized ___________ for short-term partners

Parental investment theory - mate preferences

• Ancestral reproductive investments differ.

• Resources and protection can reduce women's costs.

• Appearance and caregiving can signal reproductive benefits

Sociocultural perspective - mate preferences

• Preferences reflect labour and resource inequalities.

• Economic dependence increases the value of provision.

• Changing roles should change preferred qualities