Week 12 | Day 3 | PSYA02

— Continuing from the last lecture —

Gender Differences in Aggression

• Men more aggressive than woman
  • 7x more likely to commit violent crimes (also more likely to shock people as seen in an experiment)

Gender Differences in Empathy

• Women more empathetic than men
  • More likely to show “considerate” social behaviours (eg. smiling, expressing interest, apologizing)
  • More likely to develop emotionally-supported relationship

Gender Differences in Sex Drive

• Men have higher sex drive. More willing to have casual sex than women
  • If random attractive stranger went up to experiment participant
    • Men: 75% say yes
    • Women: 0% say no
  • How many want multiple partners?
    • Men: 25%
    • Women: 3%
  • Men 6x more likely to use pornography

Origins of Gender Differences

• Explanations for these gender differences:

1. Evolutionary explanation
   • Natural selection favoured gender differences
2. Sociocultural Explanation
   • Social Learning Theory: indicates that children learn gender roles by copying others and seeing what behavior is rewarded or punished
3. Sex double standard as a cultural explanation
4. Evolutionary Explanation For Gender Differences

• Men benefit from aggression; helps men hunt, fight, and defend offspring
• Women benefit from empathy; helps them be better childcare providers
• Women have lower sex drive; be more selective in partners and helps parental investment

1. Sociocultural Explanations For Gender Differences

• Social learning teaches children to conform to gender roles at an early age
  • Men expected to be more aggressive and less nurturing (“man up”/ “boys will be boys”)

1. Sex double standard as a cultural explanation for gender differences

• Men’s casual sex is praised, women are shamed
• Cultures and their amount of gender equality influences sexual activities as well (more gender equality = more likely to have a higher sex drive)

FINAL EXAM INFO

• Scheduled for 2 hours but the duration is actually 90 minutes
• 45 multiple-choice questions (aim for 2 minutes/question)
• Cumulative