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 6x more likely to use pornography
Origins of Gender Differences
- Explanations for these gender differences:
- Evolutionary explanation
- Natural selection favoured gender differences
- Sociocultural Explanation
- Social Learning Theory: indicates that children learn gender roles by copying others and seeing what behavior is rewarded or punished
- Sex double standard as a cultural explanation
- 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
- 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”)
- 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
