Chapter 4:
Nature, Nurture,
and Human
Diversity
Jen Lubelchek
Period 6
Sweets are a biological
aspect of taste that humans
prefer
At 8 months we begin to fear strangers
3 universal behaviors of
EATING
humans
DANCING
DRINKING
Define behavior genetics
Behavior
genetics: the study of the
relative power and limits of genetic and
environmental influences on behavior.
Define environment
Environment:
every nongenetic influence,
from prenatal nutrition to the people and
things around us.
“Thanks for almost everything
Dad”: A child receives genes
from their parents
Every cell nucleus contains the
genetic master code for one’s
entire body
Define DNA
DNA: a complex
molecule
containing the
genetic
information that
makes up the
chromosomes
Define chromosome
Chromosome:
threadlike
structures
made of DNA
molecules that
contain the
genes
Define genome
Genome: the
complete
instructions for
making an
organism,
consisting of all the
genetic material in
that organism’s
chromosomes
Everybody in the world can have similar
genetics because we all come from the same
two people
Define identical twins
Identical
twins: twins who develop from a
single fertilized egg that splits in two,
creating two genetically identical
organisms
Define fraternal twins
Fraternal twins: twins
who develop from
separate fertilized
eggs. They are
genetically no closer
than brothers and
sisters, but they share
a fetal environment
Identical vs. Fraternal twins
Fraternal twins are not any
more similar than ordinary
brother and sister
Identical twins have a greater chance
of getting the same disease as their
twin than fraternal twins do
Matt McGue and David Lykken (1992)
study on divorce rates among 1500
same-sex, middle-aged twin pairs:
Identical
twins have a greater chance to
divorce if their twin has divorced than
fraternal twins.
This shows that genetics play a big role
because identical twins have more
similarities than fraternal twins
Genes matter when explaining
individual differences
Explain 3 similarities between
Jim Lewis and Jim Springer?
Jim Lewis and Jim Springer were virtually
the same person when it came to their
intelligence, heart rate, and personalities
3 similarities between Oskar
Stohr and Jack Yufe
They were raised in different environments,
but they both flushed the toilet before using it,
dipped their buttered toast in their coffee,
and liked spicy foods
This demonstrates how vital genes are in
determining the person that will be. Although
these twins were raised in different
environments, their genetics played a huge
role in showing their similarities
Bouchard’s quote, “In some domains it looks as though
our identical twins reared apart are… just as similar as
identical twins reared together. Now that’s an amazing
finding and I can assure you none of us would have
expected that degree of similarity.”
This
quote demonstrates the power of
nature
Bouchard’s critics theory
Data
is anecdotal
Similarities tend to be common
Twin study results give us a
greater appreciation for
nature
Identical
twins have the exact same
genes and help the psychology
community learn the great power of our
genetics and true nature
Difference between genetic
and environmental relatives:
Genetic
relatives are our parents and
siblings
Environmental relatives are adoptive
parents and siblings
Common Genetic Traits:
EXTRAVERSION
AGREEABLENESS
Environment impacts
personality
5 ways parents impact their
children
Attitudes
Values
Manners
Faith
Politics
“Mom may be holding a full house while Dad
has a straight flush, yet when Junior gets a
random half of each of their cards his poker
hand may be a loser.”
This
quote is questioning if things are
predestined to happen to people
Quote by David Lykken
adopted children thrive for
two reason:
No
Child neglect
Parent divorce is rare
children benefits from adoption
7/8
adopted children report strong
attachment to adopted parents
Adopted children tend to be more
altruistic than average
Adopted children grow into happier
adults
Define temperament
Temperament:
a person’s characteristic
emotional reactivity and intensity
Easy vs. Difficult Babies
Temperament persists over
time.
1 piece of evidence that adds to the
emerging conclusion that our biologically
rooted temperament helps form our enduring
personality:
An
impulsive 3 year old becomes a
conflicted 21 year old
Temperament and personality are linked
Define heritability
Heritability:
a portion of variation among
individuals that we can attribute to genes.
The heritability of a trait may vary,
depending on the range of populations
and environments studied.
Heritability and Environment
If
environments were all similar, heritability
would increase.
When environments drastically differ
heritability decreases
Self regulating genes
Self
regulating genes: the concept that
genes react different to experiences
Eating Disorderes
Eating
disorders are a western
phenomenon
Also, some people may be genetically
predisposed to eating disorders
Define gene- environment
interaction:
Gene
environment interaction: the
interplay between environment and
heredity
“Heredity deals the cards;
environment plays the hand.”
Life
allows you, through hard work, to
change your cards
Environment plays a big role in expressing
one’s genes
nature versus nurture
NATURE
VIA NURTURE
The two work together
Define molecular genetics
Molecular
genetics: the subfield of
biology that studies the function of genes
goal of molecular behavior
genetics:
To
find human traits such as body weight
There are “missing women” in
India and China
In
China and India couples often abort
their daughters because when a woman
marries she has to give a cash gift to the
husband from the parent
Some couples would rather have sons in
order to save money, and when the son
begins to work they will give their parents
money
Define evolutionary
psychology
Evolutionary
psychology: the study of how
our behavior and mind have changed in
adaptive ways over time using principles
of natural selection
Define natural- selection
Natural
Selection: the adaptive process;
among the range of inherited trait
variations, those that lead to increased
reproduction and survival will most likely
be passed on to succeeding generations
CHARLES DARWIN
Belyeav and Trut’s study on
foxes
Foxes
were wild. Researchers picked
tamest foxes, had them mate over 40
years and the foxes became
domesticated
Trait Selection
When
certain traits are selected, they will
prevail over time
Define mutation
Mutation:
random error in gene
replication that leads to change
Culture Similarities
There
are very similar emotions when
people greet each other at the airport
The emotions and greetings shown are far
more similar than different
Lewontin’s study on genetic
diversity:
As
humans we tend to be very similar
In a world wide catastrophe the human
species would suffer only
Predisposed to love sweets
and fats
Western cultures
A
love for sweets and fats has led to the
obesity epidemic
Industrial Revolution (mass
production)
We
are biologically prepared for a world
than no longer exists
Our world is constantly changing, and we
are not prepared for the changes
Darwin: no doubts
No
scientists currently believe that Darwin
was wrong in his theories
Natural Selection
Evolutionary psychologists’
questions:
Why
do humans share some universal
things?
How are men and woman alike?
Men vs. Woman
Largest
difference between men and
woman: males are more likely to initiate
sexual activity
Pryor’s study
Study
on college students attitudes
towards casual sex
60% of men and 35% of woman believe in
the idea of casual sex
Fischstein’s study
Study
on the sexual thoughts of
Canadians
Men think about sex 5:1 compared to
women
Gay men vs. Lesbian woman
Gay
men have a more interest in
uncommitted sex
Gay men are more responsive to sexual
stimuli
Gay men are more concerned with
physical attractiveness
Clark and Hatfield’s study
Difference
between men and women’s
attitudes towards casual sex
No women accepted causal sex in this
study
¾ of men were fine with having casual sex
Illusory correlation
When
men perceive friendliness as a
come on it leads to more sexual
harassment and date rape
Men vs. Women’s approach
to sex
A
woman’s approach is relational
A man’s approach is recreational
4 characteristics that men find
attractive irrespective of
culture
Youthful
appearance
Clear and smooth skin
A woman that is fertile
Youthful appearance
Men’s universal attraction to
waists and hips
Men
feel most attracted to women whose
waist is roughly 1/3 narrower than their
hips
Men’s attraction to women at
different ages
At
13, a boy would be most attracted to a
girl is 16 or 18
At 25, a man would be most attracted to
a woman around their age
At 50, a man would be most attracted to
a younger woman
4 characteristics that woman
are attracted to in men
Mature
Dominant
Bold
Affluent
Women prefer long term mates
They
invest in their joint offspring
Woman prefer long term mates
Roney’s study
Study
on women and baby pictures
When men enjoy looking at baby
pictures most women rate them at a
higher chance of a long term mate
Critiques of evolutionary
psychology:
Often
works backwards to propose an
explanation
Doesn’t take environment into
consideration
Rats that were raised in a communal
playground in terms of their brain
development:
A
significant development in cerebral
cortex in a good environment rather than
an improvised environment
Kolb and Whishaw
Kolb
and Whishaw discovered that the
rat’s brain weight increased by 7 to 10
percent and the number of synapses
mushroomed by about 20% when in the
comparison of being raised in a good
verses bad environment
Explanation of Fields study on
premature babies
Fields
study on premature babies: touch is
absolutely essential for development,
massaging a premature baby makes it
grow
Pruning process
Pruning
Process is unused neural
pathways weaken
Used neural pathways become strong
Critical Period for Language
It
is critical that people learn language
prior to adolescence
During toddlerhood a child should be
learning a language because one will
never master a language after
adolescence
Brains role in terms of
maturation
The
brain’s rule is use it or lose it
Plasticity
Plasticity:
the brain’s ability to change,
especially during childhood, by
reorganizing after damage or by building
new pathways based on experience.
Family impacts..
Political
attitudes
Religious beliefs
Personal mates
Vietnam and Cambodia
Vietnam
and Cambodia have
remarkable academic success because
they have close knit, demanding families
that are supportive towards their kids
“If you want to blame your parents for your own adult
problems, you are entitled to blame the genes they
gave you, but you are not entitled—by any facts I
know—to blame the way they treated you…. We are
not prisoners of our past.”
PERSONAL
RESPONSIBILITY
One can not blame every aspect on their
genetics
Developmental psychologist Sandra
Scarr
Many
parents try to mold their child into a
version of themselves
Scarr would give these parents the advice
that they need to accept their kids for
who they are and let them become their
own person
selection effect
When
it comes to smoking, kids seek out
peers with similar attitudes and interests
When kids smoke, they usually seek out
other people that they can smoke with
“Men resemble the times more
than they resemble their fathers.”
This
demonstrates the power of
environment
We tend to be like our surroundings
Howard Gardener’s Ideas
6
ways parents are more influential than
teens: education, discipline, responsibility,
orderliness, charitableness, interacting
with authority figures
3 ways teens are more influential than
parents: learning cooperation, for finding
road to popularity, for inventing styles of
interaction among people of the same
age
“It takes a village to raise a
child.”
This
quote means that parents and peers
both play a big role in the development
of a child
nature
Natures
greatest gift to us is our ability to
learn and adapt
Define culture
Culture:
the enduring behaviors, ideas,
attitudes, and traditions shared by a
group of people and transmitted from
one generation to the next
Baumeister
He
believes that human nature is
designed for culture
This is because we are said to be social
animals
We travel in packs usually
Cultural Diversity
Cultural
diversity is more relevant to Los
Angeles than Japan
Cultural Differences
In
India and Japan people think does are
for the outside and should not be worn
inside
This is a cultural difference between the
US and India and Japan
Define Norm
Norm:
a understood rule for accepted
behavior
Examples: When someone sneezes
another person says, “Bless You” or when
someone is around you, you hold the
door open for them
Personal Space
Personal
space: the bufferzone we
maintain around our bodies
Mexican and Canadian personal spaces
differ
Mediterranean Countries
Someone
from a Mediterranean country is
more likely to be late for an appointment
than a person from Northern Europe
Culture Shocks
The
two greatest culture shocks are the
different paces of life and peoples
differing sense of punctuality for peace
corps volunteers
Conveniences of modern
times
AC
AIRPLANES
EMAIL
Individualist culture
Individualist
culture: give priority to one’s
own goals over group goals
Collectivist Culture
Collectivist
culture: give priority to the
groups goals over onself
Individualist Cultures
Individualist
cultures come from North
America and Western Europe
They strive for personal control and
individual achievement
Collectivist society
Korean
society is an example of a
collectivist society
They do things for each other and do not
strive for personal achievement
collectivist culture
DEEPER
ATTATCHMENT TO THE FAMILY
SENSE OF BELONGING
SET OF VALUES
Individualist culture
MORE
SELF CONTAINED
MORE LIKELY TO OR CAN SWITCH TEMPLE
OR CHURCHES
CAN SWITCH JOBS
CAN MOVE TO ANOTHER PLACE
Difference in attribution in winning
There
is a difference in attribution in
winning between an American athlete
compared to a Japanese athelte
Americans often use the word “I”
Japanese often use the word “We”
Table 4.1
Western Cultures
Westernized
student are more inclined to
be independent rather than comply to
authority
Concept of Family Self
Family
self: a feeling that what shames the
child shames the family, and what brings
honor to the family brings honor to self
Define gender
Gender:
in psychology, the biologically
and socially influenced characteristics y
which people define male and female
Chromosomes in Men and
Women
One
chromosome out of 46 determines
your sex
This proves that men and women are
more similar than different
Men vs. Women
Women
enter puberty earlier, women live
5 years longer, are 5 inches shorter, have
40% less muscle than men
Differences that men and women
fall victim to
Woman
have greater sense of smell, they
express their emotions more freely,
woman are offered help more often
Men are more fall victim to ADHD, color
blindness, and antisocial disorder
Define aggression
Aggression:
any physical or verbal
behavior intended to hurt someone
relational aggression
Relational
aggression: this is aggression
like excluding someone
Physical aggression
Physical
aggression: hitting someone
Aggression in Dating
It
is likely for both male and female to hurt
someone in a dating relationship
When domestic violence gets worse, it is
usually because of the male
Traditional Men
Hunting,
fighting, warring are three
traditional male activities
Men are more likely to support war
Men and Woman Perceptions
Men
are perceived as dominant, forceful,
independent
Woman are perceived as deferential,
nurturing and easier to get a long with
Importance for Men
Men
place more importance on power
and achievement around the world than
woman do
Men and Jobs
Men
usually get higher salary for the same
job as a woman
Carol Gilligan
Carol
Gilligan believes men are more
concerned as being individuals and
woman are more concerned with making
connections
Groups
Boys
play in larger groups
Girls play in smaller groups
Boys tend to be more
competitive
Male answer syndrome
Male
answer syndrome: men tend to
make up an answer if they don’t know
the answer to a question
Activities that Woman Engage
More in than Men
Girls
spend more time with friend as teens
Send more time on facebook
Woman take more pleasure in talking
face to face
They use conversation to explore
relationships
Who talks more?
Men
and woman talk an equal amount
Who did woman feel closer to;
their mother or father?
90%
of women feel closer to their mother
Why people turn to women
more often:
Women
tend to be more intimate,
enjoyable, and nurturing
Tend and Befriend
Tend
and befriend: when men are in a
stressful situation they isolate themselves
and women look to each other for
support
Women
Women
are more likely to be spiritual
Men and Woman Changing
Over Time
Men
become more empathetic as they
get older
Woman become more dominant as they
get older
Evolutionary Psychologists
Evolutionary
psychologists believe that
men act like men because of sex
hormones
You cannot tell the sex at 7
weeks
At
seven weeks we are indistinguishable
from the other sex
Define x chromosome
X
chromosome: sex chromosome found in
both men and woman, females have 2
and men have 1. 2:1
Define y chromosome
Y
chromosome: sex chromosome found in
only males, and x and y makes a man
Define testosterone
Testosterone:
sex hormones
most important in the male
Advantages in men and
women
Men:
parietal lobe is thicker (gives them
advantage in sports)
Women: the frontal lobe is thicker (word
fluency, word recognition)
Excess Testosterone in Females
When
females get excess testosterone in
the womb the genetically female infants
are born with masculine appearing
genitals, act more aggressive or dress like
a tomboy
Brenda Reimer
Brenda
Reimer lost his penis the parents
raised him as a girl rather than a
damaged boy, he married a girl and
killed himself later
Define role
Role:
a set of expectations about a social
position
Define gender roles
Gender
roles: expected behaviors from
male and female
Gender Roles outside of the House
Men
work about 1 and half more and
woman work on the family for an hour a
day more
Gender Equity
There
is gender equity in Norway, Findland
and Australia
Decades for Women’s Rights
1960’s
and 1970’s the % of women who
enter college doubled
Good time for woman’s rights
Immigrants and Gender Roles
A
girl who immigrates to American could
be morally torn in America because
children can feel torn between the
competing set of gender role norms
presented by peers and parents
Define gender identity
Gender
Identity: our sense of being male
or female
Define gender typing
Gender
typing: the acquisition of a
traditional masculine or feminine role
Define social learning theory
Social
learning theory: we learn social
behavior through rewards and
punishments
Define schema
Schema:
a concept that helps you make
sense of your world (they are constantly
getting redefined)
Define gender schema
Gender
schema: how you interpret the
world through the male or female lens
Concept of being a gender
detective
Gender
Detective: we pick up on
everyday social ques
Figure 4.8
