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What explains our gender diversity?
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Is biology destiny?
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Are we shaped by our cultures?
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Is the answer an interplay of biology, culture,
as they fuse during development?
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In domains where men and women have faced
similar challenges: regulating heat with sweat,
developing tastes that nourish, growing
callouses where the skin meets friction, the
sexes are similar. Even when describing the
ideal mate both men and women put traits
such as “kind”, “honest”, and “intelligent” at
the top of their lists. But in domains pertinent
to mating, evolutionary psychologists contend
that regardless of species, guys tend to act like
guys.
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X chromosome is the sex chromosome found in
men and women.
Y chromosome is the sex chromosome found
only in men. When paired with an X it
produces a male child.
Testosterone: most important male sex
hormone. Found in both sexes, but add’l
testosterone in men facilitates growth of sex
organs.
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When it comes to sex roles is it nature or
nurture, or both?
Gender role: a set of expected behaviors for
males or females
In the US, employed men spend 1 ½ hours
more per day at the job than employed women
who statistically spend that time caregiving.
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About 90% of the time in 2 parent families in
the US, when a parent stays home with a sick
child, calls for a babysitter, or calls the doctor..it
is the mother calling.
Gender ideas do differ across cultures…is
anyone here comfortable sharing anything that
culture has dictated regarding gender roles in
their lives?
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Albert Bandura is the person most commonly
associated with Social Learning Theory.
Assumes that children learn gender-linked
behavior by observing and imitating and being
rewarded or punished.
Think of some examples