Psychology 101: General  Chapter 4 Gender and Sexuality Instructor: Mark Vachon

Gender Differences  Aggression:  Men: physical aggression  Women: relational aggression  Social Power:  Men more likely to offer opinions: directive  Women more likely to offer support: democratic  Social Connectedness:  Men are more independent  Women are more interdependent

Nature of Our Gender  At 5 weeks:  Gonads develop  No physical differentiation  At 7 weeks:  Chromosome Y:  Testosterone released  Chromosome X:  No testosterone released  4 th and 6 th month:  Sex hormones in fetal brain support female or male wiring

Intersex  Infants born with ambiguous sex characteristics  The cure (until recently):  Surgery to make infant more clearly one sex or another  Sometimes in opposition to chromosomal sex Is nature or nurture more important in gender identity as a male or female?

Nurture of Our Gender  Gender: Roles and characteristics that a culture expects from those defined as male and female  Gender Role: a set of expected behaviors for males or females  Gender Identity: our sense of being male or female

Two Theories of Gender Typing  Social Learning Theory  Observation and imitation of models  Behavior shaped by rewards and punishment  Gender Typing  More than imitation is involved  Children gravitate toward what feels right  Gender Schemas  Schemas are mental concepts that help you make sense of things  Age 2: Gender labels emerge  Age 3: Children seek out same-sex playmates activities  Ages 5 to 6: Rigid gender stereotype peak

Hormones and Sexual Behavior  Sex Hormones:  Female: estrogens  Male: testosterone  Female hormone levels affect sexual behavior  Male hormones vary all the time and in response to stimulation.  Large shifts in hormones affect desire for sex  Puberty  Menopause  Surgery or drugs

Teen Pregnancy  What contributes to Teen Pregnancy?  Lack of self control  Minimum communication about birth control  Alcohol use  TV and movies model unsafe sex.  What predicts self-restraint?  High intelligence  Religious engagement  Father’s presence  Service learning programs

Psychology of Sex  Hormones are fuel, but stimuli turn on the engine  External stimuli  Men and women report same level of arousal to erotic material  With repeated exposure, emotional response weakens  Attractive man/women can mean partner less attractive  Pornography can diminish satisfaction with sex life  Internal Stimuli  Brain is most important sexual organ

Sexual Orientation  3-4% men, 1-2% women homosexual Is a person’s attraction and affection for members of same or opposite sex learned or biological?  No environmental evidence for homosexuality so far  Biological evidence:  Same sex attraction in other species  Brain anatomy: Differences in size of hypothalamus  Genetics: Twin studies  Consistent characteristics as children

Evolutionary Psychology and Sex How would natural selection cause a difference in male vs. female sexual behaviors?  Males send their genes into the future by mating with multiple females: lower costs involved  Males look for youthful appearing females  Females select one mature and caring male because of the higher costs involved with pregnancy and nursing  Females look for maturity, dominance, affluence, and boldness in males