Psychology in Everyday Life David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall Psychology in Everyday Life Third Edition Chapter 4 Gender and Sexuality Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

The two bell-shaped curves in this graph show the distribution of self-esteem scores for women (red) and men (blue). These are average scores based on all available samples (Hyde, 2005). As you can see, the variation among women or among men is much greater than the difference between the average woman (highest point on red line) and the average man (highest point on blue line.) Figure 4.1 Different? Yes, but not by much David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

Marili Forastieri/Getty Images Throughout childhood, boys and girls are similar in height. At puberty, girls surge ahead briefly, but then boys overtake them at about age 14. (Data from Tanner, 1978.) Recent studies suggest that sexual development and growth spurts are beginning somewhat earlier than was the case a half-century ago (Herman-Giddens et al., 2001). Figure 4.2 Height differences David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

At about age 11 in girls and age 13 in boys, a surge of hormones triggers a variety of physical changes. Figure 4.3 Body changes at puberty David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

Petrenko Andriy/Shutterstock Our sexual motivation is influenced by biological factors, but psychological and social-cultural factors play an even bigger role. Figure 4.4 Levels of analysis for sexual motivation David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

Researcher Ray Blanchard (2008) offered these approximate curves depicting a man’s likelihood of homosexuality as a function of his number of older brothers. This correlation has been found in several studies, but only among right-handed men (as about 9 in 10 men are). Figure 4.5 The fraternal birth-order effect David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

Which of the four figures can be rotated to match the target figure at the top? Straight males tend to find this an easier task than do straight females, with gays and lesbians intermediate. (From Rahman et al., 2003, with 60 people tested in each group.) Figure 4.6 Spatial abilities and sexual orientation David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

Table 4. 1 Biological Correlates of Sexual Orientation David G Table 4.1 Biological Correlates of Sexual Orientation David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers

Table 4. 2 Predict the Responses David G. Myers and C Table 4.2 Predict the Responses David G. Myers and C. Nathan DeWall: Psychology in Everyday Life, Third Edition Copyright © 2014 by Worth Publishers