Gender Norms and Biological Differences

Norms

• There is a social norm in sororities for binge eating, with women who engage in the average amount of binge eating being the most popular.
• Similar norms regarding drinking behavior are suspected in fraternities.
• The generic use of "he" has been a norm for a long time, but research shows it can be misleading.
• Use of the generic "he" has negative impacts on women's comprehension and recall of written material.
• The American Psychological Association has forbidden sexist language in publications.

Biology vs. Environment in Gender Differences

• Men have historically been viewed as the norm in medicine and psychology.
• Studies show that men are more likely to seek physical attractiveness in a mate, while women seek wealth and social status.
• More differences exist between cultures than between genders.
• It is premature to attribute gender differences solely to genetics.
• The "file drawer problem" exists, where studies reporting gender similarity are less likely to be published.
• Numerous studies have revealed more similarities than differences between genders.

Morality

• Men and women differ in their approach to morality, with men demonstrating more independence and women showing more connectedness.

Spatial Ability

• Some studies suggest that men may demonstrate superior spatial ability due to higher testosterone levels during prenatal development.
• More compelling explanations for differences in spatial ability are environmental.

Math Ability

• Gender differences in math ability do not emerge until adolescence, and they have been declining in recent years, implying that biology alone cannot explain the differences.
• Environmental factors, such as the number of math classes taken, play a significant role.
• Stereotype threat can negatively affect women's performance on math tests.

Verbal Ability

• Girls are generally encouraged to be more verbally expressive.
• Mothers rate their daughters higher in reading than sons, even when there is no observed gender difference in performance.

Conformity

• In ambiguous situations, individuals tend to rely on social reality as a source of information.
• Social reality can be just as impactful on behavior as physical reality.
• The autokinetic effect study (Sherif) demonstrates private acceptance, where individuals truly believe the group's judgments.
• The line study (Asch) demonstrates public compliance, where individuals conform to the group's opinion but do not personally believe it.
• Normative social pressure leads to conformity because individuals fear rejection or punishment for deviating from group norms.

Culture and Norms

• Culture: The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people, passed down across generations.
• Norms: Shared expectations or rules for behavior in social settings.
• Personal space: Cultural norms influence expectations of personal space, varying dramatically across cultures.
• Gender norms: Norms also vary significantly between genders, often influenced by cultural expectations, such as acceptable behaviors (e.g., makeup for men vs. spitting for women).

Sex vs. Gender

• Sex: A biological category determined by genetics, anatomy, and reproductive function. All mammals are categorized as either male or female.
• Gender: Social characteristics defining female and male, shaped by cultural interpretations of biological sex. All cultures recognize biological differences and use them for social differentiation.

Crandall's study on binge eating

• Crandall investigated binge eating norms among sororities.
• Sororities are influential groups in some college women's lives.
• Body shape and appearance play a significant role in sorority culture, impacting eating and dieting behaviors.
• Sororities develop norms for eating, and deviations from these norms can lead to social rejection.

Evolutionary Perspective on Mating Preferences

• Parental investment theory posits that the sex investing more heavily in offspring (generally women) will be more selective in mate choices.
• Father's involvement is crucial for offspring survival, particularly in early development.
• Societal constraints discourage women from initiating sex.
• Buss's cross-cultural research found men prefer physically attractive mates while women desire wealth and social status.
• Cultural differences played a larger role than gender differences in mate preferences across different cultures.
• The link between physical attractiveness and fertility is not always certain.

The File Drawer Problem: Bias in Research

• File Drawer Problem: Studies finding gender similarities often go unpublished and end up in researcher's files, leading to a publication bias towards gender differences.

Gender Differences: Nature vs. Nurture

• Nature vs. Nurture: Debating the influence of biology (nature, genes) versus environment (nurture, culture) in causing gender differences.
• Morality: Gilligan's theory suggests women base moral decisions on compassion and care, while men use abstract principles of justice. However, research does not support this theory.

Aggression: Gender Differences

• Aggression: Males tend to be more physically aggressive than females in many cultures, both in childhood and adulthood.

• Social and legal implications: Men are arrested for violent crimes more often than women.

• Gender differences in aggression: Women express greater guilt about aggression, which may act as an inhibition.

• Contextual factors: Gender differences in aggression disappear when the act is perceived as justified and when the victim is unknown.

• Verbal Aggression: Gender differences in verbal aggression are less pronounced.

• Explanations of Gender Differences in Aggression:*

• Biology: Prenatal exposure to androgens (male sex hormones) potentially influences aggression.

• Environment: Parental interaction styles (rough play) and societal expectations for boys and girls can shape aggression.

Conformity and Compliance

• Conformity: Changing behavior or beliefs due to real or imagined group pressure.
• Compliance: Acting in accord with group pressure without genuine belief.
• Acceptance: Genuinely accepting the group's influence.

Sherif: Autokinetic Effect

• Sherif's study used the autokinetic effect (illusory movement of a light in a dark room) to investigate conformity.
• Participants' judgments of light movement converged when they were in a group, illustrating conformity.

Asch: Line Length Experiment

• Asch's research involved an unambiguous task (judging line length) with confederates providing incorrect answers.
• Participants conformed to the group's incorrect answers, demonstrating conformity even on unambiguous tasks.

Factors that influence conformity

• Group Size: Conformity rises with up to five members but levels off further.
• Ambiguity: Higher ambiguity increases conformity, but conformity can still occur in unambiguous situations.
• Group Status: Groups with higher status exert stronger conformity pressures.
• Presence of Dissenters: Conformity declines when one or more members dissent from the group.
• Individual and Cultural Differences: Some evidence suggests women may conform more, but current research doesn't support it.
• Western Cultures tend to conform less compared to Eastern cultures.

The Deviant's Fate

• Group Responses to Dissent: Groups may reject, ignore, or assign undesirable tasks to deviants who disagree.

Power Sources for Conformity

• Coercive Power: The ability to threaten or punish for non-compliance (e.g., parents, government).
• Reward Power: Providing positive reinforcement for change (e.g., parents, social groups).
• Legitimate Power: Power derived from position or role (e.g., juries, professors).
• Expert Power: Power based on perceived knowledge or expertise (e.g., medical doctors).
• Referent Power: Power stemming from admiration or liking (e.g., significant others).

Conformity vs. Contagion

• Contagion: Observing someone else's behavior influences you to behave similarly, even if you are already motivated to do so.
• The LA Riots: Looting served as a catalyst for more looting, demonstrating contagion.
• Steps Required for Contagion:
  • Motivation to perform the behavior
  • Knowledge of how to perform the behavior
  • Observing a model performing the behavior
  • Performing the behavior.
• Stop sign violation: Observing someone run a stop sign increases the likelihood of the observer doing the same.

Persuasion

• Persuasion is the process of changing beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors through a message.
• Petty and Cacioppo's Elaboration Likelihood Model proposes two routes to persuasion: central and peripheral.

Central Route to Persuasion

• This route is more effective when people are motivated and able to think critically about an issue.
• Strong arguments are essential for persuasion to occur through the central route.
• The central route involves systematic, analytical, thoughtful, and non-superficial processing.
• Persuasion via the central route is durable and takes longer to occur.

Peripheral Route to Persuasion

• This route is more effective when people are distracted, uninvolved, or busy.
• Persuasion through the peripheral route relies on creating feelings rather than strong arguments.
• Heuristics, incidental cues, emotions, and quick judgments are key elements of the peripheral route.

Who?

• The credibility of the communicator is crucial in persuasion.
• Believability is important, and the "sleeper effect" suggests that credibility can increase over time.
• Perceived expertise is enhanced by speaking confidently.
• Perceived trustworthiness is influenced by eye contact, arguing against one's self-interest, and speaking quickly.
• Attractiveness and liking play a role, including physical attractiveness and similarity.

Says What?

• The persuasive message itself is critical.
• Using reason or emotion depends on the context.
• Good feelings can enhance persuasion.
• Arousing fear can be effective but requires a clear message and a solution.
• Message discrepancy can be influential, but it depends on the communicator's credibility.

One-Sided versus Two-Sided Appeals

• The effectiveness of one-sided versus two-sided appeals depends on the audience's agreement, awareness of opposing arguments, and likelihood to consider the opposition later.

Primacy versus Recency

• Primacy effect: Information presented first has more influence.
• Recency effect: Information presented last sometimes has more influence, but this is less common than the primacy effect.

By What Means?

• Active experience strengthens attitudes more than passive reception.
• Repetition and rhyming of a statement can increase fluency and believability.
• Media influence often occurs through opinion leaders.
• More lifelike media are generally more persuasive.

To Whom?

• Age plays a role in persuasion.
• The life cycle explanation suggests that attitudes change with age.
• The generational explanation suggests that attitudes remain consistent throughout life.
• Involvement is crucial for persuasion to be successful.

What are they thinking?

• Forewarned is forearmed: People who are aware of persuasive attempts are more likely to counterargue.
• Distraction can hinder counterarguing, allowing for persuasion to occur more easily.
• Uninvolved audiences often rely on peripheral cues.
• To stimulate thinking, use rhetorical questions, present multiple speakers, make people feel responsible, repeat the message, and get people's focused attention.

Extreme Persuasion: How Do Cults Indoctrinate?

• Cults are groups characterized by distinctive rituals, beliefs centered around a god or person, isolation from other cultures, and a charismatic leader.
• Attitudes often follow behavior.
• Compliance breeds acceptance: Initiates become active members, increasing their commitment.
• The foot-in-the-door phenomenon involves gradual induction into the group.
• Persuasive elements such as the communicator, message, and audience contribute to indoctrination.
• Group effects, such as social implosion, play a role in isolating members and strengthening the group's influence.

How Can Persuasion Be Resisted?

• Strengthening personal commitment through critical thinking and developing counterarguments can help resist persuasion.
• Attitude inoculation involves exposing people to weak attacks on their beliefs so they can better counter stronger attacks in the future.
• Real-life applications include inoculating children against peer pressure and the influence of advertising.
• Prepare others to counter persuasive appeals by providing them with counterarguments and information.
• An ineffective appeal can be worse than none, so it is important to be mindful of the potential negative effects of weak attempts at persuasion.
• Weakening existing attitudes through mild challenges can help strengthen them against stronger attacks.

Groups

• A group consists of two or more people who interact and influence one another.
• Interdependence is a crucial element of groups.
• Groups can outperform individuals, as demonstrated by Henry Ford's use of the assembly line.
• Groups feel similar to one another and often have a sense of an outgroup.

What Groups Do

• Groups provide safety in numbers, help find food, and accomplish complex tasks that are difficult for individuals.
• Cultural groups help preserve information and pass it down to future generations.
• Groups benefit from role differentiation and division of labor.

Diversity in Groups

• Diversity in groups can be beneficial, providing greater creativity, flexibility, and access to diverse information.
• Diversity can also make cooperation and teamwork more challenging.

Groups, Roles, and Selves

• Complementary roles within a group lead to better outcomes than having everyone do the same thing.
• Human roles function within larger systems, where most people perform different tasks.
• Deindividuation refers to the loss of self-awareness and individual accountability in a group setting.

Characteristics of Groups

• Groups are characterized by interaction, structure, goals, groupness, and a shared sense of identity.

Explore the complex interplay between social norms and biological factors in shaping gender differences. This quiz covers topics such as binge eating in sororities, attitudes towards attractiveness inmates, and the impact of language on comprehension. Delve into the nuances of how cultural contexts influence gender perceptions.