Hereditary and environment notes

Hereditary= Characteristics straight from the genes

Environment= A person’s surroundings, which have an influence on a person’s

characteristics and development

Nature/nurture= Contracting views of how we gain certain characteristics: nature refers to

hereditary, nurture to environment

-to determine the sex of a fetus, it is the sex hormone in larger quantities.
We’re mostly able to limit how these hormones affect our behaviour and how masculine or
feminine we feel
-Monkeys with too little androgen have behaviours similar to female monkeys. A pregnant
monkey that is injected with androgen when pregnant with a female, the offspring comes out
as female while having some male characteristics
-A pregnant woman injected with androgen who has a girl, the girl will be more tomboyish. If
the woman is pregnant with a male, and limit their androgen production, the male comes out
less rough and aggressive
-Not much differences between sexes, except reproduction areas and systems.
Male babies are more active, while female babies smile more. Male children tend to be more
active. Best documented difference between the two, is in the area of rough physical play,
probably due to different hormone levels

Spatial Skills= Ability to imagine how an object would look if it was moved about in space.
Boys tend to be better at these skills due to video games. But when females pick up the
game, they learn it really well.
-study showed that girls at age 15 did better than boys the same age at spatial skills, but
difference was most likely due to social role, class, ethnic background and the type of test
given, rather than the genders
-Girls get an early lead on verbal skills

-Study shows that teachers give more attention to boys than girls in math class. No
difference of sex determines how good someone is at math. When conducting study, there
are three factors that have to be taken into account. 1) Test results need to be more
consistent from one study to another 2) People expect males to do better than females in
this area 3) Boys tend to say they “enjoy” math more 4) A lot of people don’t want to struggle
in math, and girls may take the opportunity of the stigma to bypass it and avoid the hassle
-Females go through faze in junior high where their grades drop, because they do not try
hard since they’ve been told you cannot be too smart for the male gaze. Once past this, girls
really soar in their academics, and even bypass the boys in grades
-In self-confidence no major differences exist. Males do tend to go along with the group more
though. Boys and girls rate themselves around the same level on the confidence scale in
childhood and adolescence.
-In the drive for success, both females and males have the same drive. Girls are told not to
be too important for male gaze. Females don't expect to have a bright future, even if they’re
better than all the boys, and boys expect to have a bright future handed to them, even if they
do poorer than the girls.
Gender role behaviour= Acts that reflect society’s view of what is appropriate for males
versus what is appropriate for females. Ex) Boys given footballs to play with while girls are
given dolls.

Identification= The process of modelling behaviour patterns after (usually) a member of the
same sex

-Fathers who are very warm and affectionate tend to produce tomboyish daughters. But if
more strict or physical, it tends to affect all children no matter the gender. They become
docile and submit to others, and there may be a time where the child explodes
-Boys who don't have a father present during preschool years tend to be less aggressive
and not quite as active in sports
-Most mentally healthy people are those who lean away from extreme feminine or masculine
roles
-In families where either the mother or father are unusually dominant, the children will
identify with the dominant one, even across sex lines. If there is no striking dominance, some
daughters identify with the father, some sons identify with the mother, or some both
-Girls with only sisters, or boys with only brothers tend to adopt more traditional gender roles
than families with a mixture
-Girls who grow up with an older brother are less competitive than those who didn't grow up
with one
-Really masculine boys have trouble showing emotions and affection, while really feminine
girls fail to show assertiveness or make independent judgements

Androgyny= The quality of having both masculine and feminine characteristics.

Females with too many male characteristics won’t fit into society as easily, and worse, males
with too many feminine characteristics also will not. Society values male characteristics over
female ones

Internalize= To make as part of ourselves the attitudes or beliefs of others. The longer we’ve
been with a group, and how important it is to us, the stronger it has a hold on us

Reference group= A group with which one identifies and that provides standards of
behaviour. A person can have more than one. These groups control what we see in the
world

Stereotypes= A fixed set of beliefs about a group that may or may not be accurate. The “in”
group does this to make other group “inferior”
Have labels and everyone knows the characteristics of the label
Choose “outsider” applications for jobs

Prejudice= judgement of people based on the group they belong in rather than their
individual characteristics

Discrimination= a mistreating or denying rights to people because they belong to a particular

group
Attribution Theory=about the process by which we form opinions about another which can be
divided into three parts:
1. Antecedents= information and beliefs we have beforehand about another
2. Attribution= the causes we use to explain another’s behaviour
3. Consequences= are our own emotional responses, behaviour and expectations
regarding another. Even if we unknowingly come to a false conclusion, we always
make/search for reason because it allows us to accept or reject others
-People apart from our own groups we see having positive characteristics, even when
they’re not there

-all animals and species can and do control their aggressive impulses
-We can be peaceful or violent depending on how we interpret situations and our
surroundings
-Culture and environment can also impact aggression
-Many experts believe that the high value Americans place on individual rights and freedoms
plus the emphasis on competition. Other cultures place high priority on the group, allowing
people to get along more
-People are more aggressive if they go into a situation where they expect to attack or get
attacked
-Most aggressive behaviours start on childhood and continue from there, usually due to
households that emphasise masculine, aggressive behaviour, like “fighting back”
-Aggressive patterns are set by mid childhood, so they must be corrected early on

Deindividuation= a loss of one’s sense of individuality and responsibility when in a group.

Individuals reduce the sense of their own responsibility when they are in groups, and also
feel more powerful and less vulnerable when in a group.

Risky shift phenomenon= the situation where the danger of an act is split among the
members of a group, hence it is smaller for each person (gangs, mobs, etc.)

-Believe the hypothalamus might well be responsible for uncontrolled outburst of violence.
Allergies can trigger this by swelling the brain tissues which put pressure on the rage centre
of the hypothalamus

-In previous centuries, printing presses were carefully controlled, and what few things were
published had to have government approval. Scared somehow freedom of publication might
damage morals of the general public

-Violence in the name of right and honour and good in movies actually leads to more
violence- people imitate all kinds of behaviour from shows

Imitation learning= The process of learning behaviours by viewing others and then doing the
same things they did
-laboratory researchers say that tv and aggression are directly linked, but in real life, field
studies don’t provide concrete proof of this, and are often inconsistent. Some aggressive
people may become less aggressive after watching, while less aggressive people become
more aggressive.
-Studies to date show mixed results concerning the relationship between TV and later
violence in the average person and aggressive people seek out aggressive tv and then
become even more aggressive

Catharsis= The supposed ability to get rid of aggressive energy by viewing others acting
aggressively- meant to purify people from violence. This does not work.

-Environment affects a lot. Students in louder schools are on edge more, uncomfortable and
tend to have higher blood pressure

Territoriality= An attachment to a fixed area designated as ours alone and the tendency to
defend it against intruders. Also can occur in regards to our personal bubble when someone
moves too close

Personal space= “invisible bubble” or portable area around us that we try to keep from being
invaded. Seen as threatening, but not as threatening as invading our territory
Cultures can impact this (whether people stand close to talk or not) and also males tend to
have bigger personal space areas than females.

Density= The actual number of people per square foot in a given space

Crowding= A psychological feeling of too little space

Too much density can cause riots.