Provide at least 3 facts that you learned from the Evolutionary Psychology about male and female differences in mating and courtship. Indicate what you agree/disagree with and why. Relate th
This discussion is 100% based on the content and material posted in D2L Content.
Your Minimum Post: 9-10 paragraphs with a minimum of 150 words per paragraph it is OK to write more)
2 Responses to Students: 250 words per each response total of 500 words minimum.
Post your work directly in this Discussion.
You have to respond to both topics and to all prompts.
Topic 1: Attraction
1. Find 2 empirical studies (empirical means based on research and data collection) about physical attraction. Go to Google Scholar to do your search or go to PCC Library Database PsychInfo and enter your keywords into Search.
2. Summarize the findings and provide citations.
3. Are looks important to you.
4. What is your opinion on the biological/evolutionary predisposition for attraction?
5. Provide your thoughts and arguments in support AND against the statement that “Attraction is one of the most unspoken forms of discrimination.”
Resources:
Topic 2: Sexuality
1. Provide at least 3 facts that you learned from the Evolutionary Psychology about male and female differences in mating and courtship. Indicate what you agree/disagree with and why. Relate the information to your personal life when appropriate.
2. We proposed in class that sexuality is complicated and that perceptions of sexual behaviors and practices depend on historic time and specific cultures. Please elaborate on changes in attitudes towards sexual practices from prehistoric (hunter and gatherers) societies to agricultural societies.
3. What was the reason for rise of control over female sexuality? We watched this clip in class; you can review again to better answer question 2 and 3
4. Do you agree or disagree with this historic/anthropological account given by Dr. Christopher Ryan? (see the clip above)
5. Do you think that currently (with all the technological advancements e.g. DNA testing, birth control) we are going through another shift in attitude towards sexuality? Are we coming back to what sex originally meant for humans, claiming its “social function” and rejecting culturally induced restrictions? Can current research findings on fluidity of sexuality be an indication of this change? We watched this clip on sexual fluidity in class .
Resources:
https://youtu.be/m2rTHDOuUBw (only 9:08-28:58)
Interpersonal Attraction
1. Physical Attributes
2. Confidence
3. Affect
4. Proximity
5. Similarity
6. Reciprocity
Reproductive vs Social Function
Traditionally study of attraction had and still has a very strong heterosexual bias
Physical Attraction
? Binary definitions of sex and gender are not scientific
? Variation in attraction (e.g. gay woman can be attracted to transgender
man or straight woman attracted to gay man)
Age
? Heterosexual & homosexual men ranked younger sex partners
higher than older ones on good looks
? Heterosexual, but not homosexual women ranked older men higher
Appearance
? Waist-to-chest ratio: primary component of attractiveness for
heterosexual & gay men. But, gay men had a stronger preference for a
more developed upper-body build
? Not all gay man look toward muscularity and athleticism as the primary
components of attractiveness
? Same-sex and different-sex
relationships are more alike than
different
? Same-sex couples: positive
coping skills and strategies to
deal with challenges of minority
stress and thrive
? Sexual Identity Uncertainty: which
sexual identity label best captures
ones attractions & behavior
? Sexual identity uncertainty may result
from social pressure to fit into binary
categories
? Individuals who are attracted to more
than one gender (nonmonosexual)
may be perceived as unsure whether
they are gay or heterosexual
Interpersonal Attraction
1. Physical Attributes
2. Confidence
3. Affect
4. Proximity
5. Similarity
6. Reciprocity
Physical Attractiveness
Physical Attractiveness
? Most people deny that looks are
important
? Looks are more important
? during the initial meeting
? early stages of relationship
? for short-term, less involved relationships
? As involvement increases the emphases
shifts to personality and status
? Attractive companions increase our
status
? In happy marriages, people see their
partners as more attractive than they
really are
Reasons we Prefer Attractive People
? People are attracted to a smell of
attractive people
Beauty is Intoxicating
? Evolutionary explanations: we are
hardwired to prefer some but not
others
? Newborn infants prefer faces of
attractive people
Evolutionary preference for beauty
Natural Selection Survival / reproduction of organisms as a
function of their physical attributes
Sexual Selection
1. Females
Choose males based on elaborate
ornamentation or male behaviors
Handicap Principal: suggested in 1975 by biologist Amotz Zahavi
Handicap signals fitness
2. Males
Competition: for access to
females (e.g., horns)
Develop sensitivity to females’
preferences
Females drive the course of
sexual selection
Cosmetics as a Feature of the Extended Human Phenotype Modulation of the Perception of Biologically Important Facial Signals Nancy L. Etcoff, Shannon
Stock, Lauren E. Haley, Sarah A. Vickery, David M. House
1. Likability
2. Competence
3. Attractiveness
4. Trustworthiness
women with makeup: rated more positively
Photos were shown quickly
ratings went up
Competent
Likable
Attractive
Trustworthy
Dramatic makeup:
Likable
Much more attractive
Competent, but
Less trustworthy
Cosmetics as a Feature of the Extended Human Phenotype Modulation of the Perception of Biologically Important Facial Signals Nancy L. Etcoff, Shannon Stock,
Lauren E. Haley, Sarah A. Vickery, David M. House
Heterosexual men tend to find the faces of women with larger pupils more
attractive even when theyre unaware of the reason for their preference.
“bella donna”
from Italian and
means “beautiful
woman”
What Attracts Us Symmetry
What Attracts Us Body Shape
What Attracts Us: Height
What Attracts Us: Hight
119,000 individuals aged between 40 and 70 in the UK Biobank
Men: shorter height is linked to lower levels of
? education
? job status
? income
Women: higher BMI is linked to lower
? income
? greater deprivation
Possible complex interactions with self esteem, stigma, positive
discrimination
What Attracts Us: Movement
Why We Prefer Attractive People
1. Evolutionary preference for beauty
2. Halo effect
? Assumption that good-looking people
possess more desirable characteristics
Attractive people are assumed
? to be exiting dates
? be more sensitive & kind
? sexually warm responsive
? poised
? sociable
? outgoing and confident
? have better characters
Attractive people have
? More social & professional success
? Little happier in general
? More fulfilling lives
Halo Effect
? Preferred as friends
? More popular
? More likely to be hired after a job interview
? Receive higher pay
? Make better impression & receive leniency when defendants in court
? Attractive attorneys earn higher incomes & more likely to
become partners in their firms
Attractive people
Experiment: Self-Fulfilling Nature of Beauty
? All male participants
? Phone conversations
? 3 groups: photo attractive, not attractive & no photo
? Attractive woman: rated as more poised,
humorous, and socially adept
? Ratings of men who didnt have a photo
? more attractive
? more confident
? more animated
? warmer than the woman who though to be unattractive
Halo Effect
Physical Appearance
Frizzy wig experiment ? When woman was attractive: her positive and negative
evaluations of interaction mattered
? When she was not attractive: her comments didnt matter
Gorgeous People
? Assumed to be more vain & promiscuous
? People lie to attractive people about their
? interests, personalities, income
? Gorgeous people may discount praise given
? by those who see them
? Unattractive people value praise more if people see them
Contrast effect: View self negatively when encounter gorgeous
people of the same sex
Cameron Russell: I won a genetic lottery”
Primary & Secondary Dimensions of Diversity
Sexual
Orientation
Race
Gender
Physical
Qualities
Age
Ethnicity
Work
Background
Income Geographic
Location
Parental
Status Marital
Status
Education Military
Experience
Religious Beliefs
Unattractive People
? Unattractive people are rated
more negatively
? Unattractive men have less
interaction with women
? Plain women spent a lot of
time interacting with men in
groups while attractive
women get more dates
? Older women: considered
less attractive (Jane Elliott)
Awareness
Guilt/Frustration/Anxiety
Support
Accountability
Transformation can change be mandated?
,
Interpersonal Attraction
1. Physical Attributes
2. Confidence
3. Affect
4. Proximity
5. Similarity
6. Reciprocity
What Causes Attraction: Confidence
Super confident:
is it Attractive?
? Blunder Effect or
Pratfall Effect
What Causes Attraction?
3. Emotional State (Affect)
The Associated Effect Misattribution
Aroused by something unrelated to a person
we are with feel attraction to that person
Misattributions of Physiological Arousal for Attraction
What Causes Attraction
Misattributions of physiological arousal
Hot Drink may Influence how Likable You are
Negotiations: people who sit on hard chairs (vs soft) are harder negotiators
A study by Lawrence Williams of the University of Colorado and John A. Bargh of Yale University
Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth
What Causes Attraction
4. Proximity
physical closeness between two
individuals with respect to where
they live, where they sit in a
classroom, where they work,
and so on
The Propinquity Effect:
increased likelihood that two people will
come into repeated contact, feel
positive affect, and develop mutual
attraction
The Propinquity Effect
Location Exposure Familiarity Attraction
Propinquity effect is stronger
when people are not aware of
the exposure
The effect does not happen
when peoples initial reaction is
very negative. In this case,
familiarity can result in more
dislike
What Causes Attraction Do Opposites Attract?
5. Similarity
Similarity-dissimilarity effect:
? respond positively to people who are similar
to us & negatively to people who are
dissimilar
What do we think about people who are
SIMILAR to us?
? more intelligent,
? more informed,
? more moral, and
? better adjusted than people who are
dissimilar
Similarity: Liking those who are like us
Demographic similarity: ? age, race, education, religion, SES
? Attitudes ? Values ? Personalities
? Attractiveness
? Intelligence
The strongest correlation is for similarity in education
6. Reciprocity Liking those who like us
We are more likely to approach those who offer acceptance
Mens dopamine receptiors are activated: ? If an attractive woman
makes an eye contact ? The same findings for
gay men
,
Intellectual Diversity
All opinions are welcomed, but it does
not mean that they are facts
We dont take other peoples opinions
personally
BUT free speech does not mean
disrespecting other people
Fundamental orthodoxy: Be like us OR
be excluded
Putting an end to the patriarchal and
toxic way of thinking
Intellectual terrorism
Intellectual humility
Biological Perspective
? Complicated
? Sex & Procreation
? Non-Reproductive Function of Sex
? Homosexuality
? Sexual Fluidity
? Gender Fluidity
Sexuality &
Interpersonal Relationships
David Halperin Distinguished Professor of the History and Theory of Sexuality
University of Michigan
Degree: Ph.D., Stanford
Sex
? has no history
? hardwired into most species
? grounded in the functioning of the body
Sexuality
? naming, assigning meaning, categorizing
? sexual acts and
? those who practice those acts
? historical phenomenon
? should be studied as such
Ph.D. in psychology
Focus on the prehistoric roots of
human sexuality
The book was praised but also criticized for
“biased reporting of data and problematic
assumptions” by anthropologist Ryan
Ellsworth
Christopher Ryan
In opposition to the standard narrative
on sex for procreation
Non-Reproductive Function of Sex
Dr. Lisa M. Diamond
Professor of developmental & health psychology at the University of Utah
More Sex doesn’t Lead to Increased Happiness
Carnegie Mellon University
Journal of Economic Behavior
& Organization
? Some studies indicate: people who have more sex are also happier
? Being happy in the first place, might lead someone to have more sex
? Experiment:
? 2 goups: some couples to have more sex than others
? Observed happiness over a 3 month period
? Conclusion: simply having more sex did not make couples happier
Evolutionary Psychologists:
Sex is Everything
Wisdom of the Ancient World: India
Sex is Bondage
Tantra
Sanskrit: Tan = “expansion
Tra = “liberation”
Goal of human life:
? Strive for absolute peace
? Control sexual instincts
Sex is the energy of creation
Lust & Creati
Needs help with similar assignment?
We are available 24x7 to deliver the best services and assignment ready within 3-4 hours? Order a custom-written, plagiarism-free paper
Get Answer Over WhatsApp
Order Paper Now
We accept
