Slide 1Prenatal EnvironmentGenetic InfluencesEnriched and/or Impoverished EnvironmentsExperience and Brain DevelopmentBrain Development and AdulthoodExperience and FacultiesPeer InfluencePeer InfluenceParents and PeersBehavior Genetics and Evolutionary PsychologyCultural InfluencesEnvironmental Influence – Culture and Norms Event 1Environmental Influence – Culture and NormsEnvironmental Influence – Culture and Norms Event 2Environmental Influence – Culture and NormsEvent 3Environmental Influence – Culture and NormsEvent 3 continuedThe “Typical” Human BeingGenderGenderGenderGender Roles @ Home, Quiz Handout 9-5Gender RolesGender Roles – Gender IdentityGender Differences in AggressionGender Differences and ConnectednessGender DevelopmentGender Roles: TheoriesWhich could you do faster?Gender Traits, Handout 9-4How do views of gender roles change over time?Gender and Social PowerWho Does the Housework?GenderBehavior Genetics and Evolutionary PsychologyNature, Nurture, and Human DiversityHow Much Credit (or Blame) Do Parents Deserve?CultureCulture and Child RearingCulture and Child RearingGender Socialization Questions Male 9-6aMenGender Socialization Questions – Female, 9-6 bWomenCulture and Child RearingCulture and Child-RearingCulture and the SelfIndependent Self (Individualism)Interdependent Self (collectivism)Slide 52What did you Decide?Variation Across CultureVariation Over TimeCulture and the SelfCulture and Child-RearingDevelopmental Similarities Across GroupsBiology of SexSexual DifferentiationSexual DifferentiationReflections on Nature and NurtureModule #9Environmental Influences on BehaviorPrenatal EnvironmentNurture begins in the womb.NutrientsExposure to toxic agentsPlacentaGenetic InfluencesPredict 40 to 50 % of our individual variations in many personality traits.Enriched and/or Impoverished EnvironmentsIncreased synapses in enriched environmentIncreased synapses from early childhood educationStimulation of vision, hearing, smelling, increases synapses in those areas.The brain continues to develop throughout life.Experience and Brain DevelopmentEarly postnatal experiences affect brain development. Rosenzweig et al. (1984) showed that rats raised in enriched environments developed thicker cortices than those in impoverished environment.Brain Development and AdulthoodBrain development does not stop when we reach adulthood. Throughout our life, brain tissue continues to grow and change. A well-learned finger-tapping task leads tomore motor cortical neurons (right) than baseline.Both hotos courtesy of Avi Kani and Leslie Ungerleider, National Institue of Mental HealthExperience and FacultiesEarly experiences during development in humans show remarkable improvements in music, languages and the arts. Courtesy of C. BrunePeer InfluenceWe are most acutely sensitive to our peers’ actions and reactions to us.We will grow up to mate with and to work with our peers, so nature has prepared us.Parents and peers are both important.Peer InfluenceChildren, like adults, attempt to fit into a group by conforming. Peers are influential in such areas as learning to cooperate with others, gaining popularity, and developing interactions.Ole Graf/ zefa/ CorbisParents and PeersWe have looked at how genes influence our developmental differences. What about the environment? How do our early experiences, our family, our community and our culture affect these differences?Parents and Early ExperiencesBehavior Genetics and Evolutionary PsychologyParents and PeersParents and Early ExperiencesPeer InfluenceCultural InfluencesVariations Across CulturesVariations Over TimeCulture and the SelfCultural InfluencesHumans have the ability to evolve culture. Culture is composed of behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values and traditions shared by a group.Kevin R. Morris/CorbisEnvironmental Influence – Culture and Norms Event 1Yuri, an exchange student from Russia, was gratified by the warm reception he got upon his arrival in the UnitedStates. He was greeted by broad smiles and frequently was invited to homes for meals. Several times he was invited tostay in American homes. At cultural events, people would say to Yuri, “You must drop by and see us sometime.”Yuri called home and enthusiastically told his family that “Americans are so friendly! We are going to be closefriends and see a lot of each other.”Environmental Influence – Culture and NormsEvent 1What is Yuri’s view of Americans, and on what does he base this perception? Is Yuri’s perception accurate? Will the friendly Americans remember the invitations for Yuri to stop by? How durable are friendships with strangers in the U.S.?Are the signs of friendship the same everywhere? To what do friendships obligate you in the U.S. Are the obligations the same in other cultures?Environmental Influence – Culture and Norms Event 2A Dutch woman living in Paris enjoyed talking with a French friend and invited him to her apartment for dinner one evening. The meaning she intended to convey was “we are going to eat dinner together and have a nice conversation” and nothing more. But her friend interpreted the gesture as implying an invitation for sexual intimacy. He discovered the miscommunication in the middle of dinner. At this point the French man stood up and said, “You don’t think I’mgoing to cross Paris just to have dinner, do you?” and stormed out the door.Environmental Influence – Culture and NormsEvent 2What happened? Did either the Dutch woman or the French man have unrealistic expectations? Why?Would this kind of misunderstanding happen in other cultural settings as well?Under what conditions can men and women develop friendships that do not involve sexual intimacy?Event 3 An American botanist, visiting a Mexican friend in Guadalajara, had the opportunity to go to the home of his friend’s gardener to see some seedlings the gardener was growing. Invited to come inside the home, a very small adobe house with an earthen floor, the American was struck by the gardener’s poverty. An unfinished pine table and a couple of wobbly chairs were all the furnishings in view. He then noticed a beautiful, large serape on one wall. “What a beautiful serape,” exclaimed the American. “Wonderful colors!” At this, the gardener insisted that the American take the serape as a gift. The American was aware that it was a form of politeness in Mexico for a person