EFTA00971450.pdf

From: To: Jeffrey Epstein <[email protected]> Subject: Fwd: [Dewayne-Net] Forget Venus and Mars, we're beginning to understand gender behavior on Earth Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 01:45:13 +0000 Typos, misspellings courtesy of iPhone. Begin forwarded message: From: Dewayne Hendricks Date: September 29, 2013, 6:36:45 PM PDT To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Forget Venus and Mars, we're beginning to understand gender behavior on Earth Reply-To: Forget Venus and Mars, we're beginning to understand gender behavior on Earth We may never know every subtle difference, but gender research is coming a long way. By Kate Shaw Yoshida Sep 29 2013 <http://arstechnica.comiscience/2013/09/forget-venus-and-mars-were-beginning-to-understand-gender- behavior-on-earth/> Gender gaps permeate nearly every aspect of our culture, as everything from comic books to the constitution seems to stress the differences between men and women rather than any similarities between the sexes. It's hard to walk through a bookstore without being bombarded with advice on decoding the other sex's cryptic behavior; a few classics are Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, The Female Brain, and the ever-so- helpful Guys are Waffles, Girls are Spaghetti. Sitcoms, romantic comedies, and action movies all tend to exploit traditional gender roles too: females worry, nag, and primp while males theorize, womanize, and ride to the rescue. Unfortunately, the actual science behind gender gaps isn't nearly as clear cut. It's a miasma of conflicting results, non-replicable studies, and varying effect sizes. And when you think about the complexities involved, it's no wonder there's a lot of confusion. Researchers studying gender differences must deal with genetics, physiology, behavior, culture, age, environment, race, and innumerable other variables. Behavior is also extremely sensitive to context, which muddies the waters further. Evaluating and interpreting the differences between men and women is, simply put, no easy task. Sex itself is complex. We already know that sex in the animal kingdom is a surprisingly fluid concept, and that sex determination is more complicated than a single chromosome. In this third installment of our continuing series on sex and gender, Ars is bringing you some of the more promising research into what—if anything— separates males from females when it comes to behavior. It's all too easy to fall back on the cliched metaphor that men and women hail from different planets, or the popular but sketchy evo-psych claims that trace every aspect of our behavior back to our origins on the African savannah. Here, we'll steer clear of these overhyped and underwhelming points of view. Instead, we'll take a EFTA00971450 look at some of the good science that is beginning to separate truth from fiction in regard to gender gaps. Some of this research is creative, some is elegantly simple, and some is complex and nuanced. But these studies are all promising in terms of identifying gender gaps, hinting at their origins, and suggesting how we might use this knowledge in the future. Beginning at the beginning Despite the difficulties inherent in studying gender gaps, it's an important task, because what we know (or think we know) about these gaps actually affects how we behave. Teachers treat andevaluate male and female students differently. Females' test performance drops when they are told that men generally score better on the test than women. Both men and women tend to fulfill cultural expectations regarding their gender, even when it comes to something as simple as smiling. Our awareness and understanding of sex differences do matter, because—either intentionally or unintentionally—we use this knowledge to inform our behavior and the behavior of others. The first major question that needs to be asked is whether gender gaps actually exist, or whether they are merely a figment of our collective imagination. Not surprisingly, the evidence is mixed. A large and rigorous study published recently in PLOS ONE found larger than expected gender differences in personality worldwide, including significant gender-based differences in sensitivity, warmth, apprehension, dominance, and rule consciousness. The researchers calculated an overall overlap of just 10 percent in the distribution of males' and females' personalities. That's a huge difference, in psychological terms. However, psychologist Janet Shibley Hyde conducted a meta-analysis that challenged the notion that men and women are so vastly different. After evaluating 46 studies of psychological gender differences ranging from cognition to personality to self-esteem, Hyde identified just a few areas in which men and women differed significantly. These include physical aggression, motor skills, and measures of sexuality (such as the frequency of masturbation). But for the vast majority-78 percent—of the traits and behaviors she examined, Hyde found little or no difference between the sexes. Men and women, she argued, are more alike than they are different. [snip] Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: < EFTA00971451