Explain both evolutionary psychology’s and biosocial constructionist theory’s accounts of the role of nature and nurture in sex differences. Discuss where their predictions about sex differences diverge.
What will be an ideal response?
Evolutionary theorists tend to view the human brain as a fossil that represents adaptations to conditions that occurred tens of thousands of years ago, which means that recent changes in occupational or social roles should not change our fundamental psychology much. They propose that sex differences in tendencies such as mating preferences, competitiveness, sexual jealousy, and nurturance are genetically coded at the species level and therefore unlikely to change over the short term. Biosocial constructionist theorists assume that sex differences in psychological factors such as personality traits, mating preferences, and jealousy are not genetically heritable. From this view, sex differences in psychological variables are determined by how labor is divided in society, which is partly determined by biological sex differences in physical strength and size. Therefore they would predict that changes in social roles can create rapid changes in the psychology of men and women, resulting in changes in cultural gender stereotypes.
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What will be an ideal response?
What did the Red Scare reveal about the darker side of American society?
A) There was a deep undercurrent of intolerance and bigotry in American society. B) Americans were more interested in economic growth than in personal liberties. C) Racism emerged as a new phenomenon in the America of the 1920s. D) Americans were willing to tolerate immigrants if they stayed out of political life. E) There was a general indifference toward issues of race, ethnicity, and national identity.
Why were Republicans able to gain the presidency in the election of 1860?
A) The Republicans scored a decisive win in the North. B) The Republicans won the support of white Southerners who did not own slaves. C) The Republicans offered the potential for sectional harmony. D) The Republicans compromised on the issue of slavery. E) The Republicans successfully pitted the East against the West.
The Sherman Antitrust Act was ineffective because
a. the wording was ambiguous. b. the Supreme Court generally interpreted it in a manner favorable to big business. c. presidents were reluctant to initiate suits under it until after 1900. d. it was not enforced aggressively. e. all of these choices.