1. General Psychology

2. Scripture
Matthew 5:10
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
But if, in the honest effort to be Christians, and to live the life of Christians, others persecute and revile us, we are to consider this as a blessing. It is all evidence that we are the children of God, and that he will defend us.

3. Experience and Brain Development
Rats living in an “enriched” environment (more social interaction and physical play) experienced a greater growth in brain size and complexity than those rats living in an “impoverished” environment.
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Many kinds of stimulation help generate brain development, even providing massage and other touch to newborns (especially those born prematurely).

4. Brain Development Means Growth AND Pruning
To make our well-used brain pathways work better, the unused connections are “pruned” away.
This means that if certain abilities are not used, they will fade.
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The process of pruning is actually more like a withering away of some connections, while other connections are being strengthened (long-term potentiation).

5. Impact of Experience/Nurture on Brain Development The Process Continues into Adulthood
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Repeated practice at a finger-tapping task begins to activate a [slightly] larger group of motor neurons.

6. Is parenting a powerful environmental influence on development?
Generally, environmental influences, including parenting, account for about 10 percent of temperament, although a much higher percentage for other features such as values.
Non-abusive “average” parents should ease off on both the blame and the credit they assume for how their kids turn out.
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The “extreme” pattern of abuse and neglect can lead to many more effects than the “abused kids who become abusive” phrase in the book. You can ask students to list the other possibilities, which may include anxiety, depression, flashbacks, compulsions, or even lead to unusual strengths in coping such as problem-solving, acceptance, determination, or ability to seek out helpful resources (a key factor in resilient survivors).
Where this percentage increases: “extreme” parenting, including severe neglect and abuse

7. Peer Influence
The degree of peer influence is hard to trace. Apparent conformity (the whole group smokes) could be a selection effect (they get together because they want to be with others who like to smoke).
Interaction with peers can teach new social skills.
Parents may try to have indirect influence by selecting a child’s peers, such as by selecting a school or neighborhood. However, ultimately, most children self-select their peers.
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8. Parents vs. Peers Battling over non-genetic influence
Peers have more influence on:
Parents have more influence on:
Education and career path Cooperation Self-discipline Responsibility Charitableness Religion Style of interaction with authority figures
Learning cooperation skills Learning the path to popularity Choice of music and other recreation Choice of clothing and other cultural choices Good and bad habits
Have students guess at these before clicking to reveal each list.

10. Culture Influences on Development
The nature of culture
Variation across cultures
Examples of cultural variation over time
Culture refers to the patterns of ideas, attitudes, values, lifestyle habits, and traditions shared by a group of people and passed on to future generations.
Culture is not just an influence on our nature, but it is also part of our nature. Humans form not only relationships, but culture.
Each culture has norms--standards for acceptable, expected behavior.
Example: “Eww, you wear your shoes from outdoors right into the house?”
Culture shock: feeling lost about what behaviors are appropriate
Click to reveal “The Nature of Culture” text.
Other species DO pass on practices that are learned and not genetically programmed. However, humans combine this talent with our capacity for language to pass on traditions and ideas remotely and across more generations.
Humans also seem to have higher levels of cooperation, coordination, differentiation, and complexity than other species.
Click to reveal “Variation across Cultures” text.
We might feel culture shock in either India or Japan if we walked into a house and wondered why people looked at us, seeming shocked and disgusted.
Click to reveal “Cultural Variation over Time” text.
Cultural variation can occur even within one culture:
language changes in vocabulary and pronunciation
the pace of life quickens
gender equality increases.
people sleep less, socialize in person less, stare at screens more
people marry more for love, but then expect more romance
These cultural changes occur too fast to be rooted in genetic change.

11. Culture Influences on Development
Culture and the self: individualism and collectivism
Individualist cultures value independence. They promote personal ideals, strengths, and goals, pursued in competition with others, leading to individual achievement and finding a unique identity.
Collectivist cultures value interdependence. They promote group and societal goals and duties, and blending in with group identity, with achievement attributed to mutual support.
Individualist and Collectivist Cultures Compared
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On the last domain on each list, related to attributions for behavior, you might add/clarify that people in collectivist societies are more likely to give credit to others for accomplishments, as mentioned in the text when describing interviews with successful athletes.

12. Culture Influences on Development
Similarities across groups
Although there are cultural differences, the differences within any group are usually greater than the differences between groups.
Example: How socially active are people in two hypothetical countries? They may differ on average because of cultural influence, but both countries may have many mildly friendly people.
Sociability Levels in Shyland
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Sociability Levels in Partyland
Self-Isolating -- Shy Private Friendly Outgoing -- Partier
Level/Amount of Social Activity
SCALE:

13. Culture and Genes: A Complex Interaction
There is a difference in average blood pressure between “racial” groups.
This may seem like a genetic difference but may actually be a cultural difference…. How?
Different cultures may have dietary differences, which in turn affect blood pressure.
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I did not list specific groups, because this difference is not only about blacks and whites in the United States, but also between western and eastern Europeans, attributed now to the “Mediterranean Diet.”
You might want to remind the class that many scientists believe that “race” is an unscientific and bogus concept.

14. Child-rearing: Cultural Differences
People in individualist cultures might raise children to be self-reliant and independent.
People in collectivist cultures might raise children to be compliant, obedient, and integrated into webs of mutual support.
People in Asian and African cultures might raise children to be more emotionally and physically close to others than in western European cultures.
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15. Gender Development
Gender refers to the physical, social, and behavioral characteristics that are culturally associated with male and female roles and identity.
Some of these traits may be genetic differences; other role differences may be nurtured by culture.
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Men and women are different in many ways; are these differences the cause or the result of the way gender roles are defined?

16. Differences Between Genders
Biological:
women enter puberty earlier, live longer, and have more fat and less muscle
Gender and Aggression:
men behave more aggressively than women, and are more likely to behave in ways that harm others
this difference applies to physical aggression rather than verbal or relational aggression
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Men murder far more people than women do; it is hard to discern whether this difference is caused by men’s ability or tendency to commit murder.
Mental and Behavioral Health:
women are more likely to have depression, anxiety, or eating disorders
men are more likely to have autism, ADHD, and antisocial personality disorder

17. Gender and Social Power
In a variety of cultures, men have attributes and reputations that help them attain more social power (positions controlling more people and resources) than women do.
Men tend to interact in more dominating ways than women. Men often speak opinions rather than offering support and inviting input as women do.
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The difference in reputation: men are seen as dominant, forceful, and independent, and women are seen as more deferential, nurturing, and affiliative.

18. Gender and Social Connection: Play
When boys play, the focus tends to be on the activity.
Male play is more competitive.
Men tend to dictate how the playtime will proceed.
When women play, the focus tends to be on connection and conversation.
Female play is more social.
Girls tend to invite feedback.
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The question on this slide in more detail:
Is the different style of play a result of genetic male-female differences?
Or is it a part of the culturally-influenced socialization of men in preparation for competitive roles and succeeding at activities, and the socialization of women in preparation for more social, relational roles they will play? Is it nature or nurture?
Image from the 9th edition of the text.
Are these differences due to nature or nurture?

19. Gender and Social Communication
However, men and women speak about the same number of words per day. What fills in the extra time on those longer phone calls?
Women communicate more than men:
more time with friends
more text messages
longer phone calls
Maybe…. listening?
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Men and women use communication differently.
Women seek input and explore relationships.
Women speak about people and feelings.
Men state their opinions and solutions .
Men speak about things and actions.

21. Gender and Social Connectedness
Both men and women turn to women when they want someone to talk to, seeking the “tend and befriend” response or better listening.
In general, women change roommates more often.
Women tend to have stronger ties to friends and family.
Women are often more involved with religion.
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The second bullet point refers to the study about women changing roommates more often than men. The authors of that study suggest that this may happen because women are perhaps more determined to seek good emotional intimacy. If you bring up this study, ask the class based on their experiences as college students: “do you think there are any explanations for this result?” Do the males (or females) in class have a different way of explaining this?

22. The Biology of Gender What biologically makes us male or female?
Brain Differences
During the fourth and fifth month of pregnancy, sex hormones bathe the fetal brain.
In adulthood, women have thicker areas in a part of the frontal lobes that help with verbal fluency.
There are also differences in the amygdala, hippocampus, and ratio of cell bodies to axons.
What biologically makes us male or female?
It begins with whether our 23rd pair of chromosomes looks like XX (female) or Xy (male).
Testes develop, and at seven weeks, the testes produce a flood of testosterone.
Hormones then guide the development of external sex organs.
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It is worth speculating: are the adult brain differences results caused by this biological difference in the fetus, or caused by the nurture/experience?

23. The Nurture side of Gender Roles: The Influence of Culture
Gender role: the behaviors expected of people related to their identity as men and women
Gender identity: one’s sense of whether one is male and female, including a sense of what it means to be that gender
Does culture define which behaviors fill a gender role? Or do the roles affect culture?
Gender roles and culture: is differentiation a good thing?
If it’s man’s job to get the high paying employment,
If it’s women’s work to take care of the kids and home,
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does that prevent conflict, and help culture stay stable, because roles are clear?
or is equality worth having some conflict and uncertainty?

24. Change in Social Roles?
If current trends continue, women will soon be the majority of practitioners in some fields that were once dominated by men in the United States.
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25. Culture Influence on Gender Role Development Or is it instinct?
Social learning theory: we learn gender role behavior by imitation, and by rewards and punishments that shape our behavior
Gender schemas: the cognitive frameworks for developing concepts of “male” and “female”; these frameworks guide our observations
Gender typing: the instinct which drives some children to fit into traditional gender roles
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Some parents may seem mystified that even when they don’t try to shape kids toward traditional gender role behavior, it happens anyway. Does that mean it’s genetic? What may be genetic is the drive to form gender schema just as kids are driven to figure out the rest of the world, and to “play detective” in figuring out what boys and girls are supposed to do, even if parents try to present no information which differentiates gender roles. Kids find out, and then imitation does its work, along with the desire to fit in and to do behavior that gets rewarded.

26. Influences on Who You’ve Become
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27. Beyond Biopsychosocial Influences: CHOICE
Is our behavior and identity rigidly determined by our combination of nature/genes and nurture/experience?
Even if free will is an illusion, it would seem that we can make choices that override our genetic influences, that differ from cultural norms, and that do not fit our environment.
We can even choose to directly alter culture, environment, and even genes.
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Humans, perhaps uniquely, have the experience (or perhaps the delusion) of rising above the mere influence of nature and nurture.