Evidence Footnote 150-151
In 2006 economists compared
competitive instincts in two different groups of people: the Maasai in Tanzania
and Khasi in India. Their results showed that “Among the patriarchal Maasai,
men choose to compete at twice the rate of women. But among the Khasi, which is
rooted in a matrilineal culture where women inherit property and children are
named from the mother’s side of the family, women choose to compete much more
often than men” (340).
Explain how this supports the
idea that the environment influences genetics in humans. Does nature or nurture
influence the gender differences in society? Also, explain how this relates
back to behavioral ecology.
Alex Casino (AlexJCasino@gmail.com)
This supports Shenk’s idea that the environment influences genetics in humans because of the societies that these people are from. In a society where the males have more power, the males are more likely to compete. In the Maasai society, the males are split into age groups, where they start out as boys, then become warriors, and in due time they become elders. The women do not take part in these age group differences. Instead, they are allowed to have social and sexual relations with warriors both before and after puberty. Once they are married, they maintain these relationships and the children are automatically property of the women’s husband, even if genetically the children are not the husband’s child (http://www.tribes.co.uk/countries/kenya/indigenous/maasai). This gives the men in the Maasai a power that women do not have, thus making them more competitive. This environment then shapes the men into warriors, who are more likely to compete, while the women are less likely to compete since they have less power in the society. On the other hand, in the Khasi tribe, females have more power. Unlike American culture, the Khasi’s have a tradition where the mother’s name is passed down in a family (Shenk 340). Also, property is passed down from the mother to the youngest daughter in families (http://www.posoowa.org/story/matrilineal-society-khasis). This gives the women a feeling of power, which creates a competitive environment. This environment influences the females’ intelligence by giving them a sense that they can obtain more knowledge (growth mindset) and this allows them to increase their intelligence. This intelligence then makes them more competitive.
ReplyDeleteIn these societies, nurture, rather than nature, influences the people more. This is because the society shapes the people’s thought mentality. In the Maasai they are brought up to believe that the men have more power. While in the Khasi, the females have more power. This thought process starts at birth, and it is not influenced by genetics. This can be proven by cross-fostering studies that have been done for animals. In the textbook, a behavioral experiment is conducted using male California mice and male white-footed mice. Male California mice are aggressive and provide a lot of parental care, while male white-footed mice are less aggressive towards others and therefore provide less parental care. When male pups are switched in both species (white-footed pups brought up by California mice and vice versa) the behavioral patterns of the parental figures were observed in the pups. In other words, the California mice (that were pups) were less aggressive, while the white-footed mice were more aggressive (Campbell 1129). This proves that the environment that an individual grows up in can shape their thoughts. The societies of the Maasai and the Khasi shape the mindset of the children, and create an outcome of more competitive males in the Maasai and more competitive females in the Khasi.
(Alexis Bauer, abauer9182@gmail.com)
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ReplyDeleteThe vast impact of culture is demonstrated through this example in that the culture, and environment, of two different regions of the world (Tanzania and India) stress different expectations on men and women. This supports Shenk’s claim that not only genes, but also “the vast number of cultural traits: age, sex, ethnicity, and in most cases/ social, economic, and cultural experiences” influence behavior in organisms (81). The environmental factor of Shenk’s claim is evident in that “among the patriarchal Maasai, men choose to compete at twice the rate of women. But among the Khasi/ women choose to compete much more often than men” (151). As the previous comment proposed, “The societies of the Maasai and the Khasi shape the mindset of the children, and create an outcome of more competitive males in the Maasai and more competitive females in the Khasi.” The effect of culture is also evident in mate-choice copying, a form of social learning: where young learn by copying behavior of individuals in a population (Campbell 1140). Mate-choice copying is a behavior in which individuals in a population copy the mate choice of others. The guppy Peocilia reticulate was used in an experiment to test if the behavior of other females, otherwise perceivable as the “culture”, could influence the preference of their mates. “If a female guppy observed the model “courting” a male with less extensive orange markings, she often copied the preference of the model female. That is, the female chose the male that had been presented in association with a model female rather than a more orange alternative./ Mate-choice copying can thus mask genetically controlled female preference below a certain threshold of difference, in this case for male color” (Campbell 1141). Similarly in this case, the culture of women in Khasi of having more power, as they “inherit property and children are named from the mother’s side of the family”, causes younger women to “copy” such competitive behavior (151). Therefore, the men in the Maasai region, being warriors (as the previous comment proposes) have a culture where men are more powerful; the younger boys, a culprit of social learning, will “copy” such competitive behavior whereas the younger girls in this region will “copy” the not-so-competitive behavior of the Maasai women.
ReplyDelete(Bobbie D. vidhbie23@yahoo.com)