8/23/2007

Gene and gender differences

Dr.Baumeister, a prominent social psychologist who teaches at Florida State University, recently gave a fascinating speech at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco, titled “Is There Anything Good About Men?”
He has found “single most under appreciated fact about gender,” is the ratio of our male to female ancestors. While it’s true that about half of all the people who ever lived were men, the typical male was much more likely than the typical woman to die without reproducing. Citing recent DNA research, Dr. Baumeister explained that today’s human population is descended from twice as many women as men. Maybe 80% of women reproduced, whereas only 40% of men did.
In his speech, Dr.Baumeister believed these vastly different reproductive odds for men and women must produce some personality differences, and he listed and explained those tricky culture difference between men and women.

3 comments:

John A Hill said...

A long read but fasinating. It always makes me wonder, "Where does she find this stuff?!"

Thanks

Bilbo said...

I downloaded and read Dr Baumeister's study, and it makes fascinating reading. You may be interested in the book by Howard Bloom titled "The Lucifer Principle: Scientific Expeditions Into the Forces of History," which makes many of the same points and provides additional historical and scientific background and perspective. Thanks very much for bringing this to light - it's nice to see a different, well-argued look at the world around us. Plus, it's given me lots of ideas for my own blog!

Numeric Life said...

Hi John - to answer you question, I spend about 2-3 hours reading every day.
Bilbo - if I can find Howard Bloom's book in my library, I will read it. Thanks.