Nathan

Otten

The Science of Psychology

People throughout all ages have attempted to explain human behavior. The

sages from every culture have offered their wisdom to explain the complex mystery
of the soul. From Plato, to Aristotle, to Jesus, to Confucius, to Lau Tzo, to Aquinas, to
Shakespeare; men and women have attempted to understand why we do what we
do. However, their attempts to understand the soul (valuable though they are)
cannot be called psychology. Properly defined, psychology is a social science, which
means that it applies the scientific method to the study of behavior and mental
processes.

During the Enlightenment, a new epistemology began to emerge that shaped

the modern world as we know it today. Rather than trusting the traditions and
dogmas of the past, the Enlightenment thinkers began to seek a knowledge that was
empirically verifiable. They perfected the scientific method, which proves a
hypothesis based on observed evidence from experimentation. They began to apply
this method to areas of society such as economics, politics, and anthropology. Like
these other fields of study, psychology falls into this same category of social science.

Psychologists use a variety of methods to gather evidence. They use the case

study method, which is an in-depth study of one or more individuals. However, this
method can be unreliable because it must generalize from one example to the rest of
people. The survey method gathers information from a group of people in the form
of a survey. However, this method can be unreliable because people can lie if
answering truthfully would make them less socially desirable. The naturalistic

observation method gathers information by observing a behavior in its natural

habitat. However, this method can be unreliable because the observer can interpret
the events based on his or her own bias. The correlational method examines the
correlations between variables, whether positive or negative. However, this method
does not necessarily demonstrate causation. The most reliable method is the
experimental method, which manipulates variables and measures their effect on a
controlled variable. It is the only method that can demonstrate causation with
certainty. Nevertheless, this method cannot always be used because it must abide
by a code of ethics. For example, one could not conduct an experiment in which
someone could potentially be harmed.

One area of psychology that was enhanced throughout this course was my

understanding of gender. Because so many people have opinions about gender, it is

refreshing to discover what science has to say about it. Science has some solid facts
to present amongst all of the wish-wash of opinion. I found the arguments from
evolutionary psychology to be particularly convincing. Sex and gender are an
evolutionary adaptation, and thus, it logically follows that evolution would be able
to explain many things about sex and gender. And indeed, it does.
According to evolutionary psychologists, gender roles developed as an
adaptation. The males, who had greater upper body strength and visual-spatial
skills, succeeded as hunters and protectors (Nevid 409). The females, who have
higher levels of the nurturing hormone oxytocin, were able to attend to the needs of
the infants before they were able to speak (Nevid 409, Azur). These roles enabled
the species to survive.

Evolution also explains differences in aggression between men and women.

Even as young as 17 months, boys show a higher level of aggression than girls
(Nevid 410). 90% of all traditional human societies exhibit male-to-male
competition (Spinney). The reason for these statistics is because testosterone is
linked with higher levels of aggression. It seems like aggressive behavior was
important for men to have for the species to survive.
Evolution also explains the differences in the sexual behavior of men and
women. Women, who would have needed the commitment of a male to provide for
them and their children, sought commitment and intimacy in mating instead of a
one-night-stand style of mating (Miller and Kanazawa 89-90). However, men, who
had less involvement in the childbearing process, showed less interest in
commitment and intimacy in mating and had more of a tendency toward a one-
night-stand style mating (Spinney).
Many traits in males and females are the result of sexual selection. The traits
that were better for survival became the more sexy traits. Evolutionary
psychologists use this concept to explain why men like big breasts, small waists,
blonde hair, blue eyes, red-colored clothes, high heels, make-up, long hair, and many
other features (Miller and Kanazawa 48-68, Saad 67-94). Also, it explains why
women like men with nice cars, money, dance skills, cologne, and other features
(Saad 67-94). It explains the roots of marriage (Miller and Kanazawa 80-97) It also
explains the origin of an engagement gift (i.e. a wedding ring) (Miller and Kanazawa
94-95).

I have found the research of evolutionary psychologists on gender to be very

intriguing. It is able to explain so much about human behavior between the sexes.
Why can girls be so choosy about whom they have sex with? Why can men be
such dogs sometimes? Why do little boys love to play in a rough-and-tumble
manner? Why are certain features of woman so attractive? Evolution gives us an
explanation: those things helped us to survive.

This is not to say that Nurture plays no role in shaping sex and gender. The

socio-cultural, social-cognitive, behavioral, and psychodynamic have much to offer

on this subject. The environment does indeed affect gender. The way parents
punish/reward their children, the toys they give them, the actives they let them do,
and the clothes they pick for them all affect how gender is perceived by the child.
The culture also reinforces gender stereotypes through the media, politics, music,
and many other mediums.

Also, this is not to say that men and women must fit within the traditional

understanding of gender today. Biology is not destiny. Both men and women
should feel complete freedom to take on the roles and activities of the opposite
gender.
In conclusion, psychology is science, and as such, it gives us empirically
verifiable evidence of human behavior and mental processes. My concept of sex and
gender is one area that has been shaped by the science of psychology.