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Is There Anything Good About Men?
This provocatively entitled paper by Roy Baumeister, Eppes Eminent Professor of Psychology & Head of Social Psychology Area at Florida State University, is very interesting. A refreshing look at alternative interpretations of data on gender in human relations and how it can be explained. If you don’t want to read the full paper, here’s a summary from the NY Times.
Posted by windley on August 21, 2007 5:26 PM
Comment from jeremy at August 23, 2007 3:31 PM
Really interesting article; thanks for the pointer.
However, I have to wonder, because it feels like there is a little bit of "question begging" or at least "chicken vs egging" going on: Are men "that way" because there are twice as many men born as women? Or are there twice as many men born as women, because men are "that way"?
I think the article presumes the former. That is, because twice as many men are born, the argument goes, it pushes men toward more exploration and adventure, it pushes men toward being "that way".
On the other hand, I can see arguments for the latter perspective, too. That is, because men are more exploratory and adventurous and "that way", Nature, rather than men, is free to experiment with giving birth to twice as many men.
So which causes which, from an evolutionary-theoretic standpoint?
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