Psychology 409b Nov 12, 2006

Men…Men…Men

BY: Makalapua Monteilh

 

 

 

Instructions for this activity are found at:

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/g25-oral1.htm

Instructor: Dr. Leon James

 

Coleman, Joshua Ph.D. (2005).  The Lazy Husband.  (New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press).  Reviewing pages 150 181.

 

 

I. What’s with Men Anyways?

A.     Men prioritize their careers over their families

B.     Men’s childhood affect their view of themselves

C.    Biological differences shape men’s perspective and behavior

 

     II. Status Seekers

A.     Status determines the quality of the women they attract

B.     Most people define a man’s success in economic and social status

C.    Although they stated that they value their families over their job, they fail to put these priorities to practice

D.    Men may have a fear of being stigmatized

E.     Men worry that spending time at home instead of work may decrease their status

 

       III. Are Men Wired to Care Less About Parenting?

A.     Men’s lower investment in child-rearing may have something to do with

Paternity

B.     Women know who their children are but men are not 100 % certain

C.    Men wouldn’t want to be contributing to the survival of someone else’s genes

D.    Women apparently push men to be more involved

E.     Men in the U.S. do more house work than those in Germany, France, Italy or Japan

F.     Women’s communication is geared toward intimacy and consensus building while male’s communication is geared toward preserving feelings of independence.

 

        IV. Communicating in Marriage

A.     Women feel more disadvantaged in conversations with men because    they expect reciprocity.

B.     Men sometimes seem more self-involved than women because of the way they listen

C.    Men seem more self-centered in conversations.

D.    Males of all age groups use far less eye contact when communicating

 

 

Related Links:

 

Why we Strive for Status

This article talks about how males were more assertive than females at 13 months, more aggressive than females as toddlers and more competitive at almost any age.  They suggest that men aren’t the only ones who crave status, they just go about it in a more aggressive way.  I found this to be true because I know a number of females who are status seekers but I know they don’t act the same way as males and choose that over their own family

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3068971/

 

 

May Men Still Abdicate Their Parenting Roles

In this article, they explain that men still underestimate the importance of male parenting within the family.  In the 1800, most manuals and books were directed at man but as industrialization advances, men were removed from their homes causing them to be less involved.  Society has come to accept the fact that men are the bread winners and therefore shouldn’t have to participate in child-rearing, but the article suggests that it is imperative that the husbands take on the male parenting role.  I know that males must be involved for both the wife and the children’s sake.

http://www.psychologyhelp.com/fmly167.htm

 

 

Parenting Together: Men and Women Sharing the Care of Their Children

There were interviews done with 40 shared parenting couples who have chosen non-traditional setups to split the parenting chores.  Most say that it has helped dissolve the division of labor and raise their children in a non-sexist way.  The men in the interviews love parenting and do as much as the females, except breast feed them.  Many are jealous of the bond formed between the mother and the child due to breast feeding.  I found this article very interesting because it’s rare to come across fathers who are more involved with their family than with their job and who love doing it.  If there were more males like this out there, women would have nothing to complain about.

 

 

My Homepage:   www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409bf2006/monteilh/monteilh-home.htm

 

Class Homepage:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy25/classhome-g25.htm