A Social Experiment with Children

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2002-11-13 02:07am

First, boys and girls start being taught to behave differently (act like a boy or act like a girl) at a very young age. For example, from my psychology book, when boys play rough, they're left alone. When girls start to try to play rough, the overseers, usually teachers, stop them and scold them, often saying stuff like "That's not lady-like" or something like that.

So eventually boys are encouraged to act like boys and girls are encouraged to act like girls, thus the men and women we grow up into. This may not always be the case, but in majority of households and schools, they are. No hard statistical evidence to prove this, I have by the way, but I think it's safe to assume that this is how it's like.

Now, with that in mind, let's say that moral issues were set aside and a group of infants were taken to some isolated environment. An equal number of boys and girls, with many different races included. These infants are taken to said isolated environment, which is big enough and involving enough to be interesting for the children to live in for many years.

Now, here's the difference. As stated above, instead of scolding a girl for playing rough, let's say that the "teachers" or "parents" are well-trained to behave differently in this situation. Instead of scolding the girls, they let them play rough, just like the boys. In simpler terms, girls and boys are treated the same.

Let's fast forward to the time when our kids reach the age of twelve. How will they be different from "normal" kids? Will girls act differently, or will some instinctual factor still move their development towards being "girl-like"?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2002-11-13 02:09am

I don't see a point.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2002-11-13 02:10am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I don't see a point.

Curiosity.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2002-11-13 02:11am

I don't think there really would be a difference, other than the girls maybe being slightly more agressive.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-11-13 02:27am

Nature vs. Nurture. My guess is that there would be more of an equality in behavior between boys and girls. Though it would be something like it is now, with the feminist movement and all, just probably more so.

Yogi · Post by **Yogi** » 2002-11-13 02:36am

From what I remember from similar studies, the girls still wind up less agressive than the boys.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2002-11-13 02:54am

The Age-Old conflict between Biological Determinism and Social Engineering. My 2 cents are that it's a combination of the two that make us the humans we are today.

data_link · Post by **data_link** » 2002-11-13 02:55am

Those studies forgot to take into account that classical conditioning isn't the only thing segregating the sexes - there's also the tendency to mimic observed adult relationships, and children are very perceptive. Plus I don't know weather they took into account the difference in how children are told to be productive members of society - boys are generally given the message "use your abilities to do something useful" whereas girls here "do things that are pleasing to other people" thereby leading boys to judge their own worth by their ability and girls to judge their worth by other's opinion of them. That seems to be the big difference between boys and girls, and AFAIK these studies did not account for it.

Jawawithagun · Post by **Jawawithagun** » 2002-11-13 08:25am

read James P. Hogan's "Voyage from Yesteryear". premise: probe is sent to Centauri containing embryos and robots to nurture them, to build a colony there. They create a decidedly different culture from the Earthian one. Culture clash ensues when the next ship from earth arrives some 40 years later.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2002-11-13 09:39am

"Nature vs Nurture" is a false dilemma. It is more likely a combination of both.

The behavioural effects of testosterone are well-documented. This is something the pure-nurture crowd consistently fails to acknowledge. Similarly, the powerful effect of conditioning is well-documented. This is something the pure-nature crowd consistently fails to acknowledge. There's more issues, but that's enough to cut down the "nature vs nurture" false dilemma.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2002-11-13 11:37am

Darth Wong wrote:"Nature vs Nurture" is a false dilemma. It is more likely a combination of both.

The behavioural effects of testosterone are well-documented. This is something the pure-nurture crowd consistently fails to acknowledge. Similarly, the powerful effect of conditioning is well-documented. This is something the pure-nature crowd consistently fails to acknowledge. There's more issues, but that's enough to cut down the "nature vs nurture" false dilemma.

Unh, oh that wasn't what I meant. I just meant that those were the two things involved really and that they were sort of combating each other. I think that girls will approach boys in behavior but boys will probably be more "masculine."