So a couple days ago I recieved an email from a female friend of mine giving me this link to a video of the differences in shower routine between men and women...there's no nudity but, somewhat explicit material so if offended easily don't watch....
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/412867/how_to_shower_men_vs_women/
although the video was quite humorous, and easy to relate to, I sat around for a while afterwards and thought about the reasons of why we do what we do in our daily routines whether it be a shower routine, or going to bed. It brought up the question of nature vs nurture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture), just a quick overview of the subject Nature= everything innate in our DNA that tells us instinctively what to do without outsider learning, whereas Nurture= everything we have learned from role models we have selected, such as how to eat our cereal, how we drive, how to read, write, and sometimes learn...After much laughter from the video, and consulting friends and seeing if the video describes their routine, every male and female I talked to said they have done one or multiple of those things during a shower routine, which brings up the question is our daily routine learned, innate? leave thoughts....
5 comments:
I'm going to start out by saying this video is hilarious - especially the part about men.
I think this has a lot to do with social learning theory - we pick our role models and do as they do. As a young kid, at some point a parent probably introduced you to the idea of the shower and showed you how to not get soap in your eyes, that you need to wash your face, etc.
The rest comes from cultural expectations - women are expected to be really well groomed, shower is where it all starts! I don't feel like these tendencies are innate.
I agree with Kiki that this video illustrates the social learing theory. As we are growing up we watch our parents in the way they get ready and interact. Little girls may pay closer attention to their mom and little boys may pay closer attention to their dad.
Little girls see their mom check herself out in the mirror seeing her flaws in her body shape and size. She may say them out loud or like in the video grab certain parts of her body where she feels she could lose a few. She also uses girly fruity scented hair products and body scrubs in the shower. She also pays close attention to how things are done. For example standing on the rug or putting her robe on to walk to and from her room. Little girls want to be just like their moms and will watch everything they do and try to mimic.
Little boys see their dads flex their muscles, walk around with their shirt off or in their underwear or boxers. When they get in the shower they wash their hair and body not really caring what brand it is. Then when they get out of the shower they may or may not step on the rug. Little boys see their dad do this and so they want to do it too. Kind of like the song we listened to in class. I've been watchin you dad aint that cool...
Although this is a good description of social theory, it may also fit under the cognitive therory because we pick our own role models.
Indeed, the video is very funny, as it plays into the generalized stereotypes we have as to the behaviors of men and women. How we feel that men are slobs, especially when it comes to grooming and taking care of their clothes and as a rule we as a society hold the belief that women are all neat, hence the ten minutes washing her face and the folding of the clothes. Alas, these are just stereotypes and we know that not all men and not all women behave this way.
Gender and societal roles certainly play a part in our learned behaviors, yet I have never believed that all of our actions come from observation. For example, my mother divorced my father when I was a baby and my brother was a toddler. We did not have a great deal of contact with him through the years, so much more with our mother. Yet, we both have certain characteristics that definitely come from him. Many of those behaviors are inherited personality traits, not learned behaviors.
I believe that both nature and nurture have their places in our learning curve of life.
I do not believe that all of these behaviors are learned, because all women would be well groomed and all men would be slobs if this were the case and we certainly know that that is not true. After all, where do "metrosexuals" fit into this theory and we have all known women who are complete slobs.
Certainly many of our behaviors are from social learning, yet many behaviors are genetically predetermined.
I'm going to agree with kiki. I think the social learning theory does play a big part in this video.
I remember, as a kid, watching my mom get ready in the morning and then watching my dad shave. Just seeing how different their routines were shaped the way I do things today.
The video was great. Men have it so easy!! =)
I was actually thinking about nature versus nurture today in class. I think this is a topic that relates to many things in life and we will never know the true answer. It has to be a combination of both, if anything swaying towards the nurture side, but still a combination.
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