Psychology 489/689
FGSS488/688
October 17, 2006
Daryl J. Bem
1. In his introductory essay to this course, Bem remarks that ideological inconsistency may be in the eye of the beholder. Give an example.
An example of apparent inconsistency that may only be in the eye of the beholder is the person who is against abortion but for capital punishment. This may not be consistent with the underlying value that all killing is wrong—the position of the Catholic Church—but it is consistent with the underlying value that killing the innocent (or killing without due process) is wrong.
2. One disadvantage the Orthodox have in trying to persuade others to their point of view is that they must fight the battle on the home turf of the Progressives. What does that mean? Give an example.
In a secular society, logic and empirical evidence—not appeals to transcendent authority—are the legitimized tools of argumentation and persuasion. This is the "home turf" of the Progressives. Thus for tactical purposes, the Orthodox must often argue for their positions on grounds other than those on which they personally base those positions. For example, to argue for teaching Creationism is the schools, they find themselves compelled to discuss evidence for "scientific creationism" or "purposeful design" or to argue against Darwinian evolution on empirical grounds; they cannot simply cite the account of creation in Genesis. In opposing homosexuality, they have to argue on grounds that it is an illness or has detrimental consequences for the individual or for society, not that it is condemned in the Bible.
3. Arguably secular humanists and the Supreme Court are inconsistent when they use a functional definition of religion in interpreting the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment but a substantive definition in interpreting the Establishment Clause. Explain what this means.
A functional definition of religion is based on the role that the beliefs play in an individual's value system, beliefs that answer the "big questions." If you are a secular humanist who believes you should not serve in the armed services because war is immoral—even though you may not believe in a divine being—then under the functional definition, you should be permitted to be a conscientious objector and not fight because of your First Amendment right to the Free Exercise of your religion. (And Supreme Court decisions have increasingly recognized this right.) Under a substantive definition of religion, the beliefs are judged on the basis of their content. Thus, under this definition, it would be a violation of the Establishment Clause (separation of church and state) for a public school to have a mandatory morning prayer mentioning God (and certainly Jesus). But if the state supports a curriculum that reflects the beliefs of secular humanists, then that is OK because secular humanism is not a religion under the substantive definition.
4. Despite the fact that Bem's "489" solution for dealing with culture-war issues in the public schools derives from a Progressive orientation, he claims that it would actually be fairer to Orthodox parents than the current situation. What is his argument on this point?
The "489" solution proposes that young children be taught that culture-war issues are, in fact, issues—a kiddy version of Psych 489. Under the current system, Orthodox parents have to fight against the invisible ideology of secular humanism. The "489" solution makes it visible, permitting them to teach their children how and why their own family ideology is different (and presumably, superior).
5. Answer one of the following two questions about the Lenses of Gender (Brief answers sufficient):
a. "Androcentrism is not just the historically crude perception that men are inherently superior to women but…" But what? Give an example drawn from recent American law, Supreme Court decisions, or some other source.
...that males and male experience define the "human" standard and females and female experience are treated as departures from that standard—as the "other." An example addressed by the Court is health insurance that covered conditions that only men experience (e.g., prostate surgery) but not conditions that only women experience (e.g., pregnancy).
b. Among other things, Sandra Bem's theory of an individual's gender socialization emphasizes a culture's transmission of metamessages. What are metamessages? Give an example (not necessarily a gender one).
Metamessages are the coded information in daily cultural practices that implicitly convey the culture's ideology. Lining up children boy-girl-boy-girl conveys the metamessage that gender is ubiquitously important. Asking a child what he or she wants for dinner conveys the metamessage that the individual is the important unit in our culture.
6 . Answer one of the following two questions:
a. There is a nature-nurture debate among behavioral scientists about the origins of individual differences in sexual orientation. According to Bem, the public debate is actually over a dichotomy different from the nature/nurture dichotomy. What is that?
Both sides of the nature-nurture debate (including Bem's EBE theory) are deterministic, disagreeing only over which determinants are more important. The public debate is about the deterministic assumption itself: Is sexual orientation a free choice or it is determined by variables beyond an individual's control (which, for the public, usually means biological variables)? [See pp. 6-7 of Bem's EBE essay in the course Readings Packet]
b. Surveys show that people who believe that "homosexuals are born that way" are more accepting of lesbians and gay men than are people who believe other explanations. How does Bem interpret this correlation?
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, D. Bem does not believe that most people's beliefs about the causes of sexual orientation determine their attitudes toward homosexuality. Rather he believes the reverse, that their a priori attitudes toward homosexuality determine which causal theory they find the most plausible and palatable.
[This implies that there would be no real political change as a result of the public's coming to believe one explanation over another. For example, suppose the public comes to believe homosexuality is all biological. Those who are pro-gay will see it as like being left-handed, no big deal; those who are anti-gay will see it as being like a physical disability or a tendency toward schizophrenia or alcoholism. [See pp. 6-7 of Bem's EBE essay in the course Readings Packet]. A counter-argument, however, is that those who believe it is biological will be less inclined to fear that it is "contagious," that is, that a young person can be seduced into a homosexual orientation.]
7. Summarize Jonathan Rauch’s “conservative” argument in favor of same-sex marriage. In what sense is this argument conservative rather than liberal?
8. What, according to Luker, is the basic underlying ideological difference between prochoice and pro-life activists in the abortion debate?
Remember the title of the book? Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood. The basic difference is the prescribed role of family and motherhood in the life of a woman. Pro-life activists see this as the most important and defining role; pro-choice activists see it as but one role among many. For most activists, this is what leads to disagreements on more abortion-specific issues (e.g., contraception, when does the fetus become a person).