Behavior Patterns in Adapting to New Environment - Essay Example

?Gender Difference in Adapting To New Environment There are different factors that affect adaptability to new environment or situation and that gender difference is one of them. Gender differences might consist of genetic differences, social differences, psychological differences and emotional differences. As Buller (112) states, genetic differences among humans never produce differences in psychological adaptations. Among them, therefore differences in psychological adaptations of male and female are brought by their psychological differences. The most common social differences that are observed socially between the genders is their specific roles in the society. The roles stems their roots from the environment in which an individual has been in. Learning takes a major part in establishing these roles in to the system of an individual. There are different routes through which an individual learn of their roles and rewards and punishment is one of them (Carroll 97). According to Carroll (97), children learn about appropriate behaviors from their parents. Other people who play part in gender behavior development among the children are relatives, peers, and teachers. Not forgetting the media, which happens to be the main source of behavior influence, it plays a very significant role when it comes to gender behavior development (Carroll 98). Most behavior patterns, actions, preference professions, and emotion differ with gender type (Carroll 98). Time, energy, resources, and meaning invested in relationships also differ among males and females (Daka and Martin 132). This is because of the emotional differences revealed between the males and females. The differences between the genders result to them using different strategies to adapt to new environments (Daka and Martin 133). Due to the dynamic nature of gender roles, adaptation strategies adopted by different genders are changing. This is an indication that we might find that the way different genders adapt to new environment will be differing significantly in future. Culture and orientation also plays a big role in molding gender behavior. Personal identity is defined by culture hence becoming a strong part of a person’s behavior. These culture and identity are greatly influenced by the media and by legends, stories, and symbols, they get established deep into somebody’s daily living (Daka and Martin 136). The event I have decided to watch is Harvard Youth & Family Swimming Championship. This event took place on 31 March at Blodgett Pool in Allston, Harvard University. It attracted 300 participants and a multitude of fans. The participants were children of different gender aged between 6 year and 13 years. The fans were Harvard students and the people living in areas around the university. The main aim of this event was to introduce city children to introductory level competition swimming. Another aim was to introduce a new perspective to swimming, being in a university and thinking about life among the participants. In my observation, I aimed to obtain answers to the following research questions: 1. How will the children be reacting on that day? 2. Will their reactions be influenced by gender? 3. What evidence will show that their reactions are influenced by gender? 4. Are there other factors that influence their reactions on this day? 5. Are these factors affected by the gender of the student? 6. How is the idea of personal identity shown? Answers to the above questions were to help me defend my main hypothesis, which was that different genders adapt differently to new environments. For me to get all the information required, I got there early to catch all the events. It was difficult to catch all the reactions of the participant due to the size of the crowd but to solve this; I interviewed randomly selected participants at the end of the event. During the event I discovered that majority of the participants were males and that the entire group of participants was excited about participating in this event. I also observed that the female participants were more excited than the male participants were. I also observed that about 70% of the participants were chatting with each other and that of this percentage about 60% were females. In addition, I observed that there was a group of participant, which remained quiet for the most part of the event, and another group that was talking the better part of the event. I generally observed that the rate of talking differed from one participant to another. I also observed that almost a 100% of the participants were looking all around enthusiastically, puzzled by the facilities they were using for the event. From the analysis of my observations, I discovered that males like competing more than females and that when they get to a competing environment they tended to adapt faster than majority of the females. I also discovered that females are more social than males at this particular age group and that they took less time to create relationships among themselves than the males. This in turn assists them to get comfortable with other completely strange females within a short period. The females were also greatly affected by the size of the cloud especially when applauded by the cloud after winning. I discovered 10 of the female participants having tears rolling down their cheeks. Four of these shed their tears because of the joy after winning while the remaining six were sorrowful after losing. Among the males there were only two such cases with one male participant shedding tears after winning and the other one shedding tears after losing. A major pattern that I discovered through my observation is that majority of males adopt easily to new environments of competition. They are either less excited or do not show their excitement, they talk less with strangers, are not affected by large crowd and are not overtaken by emotions. Another pattern I discovered is that females talk more to strangers, they easily express their emotion and are easily affected by the large crowd. I discovered that there were various exceptions to these patterns. A big group of participants did not express the above patterns. One group of these participants consisted of the two male participants who shed their tears after being overtaken by emotion. Another group was made up of the two female participants who showed no emotional excitement even after winning. There was group of participants that seemed very confident and very knowledgeable of everything that was happening in that place. This group adapted very first to the environment and even seemed to have been in this place more than ten times before. The analysis of my observation reveals that there is a significant difference between how male and females adapt to strange environment. This actually influences what they think of themselves and influence their ideas of who they are. I discovered when I asked one of the participants why she thought was the reason for her losing. This participant said that it was because she was shy and therefore was greatly affected by the laud applause from the crowd. She tried to explain how as a girl she could not do as much as boys did. My findings also reveal that majority of male participants was able to control their emotions. This influenced other people’s idea of who they are. Majority of the fans revealed through the interviews that the boys participants were emotionally stronger than the girls and that this was what helped to adapt so quickly to the competition environment. Although my findings show that, there is a significant difference between the male and females of this particular age group, conclusion cannot be made that this is the only factor that influence adaptability. This is due to various exceptions revealed by our observations. These exceptions can be viewed to have resulted from the difference in the personal identity of the participants. This personal identity can be influence by many other factors like family background, identity of the parents and environment of their upbringing. To support these findings, I propose that the same kind of observation be made but this time on people from different age groups. This will assist in seeing whether the same observations will be made and similar conclusions done on the new age group. Work Cited Buller, David J. Adapting Minds: Evolutionary Psychology and Persistent Quest For Human …Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005. Print. Carroll, Jannell L. Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity. Belmont: Cengage Publishers, 2009. Print. Doka, Kenneth L. and Martin, Terry L. Grieving Beyond Gender: Understanding the Way Men and Women Mourn. New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 2010. Print. Read More