问答题 1 If people can become angry because there is somebody else around who is angry; if students become intelligent because teachers expect them to be intelligent, it is obvious that a study of human behavior requires a study of the social contexts within which people move, the expectations as to how they will behave, and the authority which tells them who they are and what they are supposed to do. And, to understand the true nature of women, we must understand the social expectations about them and the social conditions under which they live.
2 How are women characterized in our culture, and in psychology? They are inconsistent, emotionally unstable, weak, intuitive rather than intelligent, and, if they are at all normal, suited to the home and the family. In short, if they know their place, which is in the home, they are really quite lovable, happy, child-like, loving creatures.
3 In a review of the intellectual differences between little boys and little girls, a psychologist has shown that there are no intellectual differences until about high school, or, if there are, girls are slightly ahead of boys. At high school, girls begin to do worse on a few intellectual tasks, such as arithmetic reasoning, and beyond high school, the achievement of women drops off more rapidly.
There are a number of non-intellectual tests showing sex differences. I choose this one because it is seen clearly that women start becoming inferior. It is no use to talk about women being different but equal; all the tests I can think of have a "good" outcome. Women always end up at the "bad" outcome. 4 In light of social expectations about women, what is surprising is that some women resist this message even after high school, college and graduate school.
5 Many psychologists assume that people move in a context-free condition either. Until they begin to respect evidence, and until they begin looking at the social context within which people move, psychology will have nothing to offer. I don"t know what unalterable differences exist between men and women. Probably there are a number of differences. But it is clear that until social expectations for men and women are equal, until we provide equal respect for both men and women, our answers to this question will simply reflect our prejudices.