ABSTRACT
Most people would agree that men and women behave differently under some circumstances and similarly under others. To account for this variable quality of sex differences and similarities, social role theory proposes both distal and proximal causes (see Fig. 9.1; also see Eagly, 1987; Eagly, Wood, & Diekman, 2000). 1 The distal, or ultimate, causes of sex differences consist of (a) the physical characteristics of the sexes and (b) features of social structures and local ecologies. The interactions between these two sets of distal variables produce a male-female division of labor from which the more proximal, or immediate, causes of sex differences emerge. These proximal causes consist of gender roles, or general expectations about women and men, and socialization processes that correspond to the division of labor. In this chapter, we apply this theory to prosocial behavior.
