From: <edryce@juno.com>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 10:34:45 -0800
Subject: Re: memetics-digest VI #106
I'd like to hear more about your work on student learning styles.
Edryce Reynolds
Tacoma, Washington
On Thu, 26 Nov 1998 08:58:55 -0500 (EST) BMSDGATH <BMSDGATH@livjm.ac.uk>
writes:
>On Wed, 25 Nov 1998 15:57:15 GMT Soclab2 <A.Rousso@uea.ac.uk> wrote:
>> >
>
>> If we accept the two premises that (1) nowadays, most people have
>sex
>in the missionary position; (2) and we
>> evolved from animals that have sex in the, ahem, "animal" position,
>we reach an interesting point. If you think about
>> it (ooh, go on), topologically speaking the two abovementioned
>positions are the only possible ones. Now, there
>> cannot have been a smooth evolution from one position to the other -
>
>there has to be a discrete jump. Assuming we
>> disregard the unlikelihood that one couple "invented" this meme and
> all examples of it since have evolved by
>> imitation from them - it means that there has been a great deal of
>creation of the "missionary position" meme over
>> the world (before it spread like wildfire memetically, presumably by
>
>dint of Victoriana [does anyone know?])
>
>Thinking again about this last night, I remembered that I came
>across a preprint of an article coming out in Journal of Sex
>Research (via JSR friend). In fact it may even be publised by
>now. I'll see if I can dig it out for you.
>
>Basically the article is on 'sexual styles'. These are not
>strict anatomical particulars but general ..erm.. behavioural
>profiles I think is possibly the expression. There are 3 (or
>maybe 4, my memory is failing me). There are definitely 2 called
>'Trance' and 'Engagement'. 'Engagers' if I remember rightly have
>more sexual partners than other stylists.
>
>I'm currently doing some work on student 'learning styles'. Again
>these are broad behavioural profiles. The question for memetics
>is to what degree these things are imitated or learned, versus to
>what extent they are emergent properties of basic personality
>traits (genetic? I daren't comment). I've been trying to show
>that students copy their learning styles from their colleagues,
>and have been failing miserably to find any evidence for this.
>The dictum in edu.res. circles is that learning styles are
>personality linked and therefore not readily transmissible.
>
>The point is that if sexual styles are also personality linked,
>then orientation (in the literal sense of the word) may be
>something more deeply genetically seated. So to find an inventor
>of the missionary position may be.... well, less pertinent than
>asking why general sexual styles changed (if indeed they did).
>
>The missionary position, in short, may be a spandrel.
>
>Derek
>
>
>
>===============================================================
>This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
>Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
>For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
>see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit