1. Does physical appearance really matter in how people judge you?

Yes, it does. We tend to hold as an ideal in our society that appearance doesn’t matter, but in reality your exterior has a great deal to do with the impressions people form initially about you. For example, your physical stature (how tall you are) may influence how much your annual income tends to be. Most American presidents have been over six feet tall. If most people find you physically unattractive, this may lead to discrimination. However, handsome people may find themselves judged more harshly in legal proceedings. We very much tend to judge the book by its cover.

Yes. Many people take great comfort in exercising the gender role behavior they have been taught. Many women report that they find nurturing roles to be a source of great enjoyment. They enjoy dressing up, going to the ballet, and helping maintain the intimacy in family relationships, all things that are part of the traditional female role. Many men enjoy traditional role behaviors as well. However, the lessons learned in the past two decades suggest that both males and females should have wider latitude in electing to pursue behaviors that give them pleasure. Men should be able to find joy in nurturing, just as women should be able to hunt and fish, if they choose.

No one knows for certain because this wave of civil rights law is still fairly new. However, many people fear it will broaden the gap between the whites who have formed mainstream culture and ethnic minority groups whose access to mainstream culture increased during the time affirmative action programs were put into effect. Although many more minority individuals have been able to gain access to the opportunities of middle class life, it is unclear what will happen as those doors close. Of course, advocates of affirmative action are predicting disaster.

Maybe, maybe not. Psychologists have a problem in determining whether there has been a real increase in people who identify themselves as gay and bisexual or whether people are just more comfortable reporting their real sexual status. Imagine the difficulties people have had historically in getting accurate answers to potentially embarrassing personal questions. On some occasions the individuals who form the survey may have a particular agenda in mind when they ask sexual questions. It is hard to know what data to trust as truly representative of the population

This is a curious outcome that is not intuitively obvious from religious doctrine. It appears that some religions may inadvertently encourage what social psychologists call “in group vs. out group” discriminatory practices. “ I and all who are like me are superior. Those who think differently than I do must be inferior.” Therefore, I can justify unfavorable treatment of them.