Lesson 23

GENDER AND EMOTION

Emotions are one of the basic ingredients of human existence, and the spice of life. Emotions are an
integral component of a persons’ personality man or woman. It is a common observation that men and
women show different emotional response patterns; the way they express emotion is also different.
Stereotypically it is thought that women are more emotional than men. Also their behaviors are guided by
their emotions; they are led by their heart not head. Men, on the other hand, are thought to have control
over their emotions; they can postpone their emotional reaction, and thus act rationally. But how much of
these commonly held beliefs are true? Few questions need to be explored in this regard.

Do men and women have different types of emotions?

Are they born with different emotional packages?
Does the different genetic make up have ay thing to do with it?
Do different proportions of hormones play a part in gender differences in emotions?
BUT the most important questions still need to be posed i.e.:

Are there any real gender differences in emotion???

Do males and females have a different emotional make up, inherently, or is it only the expression of
emotions in which they vary?

Research has shown that males and females both possess the same repertoire of emotions; it is their
upbringing, societal attitudes towards gender roles, gender stereotypically, and observational learning that
leads to different expressions of emotion. Off course biological variables do have a role to play; there is
no denying the fact that hormonal imbalances, physiological conditions trigger different emotional
experiences. Hence women experiencing certain emotions more than men do, and vice versa. But talking
of average, normal, emotional experience, other variables being constant, the gender differences in
emotions may be attributable more too psycho-social cultural factors, rather than biological influences.

The components of Emotions

Psychologists have posed a number of theories proposing various components of emotion. In the earliest
of modern day explanations of emotion, their instinctual nature thus the physiological component, ea
emphasized (Mc Dougall, 1923). Although psychologists agreed upon the physiological aspect of
emotions, the later theories proposed the significance of the cognitive aspect of the emotional experience.
Most theorists agreed upon the combined action of physiological/ physical arousal and cognitive
experience in an emotional response. The issue for debate was thus the question as to whether the
physical arousal was of prime importance or the cognitive labeling of experience. Today, most
psychologists believe in the significance of the cognitive element, without denying the importance of the
physiological accompaniments; off course many other psychologists do propose the edge of biological
experience over the cognitive experience (Zajonc, 1984). Psychologists like Lazarus believe in the
primacy of cognitions.

Schachter and Singer (1962) in their investigation had shown that both physiological arousal and
cognitive labeling were significant components of emotional experience. Their experiment yielded that
subjects could experience different emotions, even when similar levels of physical arousal were present;
the experienced emotion depended upon the setting in which the emotion was experienced as well as the
expectations of the participants.

Before moving forward to investigate and understand gender differences in emotion, one needs to
comprehend the essence of the physiology cognition debate. If you were of a physiological opinion, then
you will believe in the physiological changes in emotion that are the same no matter what the nature of
emotion is. If someone sticks to the significance of cognition alone then the belief will be that emotional
experience is caused by the cognitive experience alone, the physiological element being constant.

In order to identify their emotional experiences, men tend to use physical curs; women depend more on
cognitive information (Pennebaker, & Roberts, 1992). Men’s sensitivity to physical cues is supported by
the fact that men notice and assess their internal physical states better than women; these states include
blood pressure, heart rate, and blood glucose. But one must not take this to be the decisive evidence
supporting men’s edge over women in terms of the ability to gauge alterations in physiological states.
Research has shown that in naturalistic settings, men and women are equally good at identifying changes
in their own bodily states. Whereas women have in edge over men, in naturalistic settings, in terms of
gauging the emotional responses of others. Women are capable, better than men, in identifying others’
emotional experiences on the basis of using situational and contextual cues. Thus women have the ability,
or sensitivity, to sense their own physical states, as well as others emotions.

As said earlier, men and women are endowed with similar emotions, but their expression, and the
interpretation of the situation may be different. The socialization process has an important role to play in
this regard. From very early childhood, boys are taught to control or restrain expression of certain
emotions (e.g., grief), and allowed to express certain others (e.g., aggression). Same is the case with girls,
but the emotions that they are taught to control, and allowed to express are different; they are discouraged
form indulging into aggression, especially physical, and usually not discouraged from expressing grief or
sadness; hence we see many women crying but hardly any man.

Many researchers have tried to identify similarities in emotional experiences of men and women, rather
than differences. Universal features of emotions have been explored in such studies. Facial expression, or
facial movements, accompanying emotional experience have been studied in different cultures. Research
shows that some such movements are universal and are characteristic of emotions across cultures (Ekman,
1984; Ekman, Levenson, and Friesen, 1983).