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Psychology 320: Psychology of Gender and Sex Differences

December 3

Lecture 23

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Office Hour InvitationsDecember 3, 2:30-4:30PM, Kenny 3102

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Exam 2December 10

12:00-2:30PM, Hebb 100

• The exam is worth 20% of your final grade.

• The exam will be scored out of 50 points: 20 multiple choice questions (1 point each), 6-8 extended response questions (2-8 points each, estimated; totaling 30 points).

• Please arrive on time to facilitate rapid distribution of the exams.

• Bring a pencil, eraser, pen, and student ID to the exam.

• All electronic devices must be stored prior to the exam.

• Bags and backpacks should be left at the front of the room. Valuables may be placed under your seat.

• Turn in extra copies of the exam at the start of the examination period; university policy requires that all exams be accounted for before students are permitted to leave the examination room.

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• The exam will cover:

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• Reminder: In the case of a discrepancy between the material presented in the textbook and the material presented in class, please rely upon the material presented in class for the purpose of exam preparation.

Chapters 5-8All material discussed in class since November 3.

1. I will hold additional office hours and an optional Q&A review session outside of class in preparation for the exam:

Tuesday, December 8: 9:00-11:00AM (Kenny 3102) Wednesday, December 9: 10:00AM-12:00PM

(Buchanan A240)Wednesday, December 9: 12:00-1:00PM (Buchanan

A203, optional Q&A review session)

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Announcements

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2. Tutorial 6 of the Peer Mentor Program is scheduled at the following times:

December 7, 3:00-5:00PM, Buch B211December 8, 11:00AM-1:00PM, Buch B210

The discussion questions for Tutorial 6 will be posted on the course website (see Peer Mentor Program).

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3. Beth (students L-Z) will hold office hours on December 8 rather than December 10 to accommodate

questions related to the exam.

A little R&R ….(Review and Reflect)

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Emotion

1. Are there sex differences in emotional expression?

2. What is restrictive emotionality?

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. review research findings regarding sex differences in emotional expression.

2. distinguish between “internalizers” and “externalizers.”

3. discuss the relationship between sex and display rules for emotional expression.

4. discuss the relationship between gender and emotional expression.

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5. define the terms restrictive emotionality and alexithymia.

6. discuss the correlates of restrictive emotionality.

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Are there sex differences in emotional expression?

• A substantial body of research has demonstrated sex differences in emotional expression:

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Preschool children show no sex differences in emotional expression; however, sex differences emerge by age six (girls > boys). This has been attributed to parents’ greater emotional expression with daughters than sons (Adams et al., 1995).

Adolescent boys are more likely than adolescent girls to deny having ever had an emotional experience (Stapely & Haviland, 1989).

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Female undergraduates rate themselves higher on spontaneous emotional expression; male undergraduates rate themselves higher on emotional control (Guerrero & Reiter, 1998).

Among non-student samples, adult women indicate that they engage in more emotionally expressive behaviour than adult men (Simon & Nath, 2004).

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Women and men identify facial expressions of emotions more readily among females than males (LaFrance & Banaji, 1992).

Physiological measures reveal greater facial reactivity among females than males when experiencing similar emotions (Kring & Gordon, 1998; Thunberg & Dimberg, 2000).

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Females Males

Corrugator Response

.305 .155

Unpleasantness Rating (0-9)

4.458 4.360

Skin Conductance Response

.146 .186

Mean Corrugator Supercilii Responses, Skin Conductance Responses and Unpleasantness Ratings

for Fear-Relevant Stimuli for Females and Males (Thunberg & Dimberg, 2000)

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• Theorists attribute sex differences in emotional expression to display rules: “Norms regarding the expected management of facial appearance” (Ekman,

1973).

Amplification Expressing an emotion more intensely than what is truly felt.

Unmodified expression Displaying an emotion as felt, with no modification.

Qualification Displaying an emotion with another emotion, either blended simultaneously or occurring sequentially, to qualify or comment on one's emotion.

Deamplification Expressing an emotion less intensely than what is truly felt.

Masking Displaying some other emotion than what is truly felt.

Neutralization Displaying nothing.

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Emotional Display Rules (Matsumoto, 2011)

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• Display rules encourage the expression of powerless emotions (e.g., sadness, fear, guilt) by females and the expression of powerful emotions (e.g., anger,

contempt, pride) by males (e.g., Safdar et al., 2009).

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Kring and Gordon (1998)

Asked participants to complete the BSRI.

Examined participants’ emotional expression in response to film clips designed to evoke distinct emotional experiences.

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Frequency of Expressions by Sex (Kring and Gordon, 1998)

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Disgust Sadness Fear Happiness

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Freq

uenc

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Frequency of Expressions by Gender Role Classification (Kring and Gordon, 1998)

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Disgust Sadness Fear Happiness

MasculineAndrogynousFeminineFr

eque

ncy

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What is restrictive emotionality?

• Refers to limited emotional expression among individuals.

• Is fostered through observation of models, interpersonal familial dynamics, and social rewards and punishments.

• Associated with masculinity; accordingly, is more common among males than females.

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• Consider your reaction to the following conversation:

Mike, I’ve been so upset since we had that argument, I could hardly sleep last night. Are you sure you’re really not mad at me?

Jim, I’m so relieved …. I was just as afraid that you’d be mad at me!

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• Restrictive emotionality (RE) is associated with (Wester et al., 2004):

anxiety and depression.

physiological distress (e.g., increased blood pressure).

anger.

homophobia.

relationship difficulties.

alexithymia.

use of “immature” ego defenses (e.g., displacement, denial vs. anticipation, sublimation).

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• Long (1987) described anger as the “male emotional funnel system.”

Cohn et al. (2009): Found that males who are high in RE are more likely than males who were low in RE to exhibit aggression.

• Chronic anger is associated with increased incidence of hypertension, heart attack and stroke.

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. review research findings regarding sex differences in emotional expression.

2. distinguish between “internalizers” and “externalizers.”

3. discuss the relationship between sex and display rules for emotional expression.

4. discuss the relationship between gender and emotional expression.

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5. define the terms restrictive emotionality and alexithymia.

6. discuss the correlates of restrictive emotionality.

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Psychology 320: Psychology of Gender and Sex Differences

To Date ….

• Introductory Concepts• Research Methods• History of Research• Gender Stereotypes• Biological Theories of Sex Differences• Theories of Gender Development• Gender Identity and Dysphoria• Intelligence and Cognitive Abilities• Emotion