Breaking it down
Generally in our western world women are “stereotypically” known to be overwhelmed with feelings and to be more guided by them, in contrast to men who “stereotypically” make decisions based on cool, rational deliberation.
Our two emotional and communication styles have people all around the world questioning how can we be so different? Are women really from Venus and men from Mars?
We are prisoners of society
The culture you surround yourself with dictates what is “appropriate” expressions of emotions and consequently influences the differences we see between men and women portraying the same feelings in different ways.
These are called display rules - and are enriched in our culture. They are so deeply absorbed and indoctrinated by society that they have been led to the belief that there are true sex differences in relation to emotion.
What if I told you men were more emotional than women?
Contradictory to today’s gender stereotypes, research may even suggest that men might be slightly more emotional than women. Whereas women may be more willing to report their emotions and claim to have stronger feelings, social norms may put pressure on men to suppress their emotions and not admit to having the same strong feelings.
The stereotypes of overemotional women and restrained men are among the most prevalent in the United States. A study stereotyping of emotion showed a bias in identifying anger with men and not women. Participants tended to interpret women’s reactions as sadness rather than anger, and had trouble seeing women as angry, even when women’s expressions were clearly angry.
The tendency for women to cry when they feel angry has repetitively appeared in cross-cultural surveys of emotion and in studies in which women alone explored their emotion expressions. For women, crying is a common expression of emotion, even in response to anger. It is considered a more culturally appropriate means of expressing anger than physical aggression.
However, crying is discouraged among boys and consequently men are much less likely to cry than women. Indeed men often misinterpret women’s crying as sadness or grief, which would be inappropriate in situations that provoke anger. This tendency for women to cry in situations in which men would not, may provide an explanation as to why women receive the label of “overemotional”.
The greater emotionality of women may be an illusion, the traditional view that women are more emotional and talk more, has also proven to be false. The smallest of gender differences are depicted, in which comparatively highlights (would you believe it) male’s tendency to talk more!
Why Men are more Emotional than Women
Men fall in love faster than women
Men have more experiences than women of loving someone that doesn’t love them back
When a love relationship breaks up men suffer more intense emotional distress than women
Men have more traditional concepts of love and marriage and are more romantic than women
Men are more likely to have romantic beliefs such as “Love lasts forever” and “there is one perfect love in the world for everyone.”
Women however are more likely to report physical symptoms of being in love, such as feeling like they are “floating on a cloud”
Boys find it more difficult than girls to calm themselves down once upset, so therefore work harder to avoid emotion in the first place
The traditional stereotype of female emotionality is wrong.
However there is an understandable basis for it with western society and culture placing men under more pressure to restrain from emotions and refrain from expressing feelings.
I will let these facts resonate with you, in the meantime keep your eyes out for part 2 of this issue – learning specifically the psychology on how to understand your other half!
If you want to know more or read the psychological scientific journals yourself ?
Click Here to find the list of studies mentioned in this issue
