Gender differences in emotional development: A review of theories and research

Abstract

Theones, data, methodological and conceptual problems concerning the study of gender differences m the development of defenses, emotional expression, recognition, and expenences are reviewed Data indicate gender differences m several areas of emotional functioning, including nonverbal sensitivity, expressiveness, self-reports of anger, fear, and sadness, the quality of defenses, and cognitive correlates of recognition abilities Studies suggest that with development, boys increasingly inhibit the expression and attribution of most emotions, whereas girls increasingly inhibit the expression and recognition of socially unacceptable emotions, e g , anger These differences may be a function of different socialization processes for males and females, which may be adaptations to innate gender differences in temperament, or adaptations to existing sociocultural pressuresThe present paper argues that emotions motivate and regulate adaptive behaviors, and that researchers must explore gender differences in emotional development as a function of different familial, sociocultural, and interpersonal roles to which males and females must adapt Regardless ofthe relative emphasis placed on the social, cognitive, or biological determinants of emotion, the hypothesis that emotional expression, recognition, and experiences may differ dramatically for the two sexes is implicit in almost every tbeory of emotional development (cf Brenner, 1980, Chodorow, 1978, Izard, 1971, Kemper, 1978a and b. Miller, 1976 This hypothesis has important implications for theories about emotional change (including theories about psychotherapy), for theories about psychopathology, and for more general theories about personahty development For example, most personality theonsts view emotions as either subsystems of, or as the primary determinants of, other aspects of personality func-I would like to thank Ross Buck, Joseph G Cunningham, Bnnton Lykes, Abigail Stewart, Anne Thompson, Kathleen White, and an anonymous reviewer for their thoughtful comments and cntiques of this manuscript I would also especially like to thank Abigail Stewart for her patience and encouragement m waiting for the final version of this manuscript, and Louise True for her perseverance and help in typing the many revisions this manuscnpt underwent Requests for repnnts should be sent to Leslie R Brody,

The contingent smile: A meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling.

“…Our data set, comprising as it does more age distinctions, allows us to see that the relationship between age and smiling does not simply increase with age; rather, it appears to increase to a certain point after which it declines. This pattern of decreasing sex differences in smiling beyond adolescence is consistent with speculation from several sources that gender differentiation becomes increasingly important as individuals move from childhood toward early adulthood and declines thereafter (Birdwhistell, 1970;Brody, 1985;Saarni & Weber, 1999).…”

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“…In general, however, these studies have failed to find consistent and significant differences in expressiveness between male and female infants. Rather, differences between boys' and girls' expressiveness appear to emerge after the preschool years and are likely influenced by both peer and family socialization (Brody, 1985).…”

“…With respect to sex differences, this intriguing notion suggests that men may have a lower threshold for experienced emotion than they do for facial expression. From a developmental perspective, fairly well-established theories suggest that boys and girls learn different rules for the expression of emotion, but not necessarily for the experience of emotion (see Brody, 1985, for a review). In general, boys learn to conceal their feelings, whereas girls learn to more freely express their feelings while also learning how to control their expressive behavior.…”

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“…Brody (1985) indicates that the differences between men and women may be a function of different socialization processes, because there are gender differences in several emotional areas. Hyde (2014) conducted a meta-analysis and concluded that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables.…”