Gender differences in masking negative emotions: Ability or motivation?

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that boys display greater negative affect than girls when they receive a disappointing gift. In this study, ability and motivation were investigated as possible reasons for the gender differences. First-and 3rd-grade children's emotion dissimulation in a disappointing gift task was compared with their degree of dissimulation in a highly motivating game task that required the same ability (masking disappointment with a positive expression) but involved a self-gain motive. If boys are motivated, can they hide their disappointment as well as girls? Boys reduced their expression of negative affect in the game task; however, they still showed higher levels of negativity than did the girls. Perhaps because of socialization experiences, girls have more practice in hiding disappointment and, therefore, are better skilled. Girls also showed higher levels of social monitoring behaviors than boys, and younger girls demonstrated the greatest number of tension behaviors.

Emotion regulation and understanding: implications for child psychopathology and therapy

“…Researchers examine the child's actual expressions and also ask for the child's description of how s/he feels about the prize. Children as young as 3 exhibit some use of display rules (e.g., Cole, 1986), with girls doing so more frequently than boys (e.g., Davis, 1995). Relatedly, children can ''hide'' their emotion by changing their facial expression as early as age 3 (e.g., Lewis, Stanger, & Sullivan, 1989).…”

The Gift of Similarity: How Good and Bad Gifts Influence Relationships

“…Simply expecting to interact with a stranger provides sufficient motivation to minimize a minor transgression by this stranger (Gilbert, Lieberman, Morewedge, & Wilson, 2004), and gender differences in such interpersonal behavior appear in the context of "mere" relationships with strangers and new acquaintances (Davis, 1995;Saarni, 1984). For example, elementary-school girls were more likely than boys to conceal negative reactions after receiving a disappointing gift from an experimenter, presumably to avoid hurting the feelings of the experimenter, who the children had met for the first time that week.…”

Comparative Study of Abused Children and General Children's Emotional Intelligence and Emotion Regulation

“…아동의 정서 발달이 부모자녀관계 속 에서 시작 (Salovey & Mayer, 1996) (Saarni, 1984;Underwood, Coie, & Herbsman, 1992;Davis, 1996) 으로 아동이 또래와 관계를 형성하고 유지하도록 하는데 중요 한 요인 (Cassidy et al, 1992;Hubbard & Coie, 1994;Underwood, 1997;Hwang, 1999;Kwon, 2002;Han, 2005;Han, 2006)이며 정서조절을 통해 행동문제가 감소 (Hwang, 1999) 된다. 2) 정서조절 정서조절을 측정하기 위하여 선행연구 (Saarni, 1979;Gnepp & Hess, 1986;Underwood, Coie, & Herbsman, 1992 To regulate verbal statement for regulating emotion.…”

“…Abused children presented less prosocial motivation, motivation of self-preservation and normative motivation than general children. (Saarni, 1984;Underwood, Coie, & Herbsman, 1992;Davis, 1996) 으로 아동이 또래와 관계를 형성하고 유지하도록 하는데 중요 한 요인 (Cassidy et al, 1992;Hubbard & Coie, 1994;Underwood, 1997;Hwang, 1999;Kwon, 2002;Han, 2005 …”