GENDER AND EMOTION:The components of Emotions

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Gender Issues In Psychology (PSY - 512)

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

Gender Issues In Psychology (PSY - 512)

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).

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