Gender and Emotion Social Psychological Perspectives

For ages, women have been considered as the emotional sex. The aim of this book is to investigate this stereotype. A wide range of emotions, such as anger, pride, shame, sadness, and joy, and emotional expressions, such as smiling and laughing are covered in the various chapters. The purpose of each chapter is to show whether sex differences have been found in psychological research in relation to one of these aspects of emotion, in which situations these differences were especially strong, and how (the absence of) these differences can be explained. This book is the first in its field to systematically present an overview of research and theory on gender differences in emotion.

When do people call someone emotional? Why is it generally accepted that women are emotional and men are not? What are the actual differences between men and women with regard to specific emotions? Under what circumstances are these differences most pronounced? How can we explain these alleged differences? In this book a distinguished international group of scholars seek to address these and other questions in an attempt to disentangle the complex and fascinating relationship between gender and emotion. Presenting a systematic overview of the most recent social psychological research in this field, the contributors combine empirical evidence and theoretical explanations to examine a wide range of emotions and emotional expressions and how they vary according to gender and context.

Part I. Cultural, Gender and Emotional Beliefs: 1. Thinking about gender, thinking about theory Stephanie A. Shields; 2. The socialisation of gender differences in emotional expression Leslie R. Brody; 3. Men's and women's lay theories of emotion Vanda L. Zammuner; 4.The relationship between gender and emotions in different cultures Agneta H. Fischer and Anton S. R. Manstead; Part II. Emotion Expression and Communication: 5. Gender differences in nonverbal communication of emotion Judy A. Hall, Jason D. Carter and Terrence G. Horgan; 6. Gender and smiling: a meta-analysis Marianne LaFrance and Marvin Hecht; 7. Sex differences in crying Ad Vingerhoets and Jan Scheirs; 8. Masculine identity and restrictive emotionality Jeroen Jansz; Part III. Distinct Emotions: 9. Women, men and positive emotions Michele G. Alexander and Wendy Wood; 10. Gender and anger Ann Kring; 11. Gender, sadness and depression Robyn Fivush and Janine P. Buckner; 12. Engendering gender differences in shame and guilt Tamara J. Ferguson and Heidi L. Eyre; 13. Sex differences in anxiety and depression Tracey E. Madden, Lisa Feldman Barrett and Paula R. Pietromonaco; Part IV. Epilogue: Gender and emotion: notes from a grateful tourist Kay Deaux.

When do people call someone emotional? Why is it generally accepted that women are emotional and men are not? What are the actual differences between men and women with regard to emotions? Leading scholars seek to address these questions and to disentangle the complex relationship between gender and emotion.