Sex Differences in Emotional Processing in Language

Abstract

Many studies report sex differences in language processing, but there is still no consensus about differences between men and women in language processing. However, the sex differences in emotional processing are more evident and consistent. In this paper, some studies on sex differences in specific emotional area: emotional processing in language, empathy and pragmatic aspect of language, and humor processing are reviewed. These results demonstrate that women engage more emotion-related brain areas than men and the results are in consistent with sex-related cognitive style strategy hypothesis, that is, men and women favor different cognitive strategies during emotional processing. Based on the findings, sex-related cognitive strategies hypothesis and extreme male brain hypothesis are discussed. Men and women favor different cognitive strategies during emotional processing, and women show more sensitivity to emotion processing in language. Although biology may play a role to affect sex differences, the most important factor might be the different cognitive strategies employed by men and women influenced by sex hormones. The favor of different cognitive styles encourages women to have stronger drive to empathize and play the key role in sex-related differences in emotional processing in language, empathy and pragmatic reasoning, and humor processing. It is concluded that women are more efficient than men in emotional processing.