Abstract
Males are known for more suppression of emotional displays than females. However, when the emotion regulation effect of expressive suppression is greater in males, and how this sex difference varies with emotion display-related personality (e.g., extraversion), are undetermined. Event-related potentials were recorded while male and female participants different in extraversion were required to attend to or suppress emotional expression to negative pictures. Sex and extraversion did not modulate self-reported emotional experience. However, late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes showed an extraversion-moderated sex difference in the 2000–3000 ms and the 3000–4000 ms time epochs. LPP amplitudes were decreased during suppression versus viewing conditions in ambivert males, while this effect was absent in ambivert females. However, the LPP amplitudes of extraverts were similar for suppression and viewing conditions, irrespective of sex and timing. Regardless of early, middle, or late time windows, LPP amplitudes were positively related to self-reported emotion. These results suggest a male advantage for using expressive suppression for emotion regulation in non-extraverted, ambivert individuals.
Highlights
Expressive suppression is a widely used emotion regulation strategy, and this strategy has been proved effective in regulating emotional consequences in East Asian societies (Butler et al, 2007; Yuan et al, 2014a,b)
Though all the samples showed no significant reduction in emotional experiences after suppressing unpleasant emotions, ambivert males, rather than ambivert females, were associated with significantly smaller late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes during expressive suppression relative to viewing conditions in the 2000–4000 ms at midline, central, and centroparietal regions
LPP amplitudes of extraverts were similar for suppression and viewing conditions in all time windows, irrespective of sex
Summary
Expressive suppression is a widely used emotion regulation strategy, and this strategy has been proved effective in regulating emotional consequences in East Asian societies (Butler et al, 2007; Yuan et al, 2014a,b). Males are less emotionally expressive in humans’ daily communication and engage more emotion-expressive suppression than females, supported by a number of empirical studies (Buck et al, 1974; Kring et al, 1994; Barrett et al, 1998; Kring and Gordon, 1998; Hess et al, 2000; Parkins, 2012; Chaplin and Aldao, 2013). Matud (2004) has observed that females have more chronic and daily stress than males, which is closely associated with sex differences in stress coping: Females used more emotional and avoidance coping styles, whereas males adopted more rational coping and emotional-expressive suppression (Matud, 2004). Females cry more often than males (Lombardo et al, 1983; Ross and Mirowsky, 1984). Matud (2004) has observed that females have more chronic and daily stress than males, which is closely associated with sex differences in stress coping: Females used more emotional and avoidance coping styles, whereas males adopted more rational coping and emotional-expressive suppression (Matud, 2004).
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