Differences In Emotional Expression Research Articles

Gender differences in emotional expressivity and self-regulation during early infancy.

Gender differences in emotional expressivity and self-regulation during early infancy.

Gender Differences in Motives for Regulating Emotions

The present study was designed to test the assumption that gender differences in emotion expression are based on differences in the motives held by men and women in social interactions. Three hundred and fourteen students participated in this study by completing a questionnaire. Each questionnaire contained two vignettes that varied with respect to type of emotion (anger, disappointment, fear or sadness), sex of target, and object-target relationship. Dependent variables included measures of emotion expression and of motives for regulating one's emotions. The results support the general hypothesis that women are more concerned with relationships and less reluctant to express powerless emotions, whereas men are more motivated to stay in control and tend to express emotions that reflect their power.

Mapping the domain of expressivity: multimethod evidence for a hierarchical model.

Increased interest in emotional expressivity has led to a proliferation of conceptions and measures. It is unclear, however, whether they all refer to the same construct and whether the domain of emotional expressivity is best conceptualized as unidimensional or multifaceted. Study 1 examined 6 common expressivity questionnaires, yielding 5 factors: Expressive Confidence, Positive Expressivity, Negative Expressivity, Impulse Intensity, and Masking. To develop a nomological network for these factors, the factors were related to broader personality taxonomies and their differential relations to sex and ethnicity were tested. Study 2 provided further evidence of discriminant validity in relation to (a) typical emotion expression in peer relationships, (b) ability to pose emotions in the laboratory, (c) likability, and (d) regulation of emotion and mood. These findings support a hierarchical model of individual differences in emotional expressivity.

Gender and Emotion: Beyond Stereotypes

Stereotypes about gender and emotional expression tend to be imprecise and misleading. They fail to acknowledge situational, individual, and cultural variations in males' and females' emotional expressiveness. They also tend to generalize across emotional intensity and frequency, as well as across different modalities of emotional expression, e.g. verbal vs. behavioral modalities. Moreover, they tend to exaggerate the extent of gender differences in emotional expression. I argue that when gender differences in emotional expression do occur, they can be traced to social processes such as dissimilar gender roles, status and power imbalances, and differing socialization histories of males and females. These processes may predispose some males and females to express emotions differently in some cultures and in some contexts. To support this argument, I present data from two studies, one showing that the amount of time fathers spend with their children relates to the gender stereotypic nature of their children's emotional expressiveness; and the other showing that gender differences in emotional expressiveness are culturally specific in a sample of Asian international, Asian‐American, and European‐American college students. Finally, I note the potentially destructive limitations imposed by stereotypes on males' and females' interpersonal functioning as well as on their mental and physical health.

Children's Family Relationships Between Two and Five: Developmental Changes and Individual Differences

AbstractDevelopmental changes in children's relationships with their mothers and older siblings between 33 and 69 months of age were investigated in a longitudinal study of 47 families, through an examination of family conversations and affect expressed during unstructured home observations. Mother‐child interaction decreased and sibling interaction increased markedly over the period. The prominence of reflective commentary in children's discourse increased while self‐interested moves decreased with both partners; however differences in emotional expression and in patterns of change in the two relationships were marked, with more positive and negative emotion and play with siblings. Individual differences in the trajectory of these changes were correlated with early differences in social understanding, and with SES. The association between children's developing social understanding and these changes in relationships is discussed.

Frontal Electroencephalographic Correlates of Individual Differences in Emotion Expression in Infants: A Brain Systems Perspective on Emotion

Frontal Electroencephalographic Correlates of Individual Differences in Emotion Expression in Infants: A Brain Systems Perspective on Emotion

Cross-age stability in emotional expressions during learning and extinction.

Three groups of infants who initially learned an arm-pull contingency at 2, 4, or 6 months of age were seen again in the same procedure 2 months later. Correlational analysis across a 2-month period for each group indicated that individual differences in emotional expressions were stable during learning and extinction. Specifically, anger during extinction and interest and enjoyment during learning were stable over a 2-month interval. Repeated experience did not affect learning performance or emotion

Watching people talk about their emotions: Inferences in response to full-face vs. profile expressions

Young adults talked to an experimenter about their emotional reactions to video episodes intended to evoke either negative or positive affect. Facial behavior was simultaneously videotaped from three perspectives (full-face, a 90° right profile, and a 90° left profile) without their awareness. Judges viewed a subset of dynamic expressions in one of the three facial perspectives in either normal or mirror-reversed orientation. While subjects talked about a negative affect elicitor, the left hemiface and the full-face were perceived as more expressive than the right hemiface. The left hemiface, in reversed orientation, was perceived to display more emotion than the same expression in original orientation for positive or negative affect. These results are discussed in the context of the literature exploring hemifacial differences in emotional expression and mouth asymmetry during propositional speech.

Age differences in coping with chronic illness.

We examined the correlation between age and six coping strategies in a sample of 151 middle-aged and older chronically ill adults. Coping strategies included cognitive restructuring, emotional expression, wish fulfilling fantasy, self-blame, information seeking, and threat minimization. Older adults were less likely to use emotional expression or information seeking than were middle-aged adults in their efforts to cope with the illness. These strategies were related to age even when numerous illness characteristics (e.g., physical limitations) were used as control variables. Interaction effects showed that older adults who perceived their illnesses as highly serious were less likely than were others to cope by seeking information, reconstruing their illness as having positive aspects, or engaging in wishfulfilling fantasies, and more likely to cope by simply minimizing the illness's threat. Consideration of related research studies suggests that the age differences in emotional expression may be due to age-related shifts in the types of stresses experienced, whereas the age differences in information seeking may be more strongly linked to cohort phenomena.

Age differences in coping with chronic illness.

We examined the correlation between age and six coping strategies in a sample of 151 middle-aged and older chronically ill adults. Coping strategies included cognitive restructuring, emotional expression, wish fulfilling fantasy, self-blame, information seeking, and threat minimization. Older adults were less likely to use emotional expression or information seeking than were middle-aged adults in their efforts to cope with the illness. These strategies were related to age even when numerous illness characteristics (e.g., physical limitations) were used as control variables. Interaction effects showed that older adults who perceived their illnesses as highly serious were less likely than were others to cope by seeking information, reconstruing their illness as having positive aspects, or engaging in wishfulfilling fantasies, and more likely to cope by simply minimizing the illness's threat. Consideration of related research studies suggests that the age differences in emotional expression may be due to age-related shifts in the types of stresses experienced, whereas the age differences in information seeking may be more strongly linked to cohort phenomena.

Sex, Sex Roles, and Emotional Expressiveness

Abstract Differences in emotional expressiveness between males and females have generally been attributed to sex-role socialization, but most studies have not included measures of sex-role orientation. We hypothesized that sex role would be a more salient factor than sex and that androgynous and feminine persons would be more expressive than masculine and undifferentiated individuals. Data were gathered from 230 college students using Bem's (1975) Sex-Role Inventory and Balswick's (1975) Expression of Emotion Scale. Both hypotheses were supported.