Differences in Expressiveness: Gender, Interpersonal Orientation, and Perceived Parental Expressiveness as Contributing Factors

Balswick, Jack O.; Avertt, Christine Proctor

doi:10.2307/351068

Cited by 118 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Indeed, a number of studies have found that more expressive persons report coming from more expressive family environments (e.g., Balswick & Avertt, 1977;Burrows & Halberstadt, 1987;Halberstadt, 1986;Halberstadt, Fox, & Jones, 1993). The mechanism by which children adopt expressive styles similar to those of family members is unclear, but a number of socialization processes have been posited, including mod-eling, labeling, and reinforcing (Halberstadt, 1991;Malatesta & Haviland, 1985;Saarni, 1985).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies investigating specific emotions have found that women are more expressive of sadness (e.g., Allen & Haccoun, 1976;Balswick & Avertt, 1977;Fujita et al, 1980;Rotter & Rotter, 1988;Schwartz et al, 1980;Zuckerman et al, 1975; but see Tucker & Riggio, 1988), disgust (e.g., Fujita et al, 1980;Rotter & Rotter, 1988;Tucker & Riggio, 1988;Wagner et al, 1993;Wagner etal., 1986;Zuckerman etal., 1975),fear(e.g.,Allen& Haccoun, 1976Rotter & Rotter, 1988;Schwartz et al, 1980;Wagner et al, 1993;Zuckerman et al, 1975), surprise (e.g., Fujita et al, 1980;Wagner et al, 1993;Wagner et al, 1986;Zuckerman et al, 1975), happiness or smiling (e.g., Balswick & Avertt, 1977;Barr & Kleck, 1995;Frances, 1979;Fujita et al, 1980;Halberstadt et al, 1988;Tucker & Riggio, 1988;Zuckerman et al, 1975; but see Wagner et al, 1986), and anger (e.g., Allen & Haccoun, 1976;Schwartz et al, 1980;Wagner et al, 1993;Zuckerman et al, 1975; but see Rotter & Rotter, 1988).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That is, a number of studies have found women to be more expressive than men using a variety of expression measures, such as EMG (e.g., Greenwald, Cook, & Lang, 1989;Lang, Greenwald, Bradley, & Hamm, 1993;Schwartz, Brown, & Ahem, 1980), ratings of communication accuracy (e.g., Buck, Baron, Goodman, & Shapiro, 1980;Buck, Miller, & Caul, 1974;Buck, Savin, Miller, & Caul, 1972;Fujita, Harper, & Wiens, 1980;Rotter & Rotter, 1988;Wagner, Buck, & Winterbotham, 1993;Wagner, MacDonald, & Manstead, 1986;Zuckerman, Lipets, Hall Koivumaki, & Rosenthal, 1975), self-report of expression (e.g., Allen & Haccoun, 1976;Balswick & Avertt, 1977;Gross & John, 1995;Kring et al, 1994), and ratings of a variety of nonverbal behaviors such as smiling and gesturing (e.g., Barr & Kleck, 1995;Frances, 1979;Halberstadt, Hayes, & Pike, 1988;Notarious & Johnson, 1982;Ragan, 1982;Riggio & Friedman, 1986). Although fairly rare, some studies have failed to find sex differences in expressiveness (e.g., Cupchik & Poulos, 1984;Fridlund, 1990;Lanzetta, Cartwright-Smith, & Kleck, 1976;Vrana, 1993;Wagner, 1990;Zuckerman, Hall, DeFrank, & Rosenthal, 1976).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Sex differences in emotion: Expression, experience, and physiology.

Kring¹,

Gordon²

1998

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

970

681

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Although previous studies of emotional responding have found that women are more emotionally expressive than men, it remains unclear whether men and women differ in other domains of emotional response. We assessed the expressive, experiential, and physiological emotional responses of men and women in 2 studies. In Study 1, undergraduates viewed emotional films. Compared with men, women were more expressive, did not differ in reports of experienced emotion, and demonstrated different patterns of skin conductance responding. In Study 2, undergraduate men and women viewed emotional films and completed self-report scales of expressivity, gender role characteristics, and family expressiveness. Results replicated those from Study 1, and gender role characteristics and family expressiveness moderated the relationship between sex and expressivity.Conventional wisdom suggests that women are more "emotional" than men. Does this mean that women express their emotions more than men? Or, do women experience more or stronger emotion than men? Do women have stronger physiological responses than men in emotional situations? A fairly substantial body of research has demonstrated that women are more emotionally expressive than men; however, it remains somewhat unclear whether women also experience more emotion than men and whether they show greater physiological changes associated with emotion. The present study addressed two questions. First, we examined the expressive, experiential, and physiological domains of emotion in men and women to determine whether women are indeed "more emotional" or whether they are just more emotionally expressive. Second, we examined family expressivity and personality characteristics typically associated with masculinity and femininity to determine whether these characteristics could help account for expressive differences between men and women.We conceptualize emotion as having multiple components, including a behavioral or expressive component, an experiential or verbal component, and a physiological component, which is consistent with a number of emotion theorists and researchers

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex differences in emotion: Expression, experience, and physiology.

Kring¹,

Gordon²

1998

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

970

681

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…on other measures of affect (e.g., Smith & Kleugel, 1982). Women have also been found to report more extreme levels of fear, sadness, and joy than men (e.g., Allen & Haccoun, 1976;Allen & Hamsher, 1974;Balswick & Avertt, 1977), although this sex difference does not seem to hold for reports of anger (Allen & Haccoun, 1976;. Sex differences also appear in the tendency to endorse extreme categories on scales tapping intensity of response.…”

Section: Gender Roles and Emotional Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in positive well-being: A consideration of emotional style and marital status.

Wood

Rhodes

Whelan

1989

Psychological Bulletin

304

173

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This article reviews all published studies reporting tests for sex differences in well-being. Women were found to report greater happiness and life satisfaction than men. This sex difference was explained in terms of men's and women's social roles: The female (vs. male) gender role specifies greater emotional responsiveness. Furthermore, past role-related experiences provide women with appropriate skills and attitudes. Women's (vs. men's) greater well-being was also found to hold for married but not unmarried Ss: For both sexes the married state (vs. unmarried) was associated with favorable well-being, but the favorable outcomes proved stronger for women than men. Given that most Ss were married, the overall sex difference in well-being can be attributed to Ss' marital status. These findings were discussed in the context of prior research on sex differences in negative well-being.Research on subjective social indicators has demonstrated that one's objective life circumstances do not necessarily correspond to one's personal experience of well-being. The fact, then, that men and women in our society differ in terms of a variety of biological, personality, and situational factors may or may not result in sex differences in subjective quality of life.This article examines whether men and women do differ in evaluations of their life as a whole. The inquiry is limited to consideration of data on positive welbbeing and excludes findings on negative affect and psychological symptomatology. This is because positive and negative affect appem; under some circumstances, to be uncorrelated (Diener, Larson, Levine, & Emmons, 1985; Wart, Barter, & Brownbridge, 1983). I Reports of positive wen-being are best interpreted as indicators of positive domains of experience, separate from negative aspects of one's life circumstances.Prior research on sex differences in subjective life quality has focused almost exclusively on negative affect and psychological symptomatology. Consequently, most theories in this area are tailored to explain the occurrence of men's and women's poor well-being. This work, and the data on which it is based, is presented as a frame of reference for interpreting sex differences in positive well-being.

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“…Parsons' dichotomy of the husband's instrumental and the wife's expressive role to analyze the contemporary American family (e.g. Balswick and Avertt, 1977;Benson, 1968;Brim, 1958;Gum ming, 1963;Kenkel, 1957;Melton and Thomas, 1976;Mowrer, 1969). Broderick (1971), however, noted that Parsons*model of family role differentiation had been critized by several investigators.…”

Section: Instrumental and Expressive Qualitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marital role expectations for middle-aged and older men and women

Dobson

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Differences in Expressiveness: Gender, Interpersonal Orientation, and Perceived Parental Expressiveness as Contributing Factors

Cited by 118 publications

References 9 publications

Sex differences in emotion: Expression, experience, and physiology.

Sex differences in emotion: Expression, experience, and physiology.

Sex differences in positive well-being: A consideration of emotional style and marital status.

Marital role expectations for middle-aged and older men and women

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