Responses to Shame: Influences of Adherence to Masculinity Norms

Abstract

Managing negative emotions is challenging even without the overlay of socially constructed gender role norms. We were curious about the effects of being confronted with shame on young men who either adhere strongly to traditional masculine gender roles norms or are nonconforming to these norms. We evaluated the shame responses of college men (N = 23), using the Thurston-Craddock Test of Shame (TCTS; Thurston & Craddock, 1998) as our stimulus while measuring physiological and verbal responses. Men in the traditional masculinity norms conforming group scored significantly higher (p = .001, η2 = .58) on 7 of the 11 subscales from the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory (CMNI; Mahalik et al., 2003) than men in the nonconforming group. When presented with shame-based stimuli, we found differences in heart rate variability depending on the level of overt shame in the stimulus with the two groups, p = .038, η2 = .12. The use of aggressive language when confronted with overt examples of shame was not different for our comparison groups. Our results indicate that men who adhere to traditional masculine norms hold different values for interacting with women, physical confrontation, and being in control of situations and others than men who have not internalized the traditional values of American masculinity. Understanding the continuum of values and responses to difficult emotions continues to be a valuable area to study.