There is no room for doubt if we say there are differences in emotional expressions when it comes to different genders (males and females). There is a variety of studies and experiments in which it has been proved that both genders vary when it comes to the expressivity of emotions but there is no agreement on which gender shows more or less of those emotions. Different analysts have different perceptions and experiences of these emotional differences as they were exposed to different environments. When we talk about emotions (sadness, anger, horror, disgust, amusement, neutrality, surprise, and pleasure) then socio-cultural and environmental factors play a key role. Psychology says that responses from a person (that response can be emotional) depend greatly on the environment in which that specific emotional response is being produced. In this regard, socio-cultural and economic factors are playing a central role in determining the variations in different gender emotions. Now in order to understand those differences let’s analyze each and every emotional expression mentioned above separately.
The first emotion is sadness in which majority of the studies show women as more prone to this emotion and also that women internalize this emotion more easily than that of men. Men are less likely to display the emotion of sadness and hence will not internalize this emotion as easily as women do no matter in which environment or socio-cultural setting you one is living in. Studies show that women internalize negative emotions very quickly like sadness and anxiety as compared to the opposite gender. Though women are more vulnerable to anxiety and depression but they are more resilient and are more capable of post-traumatic growth as compared to men. Another emotion is anger in which men are more expressive and they show more aggression as compared to females. Men usually direct the emotions of anger towards other as compared to women who are more likely to internalize anger and direct it to their self rather than others. In the emotions like pleasure, amusement and happiness women are far more expressive than men. In some studies, it is being shown that women are twice as expressive as men in these emotions of pleasure and that is the one reason why women have the capacity to cancel out their emotions of sadness, anxiety and depression. The differences in gender emotions are not only due to the social factors or environment but brain composition and utilization is also very important. Neuroimaging studies have found out that females utilize more areas of brain including small neurons in comparison to men and those minor neurons help us to understand different things from other people’s perspectives. This helps women in developing deeper emotions as compared to men e.g. sadness. Another emotional difference between both the genders would be the feelings of empathy and countless social experiments had been conducted to address this question which showed women as more empathetic as compared to men.
Now if we look into socio-cultural and environmental factors playing a role in display of these emotions then it becomes clearer that what drives these opposite genders to produce these specific emotional responses. In most of the social settings women are expected to be more fragile and sensitive as compared to men. Analyzing environment in which these genders are living is thus very important as to understand why the specific emotional response was observed. In a society where we live men are expected to be more emotionally strong and they are not allowed to express the emotions of sadness and low mood as this will show their vulnerabilities and their emotional responses ae hence according to the social setting, they are living in. These are some of the stereotypes associated with the genders in our society and therefore they are expected to behave in a certain way. To sum up I’d say these gender differences are still unclear as different researches have incorporated different factors while determining theses responses. While determining these emotions it is necessary to incorporate the physiological factors as well as subjective feelings and behavior. Bothe genders also vary greatly in emotional experiences and emotional expressivity.
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