What Concerns Men? Women or other Men

1. What Concerns Men? Women or other Men by Fischer and Mosquera (2001) Susie Boersma Jannaee Brummell Luis Mendez

2. Intra-sexual competition • Men must compete with other men in order to have access to women • Theory explains why men are more aggressive • Problem with this explanation • What explains cultural variation in anger and aggressiveness in men and women • What explains aggression against other women and children

3. Hypothesis • Authors hypothesize that there are other male concerns that are more important in the elicitation of anger and aggression • Maintaining respect • Maintaining social status • Intra-sexual competition is not the major cause of aggressiveness

4. Research on sex differences in anger and aggression • Many situations evoke anger in men and women with similar intensity. • The difference in men and women can be seen in the way they express anger. • Men are more physically aggressive • Women are more verbally aggressive Ultimately, these studies demonstrate that women and men are equally likely to be angry, thus express aggression

5. Emotions • Theory of emotions suggests that people get emotional when their concerns are affected (Fridja, 1986) • Physiological and psychological • Food, shelter and self-esteem

6. Emotions cont. • Similarities between sexes in anger and aggression • Studies on anger • Unfair treatment, injustice, betrayal • Studies on aggression • Physical harm, being insulted, loss of social status Major reason for men’s and women’s anger and aggression are highly similar

7. Differences in concerns • Differences in anger and aggression exist because men and women have different concerns, and therefore interpret the events differently • Research shows that women value the quality of intimate relationships • Women report more anger after betrayal, negligence • Research shows that men value social status • self esteem and self worth is measured by male peer groups

8. Male Self Esteem Studies show that men have higher self esteem than women. • need for control • control implies respect from others • Respect from others leads to male higher self esteem because men appraise their self esteem through their social status • Men are easily provoked and offended (Campbell, 1993) • Intellectual inferiority

9. Cultural Characteristics • Honour Societies vs Non-Honour societies Honour societies are concerned with maintaining masculine identity and social status • Studies show that men commit more homicides, and are more involved in issues dealing with aggression • Sexual shame- purity of women • Sexual shame protects family honour • Sexual shame not directed to restrict access to ones women, but rather to define boundaries of the ingroup and secure loyalties.

10. Gem Study • GEM refers to the extent women are powerful in a particular country e.g. women in administration, parliament, professionals

11. Gem study cont. • Study shows that anger and GEM scores correlate • Women feel more justified to express aggression and anger when they are in power • Although anger remains the same for men, the differences in women suggest that power and status makes aggression more feasible .

12. Conclusion • Men are not concern with whether they can attract the attention of women, but rather on whether they will be respected by there fellow men. • Men and women are equally aggressive if appraisals and concerns are equal, which suggests that aggression is controlled by social influences

13. CRITICAL REVIEW • The present study takes into account changes in human civilization • However, we need more empirical evidence