Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:50:05.694Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Only as a last resort: Sociocultural differences between women and men explain women's heightened reaction to threat, not evolutionary principles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2022

Jeffrey R. Huntsinger Open the ORCID record for Jeffrey R. Huntsinger [Opens in a new window]  and
Akila Raoul
Jeffrey R. Huntsinger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL 60660, USA jhuntsinger@luc.edu araoul@luc.eduhttp://jeffreyhuntsinger.weebly.com/index.html
Akila Raoul
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL 60660, USA jhuntsinger@luc.edu araoul@luc.eduhttp://jeffreyhuntsinger.weebly.com/index.html
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The target article proposed that women display greater self-protectiveness than men to major physical and social threats because such self-protective responses have higher fitness value for women than men. Rather than having evolutionary roots, we suggest the various physiological, behavioral, and emotional responses to social and physical threats exhibited more by women than men are instead rooted in sociocultural forces.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e140
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrett, L. F., Robin, L., Pietromonaco, P. R., & Eyssell, K. M. (1998). Are women the “more emotional” sex?: Evidence from emotional experiences in social context. Cognition and Emotion, 12, 555–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brody, L. R., & Hall, J. A. (2008). Gender and emotion in context. In Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M. & Barrett, L. F. (Eds.), The handbook of emotions (3rd ed., pp. 395–408). The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Eagly, A. H., & Wood, W. (2013). The nature–nurture debates: 25 years of challenges in understanding the psychology of gender. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(3), 340–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fillingim, R. B., King, C. D., Ribeiro-Dasilva, M. C., Rahim-Williams, B., & Riley, J. L. III (2009). Sex, gender, and pain: A review of recent clinical and experimental findings. The Journal of Pain, 10(5), 447–485.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalbfleisch, P.J., & Herold, A. L. (2006). Sex, power, and communication. In Dindia, K. & Canary, O. J. (Eds.), Sex differences and similarities in communication (2nd ed., pp. 299–313). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
LaFrance, M., Hecht, M. A., & Paluck, E. L. (2003). The contingent smile: A meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 305–334.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLean, C. P., & Anderson, E. R. (2009). Brave men and timid women? A review of the gender differences in fear and anxiety. Clinical Psychology Review, 29(6), 496–505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2001). Gender differences in depression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10(5), 173–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, M. D., & Clore, G. L. (2002). Belief and feeling: Evidence for an accessibility model of emotional self-report. Psychological Bulletin, 128(6), 934.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robinson, M. D., Johnson, J. T., & Shields, S. A. (1998). The gender heuristic and the database: Factors affecting the perception of gender-related differences in the experience and display of emotions. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 20, 206–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanford, S. D., Kersh, B. C., Thorn, B. E., Rich, M. A., & Ward, L. C. (2002). Psychosocial mediators of sex differences in pain responsivity. The Journal of Pain, 3(1), 58–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verma, R., Balhara, Y. P. S., & Gupta, C. S. (2011). Gender differences in stress response: Role of developmental and biological determinants. Industrial Psychiatry Journal, 20(1), 4–10.Google ScholarPubMed
Williams, G. C. (1966). Adaptation and selection. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Wood, W., & Eagly, A. H. (2002). A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of women and men: Implications for the origins of sex differences. Psychological Bulletin, 128(5), 699–727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed