Sex differences in empathy and related behaviors.

According to the prevailing cultural stereotype as well as various psychological theories, empathy (the vicarious affective response to another person's feelings) is more prevalent in females than in males. A review of the research indicates that females do indeed appear to be more empathic than males. They do not appear to be more adept at assessing another person's affective, cognitive, or spatial perspective, however. There is also evidence to suggest that empathy in females may be part of a prosocial affective orientation that includes the tendency to experience guilt over harming others, but it does not, at least in early childhood, appear to be part of a larger interpersonal sensitivity that includes egocentric concerns about the feelings of others toward the self. It is suggested that females may have greater tendency to imagine themelves in the other's place, whereas males have more of a set toward instrumental ameliorative action. (71 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and empathy, reexamined.

W. Olesker and L. Balter (see record 1973-06850-001) demonstrated that undergraduates were significantly more empathic when judging members of the same rather than the other sex. The present study used the Affective Sensitivity Scale to reexamine the possibility of a relationship between sex and empathy in 21 female and 21 male graduate students in counselor education. Contrary to Olesker and Balter's findings, results show that for the graduate student Ss there was no significant difference in empathic ability whether judging members of the same or the other sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early sex differences in empathy.

Replicated the N. D. Feshbach and S. Feshbach (see record 1969-08191-001) study which identified the tendency for 4-yr-old girls to be more empathic than boys ( p     

Sex differences in influenceability.

Examines the hypothesis that women are more influenceable than men in a variety of situations. For persuasion research and for conformity studies not involving group pressure, there is scant empirical support for a sex difference, and for group pressure conformity research, there is support among a substantial minority of studies. Also explored is the possibility that various sex differences in social influence studies are a product of contextual features of experimental settings. This is suggested by the fact that findings reporting greater influenceability among females were more prevalent in studies published prior to 1970 than in those published in the 1970s. Finally, sex differences in various psychological processes that may mediate persuasion and conformity are evaluated as possible explanations for those influenceability sex differences that appear to be genuine. It is suggested that a propensity to yield inherent in the female sex role appears to account for some aspects of influenceability findings, but a 2nd explanation, a tendency for women more than men to be oriented to interpersonal goals in group settings, is also plausible. (7? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in health and illness.

The literature on sex differences in illness and disease was examined. Although some biologic sex differences are thought to exist, the overlap between the sexes precluded separation of the sexes for treatment or control of problem conditions. Statistics Canada data on mental illness among males and females in Canada were also examined, and deficiencies in available information were discussed. Most notably lacking were statistics on the use of outpatient mental health services. A number of recommendations were made regarding the collection of Canadian mental health statistics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in monitoring performance.

220 male and 220 female undergraduates monitored a visual display for 1 hr. Although the results indicate females were poorer monitors, detecting 10% fewer signals and committing more false alarms, these sex differences accounted for only 4% of the variance of detection performance and less than 1% of the variance of the false alarm measure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences and adolescent depression.

This study investigates the role of certain psychosocial variables—sex, age, body image/self-esteem, self-consciousness, stressful life events, and the degree to which an individual identifies with the cultural stereotype of masculinity—as correlates and antecedents to depression in adolescents and explores possible intraindividual mediators of the stress–depression relationship in adolescents. A battery of self-report measures was administered to public high school students in Grades 9–12 in their classrooms at two different times 1 month apart. Female adolescents reported more depressive symptoms, self-consciousness, stressful recent events, feminine attributes, and negative body image and self-esteem; no age effects were obtained. Results suggest a model of adolescent depression in which body image/self-esteem and stressful recent events are significant contributors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in problem solving.

Used a 20-item set of problems (similar to those used by E. Sweeney [1953]) in 9 experiments with 558 male and 578 female undergraduates to determine which sex was superior in problem solving, the role of previous experience, whether sex differences extended throughout the domain of problem-solving tasks, whether they extended to other word problems, the role of spatial ability and verbal ability, the role of mathematics aptitude, and the relative importance of aptitude and social learning variables. Results show that the male advantage, averaging 35% across experiments, persisted at the same level as in experiments conducted in the 1950's. Sex differences extended to other word problems. The male advantage was related to similar advantages in spatial and mathematical ability. Aptitude variables dominated attitude and mathematics experience variables in accounting for the sex difference. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in altruistic behavior.

Assessed helping and donation behavior in 35 female and 35 male White middle-class 5th graders. Results reveal (a) no significant differences between male and female donation behavior, (b) significantly more helping behavior from females, and (c) no significant correlations between donation and helping behavior. Since helping behavior was only observed in situations with same-sexed younger children, future investigations should include both opposite- and same-sexed pairs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in job satisfaction.

Measures of 5 separate aspects of job satisfaction gathered from 295 male workers and 163 female workers drawn from 4 different plants were analyzed with respect to the mean job satisfaction for the male and female workers. T2 analyses indicated that in 3 plants the female workers were significantly less satisfied than their male counterparts (p     

Sex differences and variations in body attitudes.

Tested several hypotheses about the relationship between body attitude and sex membership with 89 male and 80 female undergraduates. 3 separate body attitudes corresponding to Osgood's 3 attitudinal dimensions were measured by the semantic differential on 30 different body concepts. Results indicate that women not only like their bodies better than men but also have a more clearly differentiated notion of what they like and dislike about their bodies. Men on the other hand judge their bodies as more potent and more active than women. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in verbal and play fantasy.

Investigated 2 types of fantasy productions by 45 male and female 3-6 yr olds and by 47 male and female 11-12 yr olds. At the age of entering school, it was found that boys and girls did not differ in the deprivation-enhancement pattern of their verbal fantasies. However, sex-related differences were clearly evident among preadolescents. Fantasy involving dramatic play productions, however, revealed such differences among Ss of both age groups both in the play material selected and in the spatial configurations and thematic content of the productions. Findings are discussed in terms of boys' and girls' sexual identity, as this derives from feelings about their own bodies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and anxiety differences in eyelid conditioning.

Data concerning the relationship between eyelid conditioning performance and 2 S variables, Ss' sex, and scores on the MA scale, are examined. In studies employing standard procedures, high-anxiety Ss were superior to low-anxiety Ss in 23 of 27 comparisons, and females superior to males in 18 of 19 comparisons. In contrast, the direction of the differences was split approximately equally between high- and low-anxiety Ss and between males and females in studies in which conditioning was presented within the context of masking probability-learning task. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in social memory tasks.

College females were superior to college males in memory for 3 tasks—one life situation and 2 names-and-faces tests. A new test, the KW Memory for Names and Faces Test, demonstrated a "same-sex recall" tendency for this sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in fear of spiders.

Tested 60 female and 48 male undergraduates who scored high on a scale item measuring fear of spiders. In the presence of a live spider, women reported more subjective unpleasantness and tension than men and had higher heart rates. Women also displayed greater reluctance to be close to the spider. Analysis indicated that these differences were due to a sex-linked difference in fear. Results are discussed in terms of the origin and definition of different types of fears. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in group task performance.

115 female and 118 male psychology students worked individually or in 3-person same-sex groups on a production task (requiring the generation of ideas) or on a discussion task (requiring group members to reach consensus concerning their evaluation of an issue). Because the content of the tasks was carefully selected not to favor the interests or expertise of one sex over the other, no sex differences were expected when Ss worked individually. Results show no gender differences in individual production performance. Only the creativity of the discussion problems was affected by gender; males working individually generated more creative solutions than did females. Consistent with prior research, males in groups generated more solutions to the production problems than did females; females in groups generated higher quality solutions to the discussion problem than did males. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors.

In a prior review involving a meta-analysis (Underwood & Moore, 1982), no relation between affective empathy and prosocial behavior was found. In this article, the literature relevant to this issue is reexamined. The studies were organized according to the method used to assess empathy. When appropriate, meta-analyses were computed. In contrast to the earlier review, low to moderate positive relations generally were found between empathy and both prosocial behavior and cooperative/socially competent behavior. The method of assessing empathy did influence the strength of the relation; picture/story measures of empathy were not associated with prosocial behavior, whereas nearly all other measures were. Several possible explanations for the pattern of findings are discussed, as are the implications of the findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in three facets of empathy: Performance-based evidence.

This study investigated age differences in cognitive and affective facets of empathy: the ability to perceive another's emotions accurately, the capacity to share another's emotions, and the ability to behaviorally express sympathy in an empathic episode. Participants, 80 younger (Mage = 32 years) and 73 older (Mage = 59 years) adults, viewed eight film clips, each portraying a younger or an older adult thinking-aloud about an emotionally engaging topic that was relevant to either younger adults or older adults. In comparison to their younger counterparts, older adults generally reported and expressed greater sympathy while observing the target persons; and they were better able to share the emotions of the target persons who talked about a topic that was relevant to older adults. Age-related deficits in the cognitive ability to accurately perceive another's emotions were only evident when the target person talked about a topic of little relevance to older adults. In sum, the present performance-based evidence speaks for multidirectional age differences in empathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in children's anxiety and defensiveness measures.

80 children in Grades 5 and 6 were administered the General and Test Anxiety Scales for Children, and the Defensiveness Scale for Children. Although girls scored higher than boys on the anxiety measures, there were no differences on the Defensiveness Scale, suggesting that the content of the scales, rather than defensiveness, merits further investigation. There were no differences between Black and White children on any of the measures. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)