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Cited by 584Face Recognition and PerceptionEvolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorNeural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

A review on sex differences in processing emotional signals

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Kret, M.E., De Gelder, B.·2012·Neuropsychologia
DOI 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.12.022
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Abstract

Interest in sex-related differences in psychological functioning has again come to the foreground with new findings about their possible functional basis in the brain. Sex differences may be one way how evolution has capitalized on the capacity of homologous brain regions to process social information between men and women differently. This paper focuses specifically on the effects of emotional valence, sex of the observed and sex of the observer on regional brain activations. We also discuss the effects of and interactions between environment, hormones, genes and structural differences of the brain in the context of differential brain activity patterns between men and women following exposure to seen expressions of emotion and in this context we outline a number of methodological considerations for future research. Importantly, results show that although women are better at recognizing emotions and express themselves more easily, men show greater responses to threatening cues (dominant, violent or aggressive) and this may reflect different behavioral response tendencies between men and women as well as evolutionary effects. We conclude that sex differences must not be ignored in affective research and more specifically in affective neuroscience.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.12.022

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  • Women recognize emotional expressions better and express emotions more than men do, whereas men respond more strongly to threatening cues.

    “In general, women recognize emotional expressions better and express emotions more than men do, whereas men respond more strongly to threatening cues (Kret & De Gelder, 2012).”

    From Bodily maps of emotions are culturally universal (2020) · cites this paper as Kret & De Gelder, 2012

  • This overall sex-invariance seems to contrast prior work showing sex differences in nonverbal emotional expressions and in the processing of emotional signals.

    “This overall sex-invariance however seems to contrast prior work showing sex differences in nonverbal emotional expressions and in the processing of emotional signals (Kret & De Gelder, 2012).”

    From Bodily maps of emotions are culturally universal (2020) · cites this paper as Kret & De Gelder, 2012

  • The results of this study that there are no gender differences in the perception of target emotions diverge from various earlier reviews and meta-analyses on gender differences in emotion accuracy.

    “The results of this study that there are no gender differences in the perception of target emotions diverge from various earlier reviews and meta-analyses on gender differences in emotion accuracy [16, 17, 18, 19, 48] and therefore demand an explanation.”

    From Gender differences in emotion perception and self-reported emotional intelligence: A test of the emotion sensitivity hypothesis (2018) · cites this paper as [19]

  • Recent studies have not always replicated the female advantage in emotion recognition, leading to discussions about the circumstances in which women would outperform men and how this should be explained.

    “Although previous reviews and meta-analyses [16, 17, 18] have shown a small to moderate female advantage, recent studies have not always replicated this difference, leading to discussions about the extent to which and the circumstances in which women would outperform men, and how this should be explained [19].”

    From Gender differences in emotion perception and self-reported emotional intelligence: A test of the emotion sensitivity hypothesis (2018) · cites this paper as [19]

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Authors
Kret, M. E., & De Gelder, B.
Affiliations
Tilburg University (NL)
ORCID
Kret, M.E.
Venue
Neuropsychologia
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2012-06
Volume
50
Issue
7
Pages
1211-1221
ISSN
0028-3932 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.12.022
OpenAlex
W2099749875
Cited by
584
References
13
Citations by year
2026: 34 · 2025: 33 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 52 · 2022: 50 · 2021: 60 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 41 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 30 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 5
FWCI
2.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Neuropsychologia (publishedVersion)
  • Research portal (Tilburg University) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (publishedVersion)
  • UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Human Frontiers Science Program (RGP54/2004)
  • NWO Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (400.04081)
  • EU (FP6-NEST-COBOL043403, FP7 TANGO)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
Keywords
sex differences, emotional processing, facial emotion recognition, emotional valence, brain activation, hormones, gene-environment interaction, brain structure, threat response, evolutionary psychology, affective neuroscience
MeSH terms
Brain, Emotions, Female, Hormones, Humans, Functional Laterality, Male, Sex Differentiation

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