Sex Differences in Emotional Awareness
Abstract
The present study examined sex differences in the complexity and differentiation of people’s representations of emotional experience. Female participants from seven different samples, ranging in age, scholastic performance, socioeconomic status, and culture, scored higher on a performance test of emotional awareness than did male participants. Women consistently displayed more complexity and dif ferentiation in their articulations of emotional experiences than did men, even when the effect of verbal intelligence was controlled. Together, the findings suggest that a sex difference in display of emotional awareness is a stable, highly generalizable effect. Implications of these findings are presented.
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Women tend to represent their emotional experiences more complexly than men, including simultaneously appraising situations in both negative and positive ways.
“Lastly, this idea fits with the fact that women tend to represent their emotional experiences more complexly than men, which includes simultaneously appraising situations in both negative and positive ways (Feldman Barrett, Lane, Sechrest, & Schwartz, 2000).”
From Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal (2008) · cites this paper as Feldman Barrett, Lane, Sechrest, & Schwartz, 2000
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- Authors
- Barrett, L. F., Lane, R. D., Sechrest, L., & Schwartz, G. E.
- Affiliations
- Boston College (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2000-11
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1027-1035
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2058119571
- Cited by
- 365
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 7.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotional Intelligence and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
- Keywords
- sex differences, emotional awareness, emotional experience, verbal intelligence, gender differences in emotion, emotion representation, cross-cultural generalizability
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