Sex Differences in Emotionality: Fact or Stereotype?

Abstract

One consistent element of Western sex stereotypes is that women are emotional, whereas men are rational. This is also widely spread in psychology and defended by feminist authors who equate women's relationality with their emotionality. In this article the concept of `emotionality' is criticized and the assumption that women are generally more emotional than men is questioned. A large amount of empirical research on sex differences in emotions is reviewed, leading to the conclusion that the general idea that women are more emotional than men tells us more about Western sex stereotypes than about women's actual emotions.