Gender and Personality Variables in Film-Induced Sadness and Crying

Abstract

Social and personality correlates of crying relevant to clinical application were examined in the laboratory. The effects of gender and of gender-pairing on emotional expression of film-induced sadness were evaluated. College students served in pairs as experimental subjects. Results indicated that men retrospectively reported less crying than women, and that both male and female subjects reported more appropriate sex-stereotypic behavior (i.e., males cried less, females cried more) when in opposite-sex pairings. Correlational analyses indicated that females, unlike males, showed clear concordances between sadness and crying. Males, unlike females, evidenced negative correlations between reported anger and crying. Personality variables (including empathy, extraversion, femininity, ego strength, and prior levels of stress) were found to be associated with crying and sadness, although markedly different correlation patterns were seen for men and women. The findings collectively suggest that crying is associated with a complex interaction among gender, personality, and context variables.