Posted on 04/04/2008 8:41:54 AM PDT by blam
People Accept Anger In Men, But Women Who Lose Their Temper Are Seen As Less Competent, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Apr. 4, 2008) — Whether you are running for president or looking for a clerical job, you cannot afford to get angry if you are a woman, Yale University psychologist Victoria Brescoll has found.
Brescoll and Eric Uhlmann at Northwestern University recently completed three separate studies to explore a phenomenon that may be all-too-familiar to women like New York Senator Hillary Clinton: People accept and even reward men who get angry but view women who lose their temper as less competent.
The studies, published in the March issue of Psychological Science, provide women with recommendations for navigating emotional hazards of the workplace. Brescoll says it pays to stay emotionally neutral and, if you can't, at least explain what ticked you off in the first place.
Clinton's presidential campaign has put a spotlight on the question of whether anger hurts a female candidate. The answer, according to the studies, appears to be an unequivocal yes - unless the anger deals with treatment of a family member.
"An angry woman loses status, no matter what her position,'' said Brescoll, who worked in Clinton's office as a Congressional Fellow in 2004 while she was preparing her doctoral thesis on gender bias. She noticed over the years that women pay a clear price for showing anger and men don't.
In all studies, both men and women were shown videos of actors portraying men and women who were ostensibly applying for a job. The participants in the studies were then asked to rate applicants on how much responsibility they should be given, their perceived competence, whether they should be hired, and how much they should get paid.
Both men and women in the reached the same conclusions: Angry men deserved more status, a higher salary, and were expected to be better at the job than angry women.
When those actor/applicants expressed sadness, however, the bias was less evident, and women applicants were ranked equally to men in status and competence, but not in salary.
Brescoll and her colleague then compared angry job applicants to ones who did not display any emotion. And this time the researchers showed study participants videos of both men and women applying for lower-status jobs. The findings were duplicated: Angry men were valued more highly than angry women no matter what level position they were applying for. However, the disparities disappeared when men and women who were emotionally neutral were ranked.
A final study showed another way bias against female anger could be mitigated. When women actors explained why they were angry, observers tended to cut them more slack. However, Brescoll noted a final gender difference: Men could actually be hurt when they explained why they were angry - perhaps, says the Yale psychologist, because observers tend to see this as a sign of weakness.
Psychological Science 19: 268-275 (March 2008)
Adapted from materials provided by Yale University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Aw Jeez, not this..........
Like this is new or something?
I don’t lose my temper...I just give it to someone deserving. ;)
Now THIS really ticks me off! :`)
all kidding aside, professionally it does make a difference if either man or woman get angry. It all depends on how they demonstrate their anger.
Losing control is not good for either professional male or female.
period.
SO WHAT?
If my (female) boss were to say - “I think I’m gonna cry”, which actually I believe she has said - that’s just fine.
Women are not men.
Men are not women.
If my former (male) boss were to say he was gonna cry, I would want to run the other direction.
As Sarkozy might say:
“Vive la difference!”
Let us never, ever change. :)
I disagree with the writer of the article entirely. I find that I have little respect for men or women who lose their tempers frequently for poor reasons.
Who’s crying? Let’s talk anger.
It’s not professional for your male or female boss to tell someone to f off, or to shout down someone in the office place.
BTW, the female boss who cries because she’s so angry loses a step on the corporate ladder, IMO.
It’s called: L-I-F-E
I suspect that anyone who chooses “gender bias” as the subject of their doctoral thesis is likely a very angry person.
If you live in close quarters where you can overhear your neighbors, watch other people’s reactions when a loud argument is heard coming from one of the dwellings.
If it is a woman’s voice there is often amusement expressed by the involuntary audience, but if it is an angry male voice, there is often fear and concern among those that can hear it.
In the work place I guess there is some of the same, a woman’s anger is seen as frustration and impotence, and a loss of control, whereas a man’s anger is more likely to be seen as a prelude to change or action.
That crying thing is a bad one. It happens to some women: when they get angry, they cry.
But you’re right: anyone who gives an employee a tongue-lashing out in front of someone else - ANYone else - is a poor manager. Male or female.
You’re right.
Now that I think about it, I 100% reject from my own experience - the premise of the original article.
Getting angry, is dumb.
In fact, when a guy gets angry, there’s probably far more negative impact on others’ perception of whether they’re comfortable around him.
Upon reflection, the article is just another leftist “glass ceiling” propaganda blurb.
“when I said give it to me I will mail it to him, she said sure, picked up the box, through it on the floor and put her high heal through it (picture frame) and handed it to me, smiled, and said she hoped he enjoys it.”
High heels huh, I think I’m a little turned on. Is she good looking?
LOL!
I thought I was the only one intrigued by that story. :)
Anyone else witness this VP’s inappropriate behavior?
Any manager who lets someone, male or female, get away with that kind of behavior isn’t a manager at all.
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