Gender threats (vs. assurances) led to emotionality in men (but not women); masculinity threats led to more public discomfort, anger, guilt, & shame & these effects are specific to gender threats, as opposed to being broader social identity threats

The affective consequences of threats to masculinity. Theresa K. Vescio et al. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 97, November 2021, 104195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2021.104195 

Highlights

• Gender threats (vs. assurances) led to emotionality in men (but not women).

• Masculinity threats led to more public discomfort, anger, guilt, and shame and these effects are specific to gender threats, as opposed to being broader social identity threats.

• Men reported less empathy after a social identity threat (versus assurance), both when gender was threatened and generational status was threatened.

Abstract: Three experiments (N = 1083) explored whether masculinity threats (vs. assurances) led to emotions that have been linked to well-being, social connection, and the expression of aggression, including (a) increases in feelings of shame and guilt (Experiment 1) and (b) decreases in perspective-taking and empathy (Experiment 2). In addition, we explored whether masculinity assurances (vs. threats) had a positive effect on men's feelings of pride. To determine whether the affective responses to masculinity threats were unique to gender identity, we replicated the findings in comparison to a second social identity threat (Experiment 3). Consistent with predictions, and replicating prior work, men but not women expressed more public discomfort and anger following a gender threat (vs. assurance), as well as more shame and guilt when their masculinity was threatened than when their masculinity was assured (Experiment 2). Importantly, these affective responses were unique to men experiencing gender threats (Experiment 3). Interestingly, consistent with empathy avoidance predictions, when threatened, men reported lower dispositional levels of other focused empathy (Experiment 2), but these effects were not specific to gender threats (Experiment 3). Findings revealed empathy reductions, but not diminished reports of perspective taking, in threat conditions. No consistent evidence of effects of gender feedback on men's pride (authentic or hubristic) emerged. The implications of findings are discussed.

Keywords: MasculinityGender-threatEmpathyShameGuiltSocial-identity