Gender Differences in Suppression Based on Type of Emotion

Abstract

Current research has explored gender differences in coping, but most research has not focused on coping for specific emotions. The current study assessed gender differences in the use of suppression for three types of emotions: happiness, sadness, and anger. Participants were asked to self-report their use of suppression using the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). In addition, participants were shown short film clips that would potentially elicit the three emotions in a lab room while their faces were videotaped. Participants were assigned to one of five conditions: 1) control condition; 2) suppress thoughts, 3) suppress face; 4) suppress thoughts and face; and 5) think and feel about the emotions shown. Participants were asked to rate how much they attempted to suppress their thoughts and face, and how well they believed they did so. Participants’ faces were videotaped while they watched the film clips and their faces were coded for any portrayal of the three emotions. Results indicated that when instructed to suppress thoughts only, women portrayed more anger than men. However, men in the suppress thoughts and face condition displayed more anger during both sad and anger inducing videos than did women. Men in the suppress face condition were more likely to express happiness during anger videos. For both the suppress face and the suppress thoughts and face groups, men believed they were better at suppressing their faces for sad videos than women. However, there were no actual differences in the sad facial displays of men and women in any of the groups. Men were not more likely to suppress emotion overall than women when instructed to do so, or when not instructed to do so. It also appears that men have a particularly difficult time suppressing emotions when they are explicitly told to suppress both their thoughts and their faces. These findings suggest that self-report measures of suppression may not be the most accurate.