psychology 320: gender psychology lecture 33

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Psychology 320: Gender Psychology

Lecture 33

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Invitational Office Hour Invitations, by Student Number for January 7th 11:30-12:30, 3:30-4:30 Kenny 2517

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Friendship:

1. Are there sex differences in friendship? (continued)

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1. discuss sex differences in same-sex friendship.

By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

2. review research findings regarding the social desirability of self-disclosure among females and males.

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Are there sex differences in friendship? (continued)

3. Self-disclosure: (continued)

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“Thelma and Louise”

“Sex and the City”

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Effect sizes for self-disclosure (Dindia & Allen, 1992):

Self-report studies: d = -.17.

Observational studies: d = -.22.

Informant studies: d = -.44.

When self-disclosing, females are more likely than males to engage in “co-rumination” (Rose, 2002).

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Self-disclosure among females is not influenced by gender. However, among males, masculinity is

negatively correlated with self-disclosure and femininity is positively correlated with self-disclosure

in same-sex friendships (Winstead et al., 1984; see also Shaffer et al., 1996).

Research suggests that males are less likely to self-disclose than females because self-disclosure

among males is less socially desirable:

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Derlaga and Chaikin, 1976 (also see Collins and Miller, 1994)

• Asked male and female participants to read a case study and evaluate the target character’s level of

adjustment and likeability.

• The stories manipulated the sex of the target character and the level of self-disclosure that the target character engaged in with respect to a recent

traumatic event.

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Nondisclosure

Disclosure

Male Target

Female Target

Psychological Adjustment as a Function of Level of Disclosure and Sex of Discloser

(Derlaga & Chaikin, 1976)

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• Also found that self-disclosure was positively correlated with likeability scores among females but

not among males.

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Collins and Miller, 1994

• Conducted a meta-analysis of studies examining the relation between self-disclosure and likeability.

• Found a stronger relation between self-disclosure and likeability for females (female disclosers vs. female nondisclosers, d=+.30) than males (male

disclosers vs. male nondisclosers, d=+.11).

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Other variables that influence self-disclosure among females and males:

Marital status: Married males are less likely to self-disclose than married females and unmarried individuals (Tschann, 1988).

Culture of origin: Sex differences are greater in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures Berman et al., 1988).

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4. Shared activity:

Males engage in a greater number of shared activities (playing games, fantasy play, telling jokes,

playing a sport, playing cards) with friends than females (e.g., Aukett et al., 1988; McNelles & Connolly, 1999; Sheets & Lugar, 2005).

Sex differences in shared activity appear in childhood and are consistent across age groups

(Helgeson, 2009).

15“Batman and Robin”

“Lone Ranger and Tonto”

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Mean Shared Activity Scores in Same-Sex Friendships for Women and Men

(Sheets and Lugar, 2005)

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United States Russia

Women

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ivity

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5. Perceived closeness:

The relative closeness of same-sex friendships among males and females has been hotly debated:

“Woman is an eminently unsociable being and refrains from forming unions on the basis of like interest, remaining centered in the kinship group based on sexual relations and the reproductive function. Associations created or even joined by women on equal terms with men are rare and must be considered weak imitations of the exclusively male associations.” (Schurtz, cited in Tiger, 1969, p. 128)

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Friendship closeness in same-sex friendships has been assessed using the Rochester Interaction

Record (RIR).

The RIR requires that participants record details related to social interactions of 10 minutes or more.

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Sample Copy of a Rochester Interaction Record

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Wheeler et al., 1983

• Asked female and male participants to complete the RIR for 2 weeks.

• Assessed “meaningfulness” of interactions with same-sex friends and same-sex best friend by summing the intimacy, self-disclosure, other-disclosure, quality, and satisfaction scores of participants’ interactions.

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• Found that male same-sex friendships scored lower than female same-sex friendships on intimacy, self-disclosure, other-disclosure, quality, satisfaction, and meaningfulness.

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Friendship:

1. Are there sex differences in friendship?