Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Psychology Research on Gender Comparisons Research on Gender Comparisons Gender has long been a dichotomous debate. One gender is more of this, whereas the other gender is more of that. Men stereotypically maintain a reputation as leaders and aggressors, whereas women retain the role of empathetic and nurturing. The author of our book, Donelson, has examined and provided us with a plethora of research on the gender differences in regards to leadership, aggression, empathy, nurturance, agency, and communal orientations in relation to their connected selves. Though this research remains true in many aspects, not all women fit the "normal" orientation for their gender. According to our book, aggression is generally thought of as a male behavior, although the difference between the two genders is moderate. Men and women react differently to aggression. Men tend to react more physically with aggression, whereas women tend to exercise their aggression in a more covert, relational manner. The book points out that "the best predictor of gender difference in aggression is belief about the consequences of aggression (p. 301)." Basically women think more about outcomes before they act than men do. Similar to aggression, anger traditionally has been more of an agentic emotion. Men display their anger using physical connotations, while women display their anger in a more introverted, calmer fashion. Generally, women are thought of as empathetic. According to the research that Donelson provided us in the book, women are better at detecting nonverbal cues than men. However, men are better at detecting anger than women are. As much as empathy is considered a communal trait, so is nurture. According to our book, three-year-old children held the same degree of nurturing, regardless of gender. However, children start showing signs of differing nurturing abilities by age 5. The reason for the difference between the sexes seems to remain unclear, however cultural expectations are thought to play a role. Men and women take on different roles in regards to leadership. Men tend to be thought of as leaders more often than women are, and when women are leaders, they are responded to harshly, not given the same consideration that a male leader is given. When men are leaders, they take on a more autocratic role- they do not want their followers to participate in decision-making; women, however assume to take on a more democratic role- they encourage input from the whole group. Perhaps the difference in leadership styles can be attributed to the fact that women leaders are looked down upon, so to not look as "harsh," they take a more tentative approach to leadership. In our text, Donelson talks about the different "selves" in relation to gender. Gilligan states that women are more likely to have a connected self than men because they are nervous about accomplishments that can hinder or "threaten affiliation (316)." On the other hand, Gilligan states, men are more likely than women to have a separate self because they are nervous about "affiliation that can threaten their separatedness (316)." I personally feel that women leaders are just as connected with themselves as the women who would be described as empathetic and nurturing. Further, women can not only take on a leadership role, but also maintain with empathetic and nurturing sides as women who are not. Women are looked down upon when taking a leadership position, and hence have a tendency to forgo an instrumental orientation, instead supplying their leadership capabilities with a more communal role. Even though leadership roles are generally considered a "man's" position, women have the ability to take on that role and promote themselves just as well as men can without abandoning their empathetic and nurturing sides. My mother is a prime example of a woman who maintained a connected self and assumed an aggressive leadership role. She served on the city council in our hometown for eight years, and kept employment as a real estate agent. Those two positions could generally be thought of as possessing an agentic nature because she was a leader of the community as well as an aggressive salesperson. However, as busy as her life got, she always made sure that she made it to her children's practices, games, recitals, etc. She also felt it was important that she was present when we got home and had a home cooked meal on the table every evening. She valued her closeness to her family above and beyond her career and leadership position in the community. She often risked losing a deal on a house, or missing a city council meeting to be with her family. She told me once that it was her closeness to her family that made her successful--- that without her family, she would not have reason to do what she did in the community. Bibliography: Word Count: 790
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