The gender stereotyping of emotions

Three studies documented the gender stereotypes of emotions and the relatio nship between gender stereotypes and the interpretation of emotionally expr essive behavior. Participants believed women experienced and expressed the majority of the 19 emotions studied (e.g., sadness, fear, sympathy) more of ten than men. Exceptions included anger and pride, which were thought to be experienced and expressed more often by men. In Study 2, participants inte rpreted photographs of adults' ambiguous anger/sadness facial expressions i n a stereotype-consistent manner, such that women were rated as sadder and less angry than men. Even unambiguous anger poses by women were rated as a mixture of anger and sadness, Study 3 revealed that when expectant parents interpreted an infant's ambiguous anger/sadness expression presented on vid eotape only high-stereotyped men interpreted the expression in a stereotype -consistent manner. Discussion focuses on the role of gender stereotypes in adults' interpretations of emotional expressions and the implications for social relations and the socialization of emotion.