Do Women and Men Respond Differently to Negative News

Bibliographic Data

ID6354584
AuthorsStuart Soroka (0000-0001-7524-0859, University of Michigan), Elisabeth Gidengil (0000-0001-8198-5654, McGill University), Patrick Fournier (0000-0002-0300-8476, Université de Montréal), Lilach Nir (0000-0003-1170-0152, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Year2016
Volume12
Issue2
Pages344-368
Publication date2016-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitics & Gender (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1743-923X • E-ISSN: 1743-9248
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1743923x16000131
OpenAlexW2345965789
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited59

This article offers a new approach to studying sex differences in responses to negative news, using real-time physiological responses as opposed to self-reports. Measurements of skin conductance and heart rate are used to examine whether there are differences in the extent to which women and men are aroused by and attentive to negative news stories. Like experiments that have relied on postexposure self-reports, we detect no sex differences in arousal in response to negative news stories. However, in contrast to those experiments, we find indications that women are more attentive than men to negative news content. We consider possible reasons for this difference in findings. We also discuss neuropsychological studies that are consistent with our finding of greater attentiveness on the part of women to negative stimuli. Finally, we consider the relationship between our work and evidence in the literature that women consume less news than men

Arousal · Cognition · Developmental psychology · Neuropsychology · Psychiatry · Skin conductance · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Clinical Psychology · Medicine · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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