Sex and social representations of aggression: A communal-agentic analysis

✍ Scribed by Anne Campbell; Steven Muncer; Bernard Gorman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 669 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0096-140X
• DOI: 10.1002/1098-2337(1993)19:2<125::aid-ab2480190205>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

suggests that men and women hold different social representations or implicit theories of their own aggression. Men view it is an instrumental act (a means of obtaining and exercising power to gain social rewards), while women view it an expressive act (a cathartic discharge of anger). In the present study, communal/agentic personality styles and gender identity are examined as possible mediators of the relation between sex and Expaag-a psychometric measure of adherence to an expressive representation of aggression. In addition a measure of self-reported aggression is included. The highest correlation appeared between sex and Expaag. Gender identity and interpersonal style made no significant improvement in explained variance in a multiple regression analysis after sex had been entered. An instrumental social representation of -ion WBS significantly and positively correlated with number of mported aggressive acts. 8 1993 u l l q ~~k ~, h.