Women ‘feel more intense emotion than men during conflict’

A study has found that women feel more intense emotions than men when a conflict arises within the couple.

Conversely, it is men -who mostly express «powerful emotions» as wrath or despise- who cause conflicts more frequently.

Researchers from the Department of Social Psychology of the University of Granada, Inmaculada Valor Segura, Francisca Exposito y Miguel Moya, analyzed the type of interpersonal emotions than men and women feel when they face different conflicts within the couple, and the effect that emotions have on the recurrence of conflicts.

The study concluded that when facing a situation where «my partner offends me or treats me disrespectfully», women felt miserable, while the situation «if my partner is physically aggressive during an argument» women felt more disappointed than men.

In the situation «mi partner shouts at me with frequency», women felt more sadness, while men felt guilt. In the situation «if my partner distorts an argument to be right» women feel sadness, while men feel embarrasment.

As the research authors state, a priori one could expect men to express more domineering or «powerful» emotions -as wrath, anger or despise-, and women to have more submissive attitudes -guilt, sadness or fear-. The results have proved that women feel more intense emotions, both powerful and non-powerful.

The study has been published in the journal Intervencion Psicosocial

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