Ah, dominant ideologies. Note how the sociobiological bullshit has to be thrown in, even when the evidence flatly contradicts that model.
---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "Kevin Robert Dean" <qualiall at union.org.za> Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 06:46:59 +0200
>Contact: Jacqueline Weaver
>jacqueline.weaver at yale.edu
>203-432-8555
>Yale University
>
>Women smile more than men, except when they are in similar
>roles
>
>Women smile more than men, but differences disappear when
>they are in the same role, Yale researcher finds
>New Haven, Conn. -- Women do smile more than men, but when
>occupying similar work and social roles, the gender
>differences in the rate of smiling disappear, a Yale
>researcher has found.
>
>Also, there are large differences in the degree to which
>men smile less than women depending on a person's culture,
>ethnicity, age, or when people think they are being
>observed, according to the study funded by the National
>Science Foundation.
>
>"It would be interesting for social psychologists and
>anthropologists to look at these data because the wide
>cultural, ethnic and other differences suggest that the sex
>difference is not something that is hard-wired," said
>Marianne LaFrance, professor of psychology at Yale and
>senior author of the study published this month in the
>journal Pyschological Bulletin. "This is not a function of
>being male or female. Each culture overlays men and women
>with rules about appropriate behavior for men and women."
>
>LaFrance and her co-authors, Elizabeth Paluck of Yale and
>Marvin Hecht, a graduate student at the time, set out to
>examine every available study that has been done on sex
>differences in smiling. Ultimately, they looked at 186
>research reports.
>
>They found that women do smile more than men, but the
>difference is modest. "The difference is there, but it's
>not whopping," LaFrance said. "Indeed, there are studies
>that find just the opposite."
>
>Also, the rate at which men and women differ in how much
>they smile is greater in the United States and Canada than
>in other parts of the world, like England and Australia. In
>the United States, there is a greater sex difference among
>Caucasians in smiling, but this difference virtually
>disappears among African-Americans.
>
>In terms of age differences, teens show the largest sex
>difference in smiling. After that, the sexes converge on
>their smile rates. "We don't know why it maxes out among
>young adults," LaFrance said. "One possibility is that that
>is the age when the sexes are supposed to be maximally
>different from each other, for procreation or social
>purposes. After that, it's not so important."
>
>The researchers also found that the largest sex differences
>in smiling occurred when men and women thought they were
>being observed. They smiled more similarly when they
>thought no one was looking.
>
>"The logic here is when people know their behavior is being
>monitored, they more closely adhere to the norms for
>appropriate behavior for their gender," LaFrance said.
>"People are at their gendered best when people are
>looking."
>
>Men and women also smile about the same amount when they
>are in the same position in terms of power, occupation or
>social role. Here, LaFrance surmises that the sex
>differences are overridden by smile norms for the role one
>is in, rather than with the sex one is.
>
>However, when there is tension in the air, women more often
>than men try to diffuse it with a smile. "Women do what we
>call 'emotion work' and one of the best ways to do this is
>to smile to soothe hurt feelings, to restore harmony,"
>LaFrance said.
>---
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>
>