The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

340 Chapter 9

contributions as equitable. It also turns out

that characteristics of men (gender roles,

personality traits, well-being) are related to

women’s relationship satisfaction, whereas

characteristics of women have less impact on

men’s relationship satisfaction.

Women and men manage conflict

somewhat differently. In laboratory studies

of conflict discussions, women are more

negative than men and remain engaged in

the conflict, whereas men withdraw from

the conflict and try to de-escalate it with

positive behavior. Because the behavior

of women is different in distressed versus

nondistressed couples, women have been

referred to as the “emotional barometers”

of relationships. Much research has focused

on a particular pattern of conflict behavior

known as the demand/withdraw pattern.

Research suggests that women are more

likely to demand and men to withdraw,

largely because women desire more change

in relationships than men do.

Jealousy is equally likely to be

evoked in women and men. Evolutionary

psychologists have suggested that men are

more upset by sexual infidelity and women

are more upset by emotional infidelity. The

evidence for this proposition is mixed. Men

are more likely than women to monitor their

partner’s fidelity.

Finally, the chapter concludes with

a discussion of cohabiting relationships.

Cohabiting relationships are of a lower

quality than marital relationships, and

cohabitation prior to marriage is predictive

of divorce. The negative outcomes of

cohabitation may be due to the kinds of

people who enter into cohabitation, the

nature of the cohabiting relationship itself,

or to actual adverse effects of cohabitation

on people’s relationships.

Discussion Questions

1. What are the similarities and differ-
   ences in women’s and men’s mate
   preferences?


2. How do men and women view the
   relation of sex to love?


3. Which sex is more romantic? Why?


4. Why do women demand and men
   withdraw?


5. Knowing what you do about gender
   roles in relationships, how would
   you predict that gay men’s relation-
   ships would differ from lesbians’
   relationships?


6. What kinds of problems might be
   unique to homosexual couples?
   Heterosexual couples?


7. If the majority of men held the
   male gender role and the majority
   of women held the female gender

role, describe the nature of lesbian

relationships, gay relationships, and

heterosexual relationships.

8. What are the differences in the way
   men and women interact when
   discussing conflict?


9. What does it mean that women
   are the “emotional barometer” in a
   relationship?


10. In what ways is the demand/with-
    draw pattern influenced by culture?


11. What is the evidence for and against
    the proposition that men are more up-
    set by sexual than emotional infidelity?


12. What are the reasons that people
    who cohabit before marriage
    are more likely to divorce than
    people who did not cohabit before
    marriage?

M09_HELG0185_04_SE_C09.indd 340 6/21/11 12:40 PM