Men and women use different strategies

During the game, some of the volunteers were faced with the possibility of social exclusion. Volunteers were told that when they chose the option to play alone, they "risk being excluded".
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Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.
Ažurirano: 06.03.2011. 13:51h

Many studies show that men tend to be both physically and verbally more aggressive than women.

According to a new study, which will be published in the journal Psychological Science, it has been proven that women are not less combative than men - they simply use a different strategy to cope. In particular, women rely more on indirect forms of aggression, such as social exclusion.

To examine how men and women react when faced with a social threat, scientist Joyce F. Benenson from Harvard, along with her colleagues, asked volunteers to play a game against two hypothetical partners in which they collected points for money.

ScienceDaily reports that volunteers had the option to play alone, form an alliance with one of the partners, or cooperate with both partners (in this strategy, they would avoid competition, but would split the profits three times).

During the game, some of the volunteers were faced with the possibility of social exclusion. Volunteers were told that when they chose the option to play alone, they "risk being excluded". The description of the alliance option included the statement: "If you and your partner win, then the third player will be eliminated and will not win any points".

The results showed that when the volunteers received the standard instruction - without the social exclusion clause - there was no difference between male and female volunteers in the number of times they chose to form an alliance with another player. However, when exclusion instructions were used, female participants chose the alliance option more often than male participants.

Prevention of social exclusion is an important strategy for women

"A woman in the fight against some social danger can form an alliance as a primary strategy. Men strive to independently and directly overcome the opponent," the authors write. Women may be more sensitive than men to social exclusion, and when they feel threatened with the possibility of being left out, women's first reaction may be to socially exclude a third person.

Preventing social exclusion seems to be an important strategy for women because it allows them to protect their relationships by keeping the outsider at bay. Benenson points out that this can lead to a reassessment of gender differences. She comments, "The social worlds of boys and girls, men and women, are different because women have to worry about alienating others, while men worry about direct combat."

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