Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Group Processes and Intergroup Relations Année : 2008

Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal

Résumé

Despite strong popular conceptions of gender differences in emotionality and striking gender differences in the prevalence of disorders thought to involve emotion dysregulation, the literature on the neural bases of emotion regulation is nearly silent regarding gender differences (Gross, 2007; Ochsner & Gross, in press). The purpose of the present study was to address this gap in the literature. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we asked male and female participants to use a cognitive emotion regulation strategy (reappraisal) to down-regulate their emotional responses to negatively valenced pictures. Behaviorally, men and women evidenced comparable decreases in negative emotion experience. Neurally, however, gender differences emerged. Compared with women, men showed (a) lesser increases in prefrontal regions that are associated with reappraisal, (b) greater decreases in the amygdala, which is associated with emotional responding, and (c) lesser engagement of ventral striatal regions, which are associated with reward processing. We consider two non-competing explanations for these differences. First, men may expend less effort when using cognitive regulation, perhaps due to greater use of automatic emotion regulation. Second, women may use positive emotions in the service of reappraising negative emotions to a greater degree. We then consider the implications of gender differences in emotion regulation for understanding gender differences in emotional processing in general, and gender differences in affective disorders.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
PEER_stage2_10.1177%2F1368430207088035.pdf (718.18 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...

Dates et versions

hal-00571681 , version 1 (01-03-2011)

Identifiants

Citer

Kateri Mcrae, Kevin N. Ochsner, Iris B. Mauss, John J. D. Gabrieli, James J. Gross. Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 2008, 11 (2), pp.143-162. ⟨10.1177/1368430207088035⟩. ⟨hal-00571681⟩

Collections

PEER
479 Consultations
2898 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More