The Role of Anger and Gender in the Workplace

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The Role of Anger and Gender in the Workplace Dinesha Deonarine Hunter College, The City University of New York Abstract In western cultures, it has been conveyed that women tend to be more emotional than men. Due to the stereotype, it has caused a strain on women in the work environment where women as seen to be too emotional if anger or any other emotion is displayed in the work environment. Our aim was to examine reactions of anger and gender shown in professional environments based on status and competence ratings. Our hypothesis was that professional women who express anger in the workplace are significantly accorded lower status and are seen as less competent than professional men who express anger. We showed participants 4 videos, sequentially in balanced order and gave a questionnaire for them to complete. Results were not significant. Anger has been achieving considerable research in recent years. However, as being linked with gender in the workplace, few literatures have been developed. Our study is important as we look for correlations between anger, gender and the work environment. Keywords: anger, status conferral, gender, workplace, emotions The Role of Anger and Gender in the Workplace During socialization periods in the 1940s and 1950s, it has been said that gender differences in anger were surfaced then, in which males were shown to express anger and females subdue it (Kemp & Strongman, 1994). A man’s expression of anger is concomitant with status and power, and less related to social relationships (Gianakos, 2002). Studies indicate that reasons for such attributions are due to the expectations that if a woman displays anger, harmful consequences to interpersonal relationships will occur (Piltch, Walsh, Mangione & Jennings, 1994). The reluctance
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