Submitted by media girl on 3 August 2005 - 11:28am
This just in from Cornell University:
Men whose masculinity is challenged become more inclined to support war or buy an SUV, a new study finds.Their attitudes against gays change, too.
Of course, this isn't news to women. It's plain as day that men tend to get more aggressive when they're feeling insecure.
"I found that if you made men more insecure about their masculinity, they displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq war more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle," said Willer said. "There were no increases [in desire] for other types of cars."Those who had their masculinity threatened also said they felt more ashamed, guilty, upset and hostile than those whose masculinity was confirmed, he said.
In other words, guys, maybe you should pay more attention to when Bush and Rush and DeLay start trying to rouse you with fear. They want you afraid, because they're counting on you to sign off on whatever aggressive posture they take.
Via The Countess.
Comments
3 comments postedTry this article, about the activation of stereotypes in mixed-gender negotiation experiments:
Laura J. Kray et. al., “Gender Stereotype Activation and Power in Mixed-Gender Negotiations� (working paper), available at http://ssrn.com (ID unknown)
--|PW|--
Um, interesting study. How do you empirically determine that you've "made men more insecure about their masculinity" in a controlled experiment? :scratching head:
Don't get me wrong - I think people who are insecure tend to overcompensate in an area they imagine addresses the problem, so the findings sound logical enough. But to present this as a "study" from a respected university... do they think we'll buy absolutely anything if they stamp words like "study" on it?
Do you think when it comes to a comment on a snarky blog entry citing the briefest of summaries about a study conducted at an ivy league university, we'll buy anything? Maybe the best response simply is to laugh.