The Manifestation of Affection by Women and Man - Research Paper Example

Name of Student Name of Teacher Class Date WOMEN SHOW MORE AFFECTION THAN MEN AN OBSERVATIONAL PAPER INTRODUCTION Men and women are genetically different from each other. Are they emotionally different from each other too? Such question has long been an issue in the discussion on whether who is more emotional between genders. Children in a typical family sometimes notice different emotional characteristics between their parents and some grew up being nurtured by either or both emotional characters of their parents. The ability to show emotion or affection is important in nurturing a child to interact openly with others. Also, parents who can show affection effortlessly seems to be closer to their children. Steven Rhoads (2005) argued that children fully reciprocate the love of their mothers since mothers are better in recognizing how their children feel through their body movements. Also, mothers are more open in showing their affection towards their children than fathers. Affection is one thing that binds people’s relationship. The author believes that it is an important component to making a marriage work, a friendship last and a child’s relationship to his parents closer. Allowing each of us to show affection towards each other is like allowing us to develop lasting relationship that is meaningful and important for us to live here in this world. It is through affection that a child will continue to communicate with his parents even if they are miles apart and even if he is old enough to be away from his parents reach. It is affection that differentiates caring for your parents or family not out of responsibility but out of love. However, it is also affection that allows us to understand one’s limitation to show affection. Understanding such limitation will allow us to continue showing our affection without getting hurt that such action is not returned as we expect it. Thus, this essay will provide a window to understand others limitation to be affectionate and establish who between genders are capable of such limitation and expression of showing affection. Objectives This essay is about an observation study of who is more affectionate between men and women. It is a noteworthy study since it will give an insight on how differently these two genders show affection. Also, it will also show us whether one is better in showing affection than the other. Results of previous studies related to the research observation will be discussed briefly in the essay. The results of these studies will be compared with the result the observational research conducted for this essay to show how the latter’s data coincide or relate with the data presented in previous studies. Lastly, the author will discuss at the end of the essay the experience in doing the observation and how it affects his sense of reflection about himself particularly on matters related to the hypothesis of the research. Definition of Affectionate Behavior Affection is defined by the author as the actual showing of warm emotion or feelings towards another person either verbally or in action that can elicit a response from another person receiving such affection. The ability to show affection towards another human being is important since everyone lives in a social environment wherein meeting and interacting with people is something that one cannot avoid. One has to become friends with another person or be in a relationship either romantic or related to family ties which require interaction and showing of affection. It is said that no man or woman is an island which means that everyone lives in a social environment where nurturing of relationship is mandatory. It is for this reason that it is important to establish whether women are more affectionate than men or if there is a different way that men show their affection which makes them appear distant and passive. Hypothesis This essay will explore affectionate behaviors between men and women to test the hypothesis that “women show more affection than men”. Method of Research The author conducted an observation of ten men and ten women attending mass at a local church to test the hypothesis that “women show more affection than men”. Behaviors displayed by these two groups related to showing of affection were observed throughout the proceedings of the mass and presented in this essay through a tabular form indicating as much as possible the variance of showing of affection between each man and woman being observed. The author sits at the back portion of the church to have a good look in observing ten men and ten women. The observation did not only cover romantically related individuals but also those individual interactions that these two people have with others during the celebration of the mass. The author is not in any way related to the people he was observing. Also, no prior information was provided that the author will be observing some people during the mass celebration; hence the data gathered is not in any way biased at all. The results of the observation is presented as the way the author seen it during the mass celebration. Control The observation to test the hypothesis is affected by variables within the environment of the celebration of the mass within a local church. Mass proceedings, songs, rituals and the group of church goers affect the manner in which either of the two groups reacts or receives affectionate behavior shown to each of them. Also, mass proceedings allow the author to expand the manner in which to observe the illustration of affectionate behavior of either of the members of the two groups. Examples of these proceedings are (1) during the part in the mass celebration where a sign of peace is given among mass celebrants, (2) drinking of wine during the Holy Communion, (3) recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, and (4) singing of the members of church choir. These proceedings form as other variables that become a stimulus for the people being observed for the study to express their affection or not. For example, the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer led some of the people under observation to reach out to others by extending their hands. RELATED STUDIES PREVIOUSLY CONDUCTED Two studies conducted by Associate Professor of Psychology Ann Kring (1998) showed that “it is incorrect to make blanket statement that women are more emotional than men. It is correct to say that women show their emotions more than men”. Her study further states that both genders experience the same level of emotion while watching a sad movie but it is usually the women who will show their emotions openly by crying. The first study was conducted by measuring the emotions shown by the people that were subject to participate in the study through facial expressions and changes in their physiological conditions. The result showed that women show their emotions more than men but it did not make men lesser of an emotional human being compared to women. Men just show their emotions in a controlled and some times mechanical manner. The second study focused on differences of expression between men and women in terms of gender role in a family environment. The result also showed that women are more expressive in their emotions than men; hence they show a gender role of being “nurturing, affectionate, warm and caring” while the men show a gender role of being “aggressive, assertive and powerful” (Kring, 1998). It tried to explore the possibility that gender or sexual orientation is not the only factors that affect how well men and women express their emotions. It tried to show that gender roles have something to do with the ability of either gender to openly express their emotions. Men are not lesser in experiencing an emotion than women. Their traditional roles as aggressive and powerful led most men not to openly show their emotion particularly towards their partners and closed ones. The study revealed that they too experience the same level of emotion like women but most of the time they treat such experience in an analytical way affecting the manner in how they show it to others. RESULT OF THE RESEARCH OBSERVATION The following are the result of the research observation conducted by the author during a daily mass at a local church. No. Woman Man 1 Mother while kneeling down looked and touches her son and daughter when they make any movement to ensure that they are alright or within her reach. Father just look on what the mother did without doing or saying anything. 2 Wife reached out to hold the hand of her husband during the recitation of “Our Father”. Husband reacted by holding his wife’s hand in return. 3 Wife was the first one to offer her cheek to initiate a kiss to her husband during the sign of peace offer. Husband only gave a kiss to his wife when the latter offered her cheek during the sign of peace offer. 4 Female was the first one to extend her hand to the person beside her during sign of peace offer. Man passively waiting for others to extend their hand during sign of peace offer. 5 Female members of choir lean affectionately towards each other unknowingly. Male members of choir stand apart from each other. One even looked at the space between and his co-choir member to ensure that there is ample space between them. 6 Female pays attention to the priests and the entire ceremony during mass celebration. Male talking to fellow males while mass is going on. 7 Female gave eye contact to the one holding the cup of wine while giving it back to the person holding it during communion. Male did not look at the person holding the cup of wine while returning it back to the person holding it during communion. 8 Man was very accommodating and gentle to his girlfriend when they were lining up during communion. He allowed her to be first inline or line up in front of him. 9 Man who came to church without a girlfriend showed no concern or did not initiate any action to allow a woman to be first in line during communion. 10 Man and woman are affectionate towards each other (example, holding each others hands or leaning or stand close to each other) when they have romantic relationship. Analysis of the Result The result of the observation showed that women mostly initiate showing of affection even for matters that are mundane such as warmly acknowledging the one holding the cup of wine during communion to show their appreciation. They do this by looking at the person directly to show their acknowledgement. Men, on the other hand, mostly showed affection only after someone showed their affection towards them like their wives or girlfriends. Also, men do show affection in a situation where they are not personally involved or they do not have deep relationship with the people they are interacting with. For example, a father only looked on his wife as she pat their children’s head or arranges their shirts while they create movement inside the church. This scenario showed that since the father or husband was not particularly involved in the situation, he just looked on as his wife took care of their children. He did not intervene nor reach out to his children or talked to his wife about it. However, it did not necessarily mean that he was not concern about his children. By merely looking at what happened showed that he is trying to see if things were alright. Another example is a boyfriend accommodating his girlfriend to be first in line during communion against a man who did not show any accommodation towards a female lining up for the communion. This scenario showed that unless a man is closely or intimately in a relationship with a woman, he would not mostly show accommodating affection towards another woman. He just passively watched or does not care at all. Relating the Analysis of the Result to the Hypothesis Testing the hypothesis in the observation conducted by the author, the result showed that it is true that women show more affection than men in terms of actively initiating it. However, men are not entirely emotionless. They are passive and selective displayer of affection. They only show affection when it is shown to them first or they show it freely if they are with someone close to them like a wife or a girlfriend. SUMMARY The findings in this observational research is somewhat related to the findings of the two studies conducted by Associate Psychology Professor Ann Kring. The result of the observation showed that women express their affection more towards their children, partners and other people either in a form of appreciation, acknowledgement or concern while men tend to be passive in showing their affection meaning they do not show it unless others reach out to them through affectionate expressions or when they are in a close relationship with the person they are with. This is somewhat related to the result of the study conducted by Professor Kring wherein it found out that women show their emotions more than men but men do not necessarily lacks the emotion at a given experience or moment. They just do not express it as openly as women do. In fact, they actually make themselves involved in a situation where affection is shown but do not necessarily participate in showing an affection. Doing this research gives the author a glaring reality of how differently men and women express their affection towards each other, their love ones and other people. Observing how they show their affection even at a church ceremony gives me a reality check whether I myself is showing my affection openly or holding it back only for people that I care about. Further, I even wondered if the way I show my affection is a result of how I was brought up as a kid or how I have seen my parents show express their affection towards me and towards each other while I was growing up. Maybe the way I express my affection is brought about by the way I was nurtured by my environment at home and not a natural part of me. I am also thinking that maybe I can make myself more open to show affection if my current ability to show it is not my natural self but my nurtured self. Seeing the reality of how men and women show their affectionate even at church guide me to analyze my own way of showing affection and whether I need to improve on it or not. Recommendations for Further Research The observational study covers very limited number of men and women to observe. It is recommended that an observation of higher number of groups of men and women be observed to gather more evidence whether women are more affectionate than men or not. Also, the environment to observe them should be expanded to other areas not limited to the church. Other further research to do is a study on the factors why women are perceived to be more affectionate than men and support it with findings that can explain why women show more emotions than men. It is a good study to support an observational analysis of the behaviors of men and women. It will help in understanding why men and women have such certain emotional characteristics and will be a good guide on how to deal with them properly without resulting to fights or conflicts. Also, it would be good if a study can establish whether men hesitant to show affection in public only and not in private environment. This would show the different manner on how men show affection in relation to the environment they are in. BIBLIOGRAPHY Steven Rhoads. “Aiming for Androgyny”. National Review. 05 October 2007 http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/rhoads200503010748.asp Ann Kring. “Women More Likely Than Men To Put Emotion in Motion”. Vanderbilt University. 04 October 2007 < http://www.vanderbilt.edu/News/news/june98/nr4.html> Read More

The ability to show affection towards another human being is important since everyone lives in a social environment wherein meeting and interacting with people is something that one cannot avoid. One has to become friends with another person or be in a relationship either romantic or related to family ties which require interaction and showing of affection. It is said that no man or woman is an island which means that everyone lives in a social environment where nurturing of relationship is mandatory.

It is for this reason that it is important to establish whether women are more affectionate than men or if there is a different way that men show their affection which makes them appear distant and passive. Hypothesis This essay will explore affectionate behaviors between men and women to test the hypothesis that “women show more affection than men”. Method of Research The author conducted an observation of ten men and ten women attending mass at a local church to test the hypothesis that “women show more affection than men”.

Behaviors displayed by these two groups related to showing of affection were observed throughout the proceedings of the mass and presented in this essay through a tabular form indicating as much as possible the variance of showing of affection between each man and woman being observed. The author sits at the back portion of the church to have a good look in observing ten men and ten women. The observation did not only cover romantically related individuals but also those individual interactions that these two people have with others during the celebration of the mass.

The author is not in any way related to the people he was observing. Also, no prior information was provided that the author will be observing some people during the mass celebration; hence the data gathered is not in any way biased at all. The results of the observation is presented as the way the author seen it during the mass celebration. Control The observation to test the hypothesis is affected by variables within the environment of the celebration of the mass within a local church. Mass proceedings, songs, rituals and the group of church goers affect the manner in which either of the two groups reacts or receives affectionate behavior shown to each of them.

Also, mass proceedings allow the author to expand the manner in which to observe the illustration of affectionate behavior of either of the members of the two groups. Examples of these proceedings are (1) during the part in the mass celebration where a sign of peace is given among mass celebrants, (2) drinking of wine during the Holy Communion, (3) recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, and (4) singing of the members of church choir. These proceedings form as other variables that become a stimulus for the people being observed for the study to express their affection or not.

For example, the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer led some of the people under observation to reach out to others by extending their hands. RELATED STUDIES PREVIOUSLY CONDUCTED Two studies conducted by Associate Professor of Psychology Ann Kring (1998) showed that “it is incorrect to make blanket statement that women are more emotional than men. It is correct to say that women show their emotions more than men”. Her study further states that both genders experience the same level of emotion while watching a sad movie but it is usually the women who will show their emotions openly by crying.

The first study was conducted by measuring the emotions shown by the people that were subject to participate in the study through facial expressions and changes in their physiological conditions. The result showed that women show their emotions more than men but it did not make men lesser of an emotional human being compared to women. Men just show their emotions in a controlled and some times mechanical manner. The second study focused on differences of expression between men and women in terms of gender role in a family environment.

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