Friday, April 01, 2005

Grumpy old men are a myth. It's the women who rage

Miss Barnett, presenting a study of anger and the sexes to a British Psychological Society conference, said that she had looked at how levels of fury changed over the years. She questioned 153 people about issues that angered them. At the bottom end they would be “not very angry”, rising at the top of the scale to “very, very angry”. To her surprise, rather than follow the stereotype of male anger and reasonable female calm the women showed themselves to be far crosser than men. Once organised into age brackets it became clear that although men and women showed the same levels of anger aged 18 to 25, their responses sharply diverged as they aged. By the time they are heading for their 40th birthday men are far less easily angered and the downward trend continues. Women’s anger levels remain the same throughout their lives and by the time they collect their pensions they are as aerated as the day they began their careers.

4 Comments:

At April 01, 2005 1:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The study was based on people answering questions about themselves, not on how they actually can be observed to behave. So it could just as well show that women have a more honest self-image, while men are deluded about their reactions.

 
At April 01, 2005 3:57 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

"it could just as well show that women have a more honest self-image, while men are deluded about their reactions."


Maybe, but I'm not so sure. It fits my personal experiences rather well.

 
At April 02, 2005 6:19 AM, Blogger Greg said...

I believe it. Meet my Mother-in-law and you'll believe it too.

Actually I seem to recall reading somewhere that with age male testosterine levels drop while female testosterine levels increase with age. No doubt a contributing factor to rage.

 
At April 03, 2005 1:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I for one, never pick a fight with a woman, for it is generally a losing proposition.

DP111

 

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