The Angry Male and the Passive Female: The Role of Gender and Self-Esteem in Anger Expression

To study the role of self-esteem and gender in anger expression, participants, who were screened for high or low self-esteem, were angered by a confederate. Participants were then given the opportunity to express their anger by administering blasts of white noise to a confederate. Men with low self-esteem exhibited anger-out anger reactions by administering the loudest blasts of white noise, while women with low self-esteem exhibited anger-in anger responses by administering the softest blasts of white noise. High self-esteem men and women did not differ in their anger responses. These findings support the hypothesis that low self-esteem men and women rely upon socialized sex-role stereotypes when responding to anger. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of their impact on therapy for maladaptive anger responses.