by ALISON JONES
DURHAM, N.C. -- When their manhood is threatened, some men respond aggressively, but not all. New research from Duke University suggests who may be most triggered by such threats – younger men whose sense of masculinity depends heavily on other people’s opinions.
“Our results suggest that the more social pressure a man feels to be masculine, the more aggressive he may be,” said Adam Stanaland, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology and public policy at Duke University and the study’s lead author.
“When those men feel they are not living up to strict gender norms, they may feel the need to act aggressively to prove their manhood -- to ‘be a man’.”
The pair of studies considered 195 undergraduate students and a random pool of 391 men ages 18 to 56.
Study participants were asked a series of questions about “gender knowledge.” For men, these included questions on such stereotypical topics such as sports, auto mechanics and home repair. After answering, participants were randomly told their score was either higher or lower than that of an average person of their gender.
To simulate real-world threats to manhood, men who received a low score were also told they were “less manly than the average man.” Read more via Duke
Stanaland, Adam, and Sarah Gaither. "“Be a Man”: The Role of Social Pressure in Eliciting Men’s Aggressive Cognition." (2020).
Abstract
Threatening a man’s manhood—but not a woman’s womanhood—elicits aggression. In two studies, we found evidence that this aggression is related to the social pressure men experience to “be a man.” In Study 1a, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis to isolate participants’ (N = 195; Mage = 19.92) differential motivations for conforming to gender norms. Study 1b then showed that pressure to be masculine moderates the relationship between gender identity threat and aggressive cognition for men. In Study 2a, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to validate the aforementioned scales with an age-diverse sample of men (N = 391; Mage = 33.16, range = 18–56 years). Study 2b replicated Study 1b, most notably with younger men. In all, these findings reveal one pathway—the pressure men experience to be stereotypically masculine—that elicits aggressive cognition when under threat in a U.S. context.