Whay do Women Apologize more than Men?
- Monday, November 15 2010 @ 11:41 am
- Contributed by: kellyseal
- Views: 2,074
Women don’t need to apologize more often than men, and yet they do.
According to a study recently released by psychologists at The University of Waterloo in Ontario, women apologize because they feel as if they’ve done something requiring an apology. Men are just as willing to apologize, but only for what they feel deserves an apology. The difference is that men have a “higher threshold” for bad behavior.
The study showed that men and women both apologized 81% of the time when they felt they had committed a wrongdoing. However, when subjects were asked to rate the severity of the offences (like waking a friend up in the middle of the night), female respondents offered 35% more apologies than male respondents, and believed they committed offenses worth apologizing for 30% more of the time. Women also said they’d been offended nearly 50% more often then men.
Apparently, the biggest gap in perspective appeared from those in romantic relationships. Female respondents currently in relationships identified three times as many offenses as men did.
Social psychologist Karina Schumann who lead the study noted: “rather than assuming that your partner can read your mind or read your emotions accurately, you need to communicate to the partner what you’re experiencing.”
The study was conducted among 33 male and 33 female students at the University of Waterloo, where they were asked to record all of their interactions with others over a 12-day period, and what they considered offensive and worthy of an apology.
According to a study recently released by psychologists at The University of Waterloo in Ontario, women apologize because they feel as if they’ve done something requiring an apology. Men are just as willing to apologize, but only for what they feel deserves an apology. The difference is that men have a “higher threshold” for bad behavior.
The study showed that men and women both apologized 81% of the time when they felt they had committed a wrongdoing. However, when subjects were asked to rate the severity of the offences (like waking a friend up in the middle of the night), female respondents offered 35% more apologies than male respondents, and believed they committed offenses worth apologizing for 30% more of the time. Women also said they’d been offended nearly 50% more often then men.
Apparently, the biggest gap in perspective appeared from those in romantic relationships. Female respondents currently in relationships identified three times as many offenses as men did.
Social psychologist Karina Schumann who lead the study noted: “rather than assuming that your partner can read your mind or read your emotions accurately, you need to communicate to the partner what you’re experiencing.”
The study was conducted among 33 male and 33 female students at the University of Waterloo, where they were asked to record all of their interactions with others over a 12-day period, and what they considered offensive and worthy of an apology.
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