Evening star., 1935-03-02
STARS. MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
RY THOMAS HENRY
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Women get madder than men-and
they get mad easier.
Such Is the conclusion Of DR.. George
M. stratton, professor of psychology at
the University of California. as the
result of an extensive series of tests ne
has conducted on the emotional reac-
tions of the sexes.
He tested men and women in situa-
tions tending to produce fear ana
anger. The women, he found, re-
sponded more easily and more m
tensely to both. In the fear-producing
situations, as might have been ex-
pected, their reactions were much
more frequent and intense than those
of the males. Thus was confirmed
the popular idea that the fair sex is
the most timid. The fact that they
also ran far ahead Of the men in an
ger reactions, although the difference
was by no means so marked as In the
case of fear, was somewhat surprising
and contrary to the general opinion.
DR.. Stratton concluded from his
tests, as reported in the American
Journal of Psychology, that woman
has a "lower emotional threshold"
Her emotions are set off" more easily
and 90 to greater extremes So marked
is this that the California psychologist
believes it to be a fundamental factor
in the feminine pattern-one OF the
distinguishing marks of femininity as
distinguished from masculinity.
But why are the two sexes closer to-
gether in anger than in fear reactions?
Because, DR.. Stratton believes, OF the
culture pattern in which the subjects
of his experiment were reared. 1t Is
quite proper, according to the current
notions of the fitness of things, for a
little girl to be afraid. So she can
give way to her normal fear expressions
without any fear of reproof. She mas
no need to repress them. The little
boy, on the other hand, Is taught to
be brave. He is ridiculed by his play
mates If he shows any signs OF the
fear he really feels. Hence he must
repress it with efforts of the will, and
this repression eventually becomes part
of his habit system. Even If the Two
sexes started on an equal basis, wom-
ans expression of fear would pe
greater than that of man.
Quite different is the case with
anger. It is unladylike to have q
temper tantrum or display signs OF
rage. The little girl Is scolded for
such evidences. AS is the case with
fear among boys, she learns to re-
press her wrath in order to win
social approval. With boys, however,
it is by no means so frowned upon.
The boy Is expected to get mad ana
to fight with his playmates. He mas
no very pressing reason for repress-
ing his angry emotions. Hence they
are allowed, much more than IN the
case of his sister, to be developed
in his habit pattern.
Yet even here women are more
emotional than men. This, DR.. STRAIT
ton believes, proves his point OF the
lower feminine emotional threshhoio.
One school of psychologists, he says,
will interpret this as evidence OF
woman's inferiority. This group looks
upon an intense emotional reaction
as a breakdown. They hold tnat II
comes only when the mind no longer
is able to deal with situation. Thus,
they would say, the less emotional
q man or woman the better.
DR.. Stratton does not share this
theory of the emotions. He looks
upon woman's lower emotional thresh-
hold as evidence Of superiority Un-
der his theory, the emotion Is "an
addition to ones equipment for meet
ing situation" He points out that
ones physical powers are increased
during an emotional episode. One
can run faster when afraid, fight
harder when mad. Emotions, he
holds, have the same effect on
thought, impulse and desire. Gen
orally speaking, . person who y mad