Stress makes men look for communication and more trust in others
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Men react to stress in the same way as women, trying to strengthen social ties and seeking support from others.
It is believed that the reaction to stress in men and women is different: if women in a difficult moment seek support in society, turn to friends for help, then men, on the contrary, behave aggressively, reject other people's help and generally cease to trust others. Roughly speaking, men have a brighter manifestation of the oldest mechanism of reaction to stress, "fight or run."
However, studies of psychologists from the University of Zurich (Switzerland) have shown that such a difference is no more than a gender stereotype. 67 young students took part in the experiment. Some of them had to perform a task related to stress: for example, to pronounce a public speech or solve a super complicated mathematical problem. Others did about the same thing, but in a much lighter version, that is, the mathematical task was very simple, and it was necessary to make a speech in an exceptionally friendly and pleasant environment. After performing stressful - and not very - assignments, the subjects underwent a series of behavioral and physiological tests.
The physiological response to stress was standard: increased heart rate and increased levels of the hormone cortisol. But at the same time, the participants of the experiment increased the degree of trust in others. After stress, they were offered to play an economic strategy, where they had to choose, give a partner to earn or betray him; so, those who experienced stress, turned out to be extremely good and faithful partners. And the stronger the stress, the friendlier and trustful the person became. Researchers additionally measured the level of aggression and risk appetite outside the social context. In that case, there was no difference between the stressed and ordinary subjects.
The results of the research published in the journal Psychological Science show that the response to stress, firstly, depends on the social environment, and secondly, men react to stress in the same way as women, that is, they try to strengthen their own social ties. True, the authors of the work stipulate that women did not participate in the experiment, so that they compared the experimental data on men only with a gender stereotype concerning women.
