A series of three studies found that men and women are similar in their desire to share positive information, but women are more likely than men to share negative information about themselves or others. Women more often shared information in order to receive comfort, while men more often did this to entertain others and receive validation. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
The advent of digital communications and social media in the 21st century has made sharing information easier than ever, including personal information. In previous centuries, sharing such information was largely limited to word-of-mouth within immediate interactions and small social groups. With the advent of social media, it is now possible to share information about oneself and others quickly, to larger audiences, and with minimal personal interaction.
This communication takes many forms, including direct messages between close friends and loved ones, photo sharing, social media status updates, and consumer experience reviews. Studies have found that such communication is often pleasurable, leading to health and psychological benefits and positive social outcomes. However, these exchanges can sometimes involve sharing negative information about oneself or others, types of information at least some would rather keep to themselves.
Study author Erin Carbone and her colleagues wanted to explore gender differences in the willingness to disclose information, as well as factors that might moderate these behaviors. They conducted three studies for this purpose.
The first study aimed to generate situations in which participants felt compelled to share information and to investigate gender differences in this compulsion and the likelihood of acting upon it. The participants were 195 alumni from a private northeastern American university.
Participants completed an online survey in which they described instances in which they were “dying” to tell someone something. These experiences could either be positive (e.g. a new romance) or negative (e.g., a job loss), about oneself or others. Participants also indicated whether they ultimately shared that information with others. Those who stated that they did share it were subsequently asked to recall another time when they similarly felt like they were “dying” to disclose, but did not act on that desire. Participants who first stated that they did disclose it were asked to recall another similar experience when they did not disclose the information. At the end of the survey, participants answered closed-ended questions about the motive underlying their desire to disclose.
Results of the first study showed that 83% of participants reported experiencing a situation where they felt an extreme desire to disclose information. There were pronounced gender differences in this, with 91% of females reporting such an experience compared to only 76% of males. Such events were more often positive than negative.
The information shared by men was significantly less likely to be negative than information shared by women. Men more often reported that their sharing of information was motivated by a desire to entertain others and receive validation. On the other hand, women shared information in order to receive comfort more often than men did.
Study 2 used quantitative assessments of participants’ desire to disclose various pre-specified topics and experiences. It also experimentally manipulated the valence of these events (i.e., whether they were positive or negative). Participants were 547 alumni of the same university from study 1 who did not participate in that study. Their average age was 50 years and 287 were women.
Participants in study 2 read 17 scenarios based on responses from study 1. Each of these scenarios had two versions – one positive and one negative. Each participant was randomly assigned to view either a positive or a negative version of each scenario. Participants would than report whether they had ever experienced the specific scenario. For the first 5 scenarios a participant reported experiencing, the survey asked him/her questions about how much he/she would desire to share information about it with others and how likely it is that he/she would share it.
Results of study 2 confirmed that men are less likely than women to share experiences they were asked about (68% vs 77%). Significantly fewer males than females described the details of their experience in the context of the study (30% vs 22%). Both men and women reported a weaker desire to share information about negative than about positive scenarios. However, the difference between likelihood to share information about positive and about negative scenarios in men was nearly double that of women. This difference became even greater with actual disclosures.
The third study sought to replicate the findings of the first two and also examine if the subject of the scenario (self or others) affected the desire and likelihood of disclosing information. They compared the situations where the scenario was about oneself and when it was about someone else. Participants were 405 alumni who did not participate in the previous two studies.
Participants read a number of scenarios that were either positive or negative. They were selected to capture experiences across varied domains of life (work, family, relationship, health) and whether the experience has happened directly to the participant or to another. The survey asked participants whether they had experience with each of the scenarios. If they said that they did, it asked a number of follow-up questions about the desire to disclose and actual disclosure of information in the scenario.
Results of study 3 confirmed the findings of the first two studies. It also revealed that participants were more interested in sharing information about themselves than information about others. On the other hand, participants were less willing to share negative information about themselves than about others. Gender differences in willingness to share persisted regardless of who the information was about.
“According to our findings, women share more generally than men, and experience a more intense desire to do so. However, men and women are relatively similar when it comes to sharing positive information, but men are less likely, and have a lower desire, to share negative information,” the study authors concluded.
The study highlights gender differences in interpersonal information exchange behaviors. However, it has limitations, including reliance on self-reports, which may not reflect actual behavior. Observational studies might yield different results. Moreover, the study relied on memories of past events, which can be unreliable or biased.
The study, “He said, she said: Gender differences in the disclosure of positive and negative information”, was authored by Erin Carbone, George Loewenstein, Irene Scopelliti, and Joachim Vosgerau.
