Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T11:12:58.651Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Self‐Fulfilling Prophecies: The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Functional Neuroimaging Research on Emotion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2020

Robyn Bluhm
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Feminist scholars have shown that research on sex/gender differences in the brain is often used to support gender stereotypes. Scientists use a variety of methodological and interpretive strategies to make their results consistent with these stereotypes. In this paper, I analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research that examines differences between women and men in brain activity associated with emotion and show that these researchers go to great lengths to make their results consistent with the view that women are more emotional than men.

Type
Open Issue Content
Information
Hypatia , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , Fall 2013 , pp. 870 - 886
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by Hypatia, Inc.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Work on this paper was supported by a fellowship from the Old Dominion University Office of Research.

References

Aleman, André, and Swart, Marte. 2008. Sex differences in neural activation to facial expressions denoting contempt and disgust. PLoS ONE 3 (11): e3622. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003622 (accessed June 10, 2012).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
The Biology and Gender Study Group. 1989. The importance of feminist critiques for contemporary cell biology. In Feminism and science, ed. Tuana, Nancy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Bleier, Ruth. 1984. Science and gender: A critique of biology and its theories on women. New York: Pergamon Press Inc.Google Scholar
Bluhm, Robyn, Jacobson, Anne Jaap, and Maibom, Heidi Lene, eds. 2012. Neurofeminism: Issues at the intersection of feminist theory and cognitive science. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bluhm, Robyn. 2011. New research, old problems: Methodological and ethical issues in fMRI research examining sex/gender differences in emotion processing. Neuroethics (November 15). http://www.springerlink.com/content/446lr1476716u02m/ (accessed April 9, 2012).Google Scholar
Brody, Leslie. 1999. Gender, emotion, and the family. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Caseras, Xavier, Mataix‐Cols, David, Kyoon An, Suk, Lawrence, Natalia S., Spreckens, Anne, Giampietro, Vincent, Brammer, Michale J., and Phillips, Mary L. 2007. Sex differences in neural responses to disgusting visual stimuli: Implications for disgust‐related psychiatric disorders. Biological Psychiatry 62 (5): 464–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derntl, Birgit, Habel, Ute, Windischberger, Christian, Robinson, Simon, Kryspin‐Exner, Ilse, Gur, Ruben C., and Moser, Ewald. 2009. General and specific responsiveness of the amygdala during explicit emotion recognition in females and males. BMC Neuroscience 10 (1): 91. doi:10.1186/1471‐2202‐10‐91 (accessed June 10, 2012).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickersin, K., Chan, S., Chalmers, T. C., Sacks, H. S., and Smith, H. Jr. 1987. Publication bias and clinical trials. Controlled Clinical Trials 8 (4): 343–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Domes, Gregor, Schulze, Lars, Böttger, Moritz, Grossmann, Annette, Hauenstein, Karlheinz, Wirtz, Petra H., Heinrichs, Markus, and Herpertz, Sabine C. 2010. The neural correlates of sex differences in emotion reactivity and emotion regulation. Human Brain Mapping 31 (5): 758–69.Google ScholarPubMed
Fausto‐Sterling, Anne. 2000a. The sex/gender perplex. Studies in the History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 31 (4): 637–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fausto‐Sterling, Anne. 2000b. Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Fee, Elizabeth. 1979. Nineteenth‐century craniology: The study of the female skull. Bulletin of the History of Medicine 53: 415–33.Google Scholar
Fine, Cordelia. 2008. Will working mothers' brains explode? The popular new genre of neurosexism. Neuroethics 1 (1): 79–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, Cordelia. 2010. Delusions of gender: How our minds, society, and neurosexism create difference. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.Google Scholar
Fine, Jodene Goldenring, Semrud‐Clikeman, Margaret, and Zhu, David C. 2009. Gender differences in BOLD activation to face photographs and video vignettes. Behavioral Brain Research 201 (1): 137–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fischer, Agneta H. 1993. Sex differences in emotionality: Fact or stereotype? Feminism and Psychology 3 (3): 303–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Held, Virginia. 1990. Feminist transformations of moral theory. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 50 (1): 321–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofer, Alex, Siedentopf, Christian M., Ischebeck, Anja, Rettenbacher, Maria A., Verius, Michael, Felber, Stephan, and Fleischhacker, W. Wolfgang. 2006. Gender differences in regional cerebral activity during the perception of emotion: A functional MRI study. Neuroimage 32 (2): 854–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ino, Tadashi, Nakai, Ryusuke, Azuma, Takashi, Kimura, Toru, and Fukuyama, Hidenao. 2010. Gender differences in brain activation during encoding and recognition of male and female faces. Brain Imaging and Behavior 4 (1): 55–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jordan‐Young, Rebecca M. 2010. Brain storm: The flaws in the science of sex differences. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kaiser, Anelis, Haller, Sven, Schmitz, Sigrid, and Nitsch, Cordula. 2009. On sex/gender related similarities and differences in fMRI language research. Brain Research Reviews 61 (2): 49–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keller, Evelyn Fox. 2010. The mirage of a space between nature and nurture. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koch, Kathrin, Pauly, Katharina, Kellermann, Thilo, Seiferth, Nina Y., Reske, Martina, Backes, Volker, Stöcker, Tony, Shah, N. Jon, Amunts, Katrin, Kircher, Tilo, Schneider, Frank, and Habel, Ute. 2007. Gender differences in the cognitive control of emotion: An fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 45 (12): 2744–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, T. M. C., Lieu, H.‐L., H Chan, C. C., Fang, S.‐Y., and Gao, J.‐H. 2005. Neural activities associated with emotion recognition observed in men and women. Molecular Psychiatry 10: 450–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lloyd, Genevieve. 1984. The man of reason: “Male” and “female” in Western philosophy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Martin, Emily. 1991. The egg and the sperm: How science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical male‐female roles. Signs 16 (3): 485–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McRae, Kateri, Ochsner, Kevin N., Mauss, Iris B., Gabrieli, John J. D., and Gross, James J. 2008. Gender differences in emotion regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 11 (2): 145–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Patsopoulos, Nikolaos A., Tatsioni, Athina, and Ioannidis, John P. A. 2007. Claims of sex differences: An empirical assessment in genetic associations. JAMA 298 (8): 880–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petersson, Karl Magnus, Elfgren, Christina, and Ingvar, Martin. 1997. A dynamic role of the medial temporal lobe during retrieval of declarative memory in man. Neuroimage 6 (1): 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petrini, Karin, Pollick, Frank E., Dahl, Sofia, McAleer, Phil, McKay, Lawrie, Rocchesso, Davide, Waadeland, Carl Haakon, Love, Scott, Avanzini, Federico, and Puce, Aina. 2011. Action expertise reduces brain activity for audiovisual matching actions: An fMRI study with expert drummers. Neuroimage 56 (3): 1480–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Plant, E. Ashby, Hyde, Janet Shibley, Keltner, Dacher, and Devine, Patricia G. 2000. The gender stereotyping of emotion. Psychology of Women Quarterly 24 (1): 81–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schienle, Anne, Schäfer, Axel, Stark, Rudolf, Walter, Bertram, and Vaitl, Dieter. 2005. Gender differences in the processing of disgust‐ and fear‐inducing pictures: an fMRI study. Neuroreport 16 (3): 277–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schirmer, Annett, Zysset, Stefan, Kotz, Sonja A., and von Cramon, D. Yves. 2004. Gender differences in the activation of inferior frontal cortex during emotional speech perception. Neuroimage 21 (3): 1114–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneider, Frank, Habel, Ute, Kessler, Christoph, Salloum, Jasmin B., and Posse, Stefan. 2000. Gender differences in regional cerebral activity during sadness. Human Brain Mapping 9 (4): 226–38.3.0.CO;2-K>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shields, Stephanie A. 1975. Functionalism, Darwinism, and the psychology of women: A study in social myth. American Psychologist 30 (7): 739–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shirao, Naoko, Okamoto, Yasumasa, Mantani, Tomoyuki, Okamoto, Yuri, and Yamawaki, Shigeto. 2005. Gender differences in brain activity generated by unpleasant word stimuli concerning image: An fMRI study. British Journal of Psychiatry 186 (January): 48–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timmers, Monique, Fischer, Agneta H., and Manstead, Antony S. R. 2003. Ability versus vulnerability: Beliefs about men's and women's emotional behavior. Cognition and Emotion 17 (1): 41–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wager, Tor D., Phan, K. Luan, Liberzon, Israel, and Taylor, Stephan F. 2003. Valence, gender, and lateralization of functional brain anatomy in emotion: A meta‐analysis of findings from neuroimaging. Neuroimage 19 (3): 513–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiser, Anne K., Andreasen, Nancy C., O'Leary, Daniel S., Crespo‐Facorro, Benedicto, Boles‐Ponto, Laura L., Watkins, G. Leonard, and Hichwa, Richard D. 2000. Novel versus well‐learned memory for faces: A positron emission tomography study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 12 (2): 255–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar