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Gender Differences in Empathetic Embarrassment to Social Situations . Psych Lab 240: 14 Lab Instructor: Jenna Wright Ashley Arnold, Erin Ford, Claire Bourgard , Calvin Battle, and Corey Bennett . Introduction. Research Question:
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Gender Differences in Empathetic Embarrassment to Social Situations Psych Lab 240: 14 Lab Instructor: Jenna Wright Ashley Arnold, Erin Ford, Claire Bourgard, Calvin Battle, and Corey Bennett
Introduction • Research Question: - Are their any gender differences in empathic embarrassment between males and females? • Purpose • Hypothesis/Rationale: - Females will show greater empathetic embarrassment compared to males concerning the given embarrassing scenarios.
Introduction • Our methods aim to investigate the correlation between: • Independent Variable: Empathic response to embarrassing scenarios • Dependent Variable: Males and Females • We also plan to expand on correlation between extremity of the situation and male/female reactions
Methods • Participants - Random Sampling • 240 student participants (120 female, 120 male) • Ages 18-30, with a mean age of 19.24 • 78 percent were Caucasian, 12 percent were African Canadian, 8 percent were Latino, and 2 percent were other • Main incentive was momentary compensation
Methods • Measures/Materials • Survey Methods 20 Multiple Choice Questions -> Rating of embarrassment on 1-5 Scale in response to a given embarrassing scenario • 1. Not embarrassing at all • 2. Little embarrassment • 3. Moderate embarrassment • 4. Strong embarrassment • 5. Very strong embarrassment
Methods • Measure/Materials (continued) • 10 Open Ended Questions • Requested participants to describe their perceived feeling of embarrassment to a variety of hypothetical embarrassing scenarios • Aimed to further support our scale observations
Methods • Procedure • Participant recruitment at the Antigonish mall • Researchers set up visible booth • Participants joined at their own consent • Experimenter asks potential participant for their age, gender and proof of educational status to see if they qualify for study • Subjects are informed on nature of the study • Participants agree to join study and consent form • Participants are escorted to closed off, private room by experimenter • Participants completed survey among other participants (mean of 8 participants at a given time) • Each participant is given identical survey with no time constraint
Anticipated Results • Females will show greater ratings of embarrassment on our 1-5 scale • The differences will not be large, but significant • Further support for hypothesis is on the open ended questions
Dicussion • Findings confirmed our hypothesis • Results were similar to past research, but also challenge it • Future studies on empathic embarrassment should acknowledge gender implications • Shortcomings/Limitations: • Lack of experimental research • What about physiological differences? • Future ideas for research: female/male control groups