The Influence of Gender Differences

on Expectations and Memory for Social

Feedback

Jazmine Vega, Jessica I. Lake, Naomi Eisenberger, Gregory A. Miller, Cindy Yee-Bradbury

Background What has previous literature suggested?

1

1. Background

• Females have greater acute change in cortisol levels in response to social rejection, than males.

(Galli et al., 2011)

• Females have stronger brain activation in anticipation of social rewards, than males.

(Stroud et al., 2002)

• Females have better recall for emotional events when anticipating the event will happen, than males.

(Spreckelmeyer et al., 2009)

“ In order to extend on previous research,

our current experiment wanted to specifically focus on the mechanism

driving this underlying gender difference in response to social feedback.

Anticipation of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Reception of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Anticipation of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Reception of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Anticipation of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Memory of Person

Giving Feedback

Affective

Response to

Feedback

Reception of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Anticipation of

Personalized

Feedback

Memory for

Person Giving

Feedback

Affective

Response to

Feedback

How does this

differ among men

and women?

What we expect

• Females will generally report feeling worse after rejected and better after accepted, than males.

• Females will generally have better memory for

people that rejected (and anticipated would reject) them than accepted (and anticipated would accept) them, than males.

• Males will show no memory bias or affective

response to anticipation and reception of social feedback.

Methods How did we test our research hypotheses?

2

2. Methods

Participants • n = 37 • 24 Females • 18-31 years old • UCLA Undergrads • SONA System *Participants with overall memory performance <60% were excluded.

Design • 2 x 2 x 2 Mixed-groups ANOVA

design

• Cue Type (Likely to Accept, Likely to Reject) x Feedback Type (Acceptance, Rejection) x Gender of Participant (Female, Male)

• Interested in Memory and Self-Reported Feelings

2. Methods: Procedure

Day 1: • Filled out profile and had picture taken

• Told that other students at collaborating universities

would decide whether or not they would want them on their team for a cooperative computer game

• Told they would receive the feedback of students who

rated them on their next visit

• Rated the profiles of other “study participants”

2. Methods: Procedure

Day 2: Phase 1

2. Methods: Procedure

Day 2: Phase 2

• Participants viewed photos of individuals they

have previously seen and individuals they have never seen before.

• Participants completed this task at their own

pace, but were asked to respond quickly and accurately.

Participants were asked to decide if the pictured individual is:

Definitely Old - Possibly Old - Possibly New - Definitely New

Results What did we find?

3

3. Results: Self-Reported Feelings

Feedback Type x Cue Type,

p < .001

Feedback Type x Gender,

p < .05

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Acceptance Cue Rejection Cue

Acceptance

Rejection*

Self

-rep

ort

ed

Feelin

gs

Cue Type

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Female Male

Acceptance

Rejection

Gender of Participant

Self

-rep

ort

ed

Feelin

gs

*

3. Results: Memory

Feedback Type x Cue Type Feedback Type x Gender, p < .05

Gender of Participant

0

20

40

60

80

100

Acceptance Cue Rejection Cue

AcceptanceRejection

Fac

es

Re

me

mb

ere

d (

%)

Cue Type

0

20

40

60

80

100

Female Male

AcceptanceRejection

Fac

es

Re

me

mb

ere

d (

%)

*

Discussion What is important?

4

Reception of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Anticipation of

Personalized

Feedback

Memory for

Person Giving

Feedback

Affective

Response to

Feedback

Females are

reporting being

more sensitive to

social feedback

than males are.

Reception of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Anticipation of

Personalized

Feedback

Memory for

Person Giving

Feedback

Affective

Response to

Feedback

But males

actually

remember faces

that rejected

them more than

accepted them,

than females.

Reception of

Personalized

Social Feedback

Anticipation of

Personalized

Feedback

Memory for

Person Giving

Feedback

Affective

Response to

Feedback

????

“ • This discrepancy may comment on the way males and

females cope with social feedback.

• Males may not be aware with how they feel in response to rejection and do not confront their emotions, and so end up remembering rejection more than females do.

• Females, on the other hand, are possibly choosing to confront their emotions and this allows them to move on.

Limitations and Future Directions

What should future research consider?

5

5. Limitations

• Self-report

• Participant fatigue

• Manipulation of Personalized Feedback

• Imbalance of female and male participants

5. Future Directions

• Explore gender of pictured individuals

• Explore dissociation between self-report and memory

• Strengthen personalized social feedback manipulation

References

1. Galli et. al (2011). Sex differences in the use of anticipatory brain activity to encode emotional

events. The Journal of Neuroscience, 31(34),12364-12370.

2. Stroud, R. et. al (2002). Sex differences in stress responses: social rejection versus

achievement stress. Society of Biological Psychology, 52, 318-327.

3. Spreckelmeyer, N. et. al (2009). Anticipation of monetary and social reward differentially

activates mesolimbic brain structures in men and women. Social Cognitive and Affective

Neuroscience, 4(2), 158-165.

Any Questions?