SCIENCE: Men Guilty Of Not Feeling Guilt

As chick flicks often point out, men are not as sensitive as women, and now a scientific study published in The Daily Mail seems to back up that theory.

But that lack of sensitivity has a knock-on effect – men feel much less guilt than women do, new research suggests.  And the problem is not that women of all ages feel too much guilt, it is rather that guys feel too little.  Women felt more guilt across all three age groups tested and the sensitivity of men – especially those aged between 25 and 33 – was found to be ‘comparatively low’.

Researchers carried out an experiment involving 156 teenagers, 96 young people and 108 adults aged between 40 and 50  They asked them what situations most often caused guilty feelings and also got them to answer a questionnaire about what things made them feel empathetic.

“The difference was particularly stark among people aged between 40 and 50. The data also suggest that female teenagers and young women have higher scores than males of the same age,” said lead author Dr Itziar Etxebarria of the University of the Basque Country in Spain.

“This is caused by certain educational practices, which demand more of females.”

The most common forms of guilt were related to situations where people caused harm to others.

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Tags: men and women research study, men less guilty, Science & Technolgy, The Daily Mail, women and guilt

This entry was posted on January 27, 2010 at 7:44 am and is filed under Science & Technolgy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.