Relationships: Are Males and Females Actually Different?

Relationships: Are Males and Females Actually Different?

BACKGROUND
Relationships can be difficult. We can all say we’ve argued with a significant other one time or another. During arguments, we just can’t see the others point of view. We’ll go to our friends and family for advice and usually people of the same sex can see your point of view. Why is that? We all assume that males and females are different because they are ‘opposite’ sexes. When we someone as male or female we think a lot about them. It says a lot about them biologically, but what about mentally? We believe the typical stereotypes (Girls are emotional; boys are physical.) and connect them with the gender. The question is: does gender affect this? Many believe that it does. In relationships, we want, and expect, different things. Many believe that our sex affect what we want. Nevertheless, the biological factors of ourselves do affect what we want in some ways. The estrogen in females and testosterone in males does affect the way we think and our wants.
HYPOTHESIS
What I wanted to know is: Are males “wants” and females “wants”, in a relationship, actually different? In this experiment, I decided to test out the stereotypes. Most people believe that men are more about the physical aspect (kissing, touching, etc.) and women are more about the mental aspect (cuddling, talking, etc.). The hypothesis then became this: in relationships, males will want more physical and less emotional aspects in their relationships; while females want more emotional and less physical aspects, thus inversely correlating.
Predicted Answers 1. MaleFemale Both | 2. Physical ActivityEmotional Activity | 3. A) SloneB) Other PeopleC) Other | 4.2-4 Avrg. : 38-10 Avrg. : 9 | 5.A) DatesB) Home | 6. A) YesB) NoC) Other | 7. A) in personB) PhoneC) TextD) Other | 8. A) PermanentB) MomentC) Other | 9. A) YesB) NoC) Other | 10. A) TalkB) ArgueC) IgnoreD) Other | 11. 7-9 Avrg. : 85-7 Avrg. : 7 | 12.5-7 Avrg. : 68-10 Avrg: 9 | 13. 8-10 Avrg: 95-7 Avrg. : 6 | 14. Physical AspectsEmotional Aspects | 15. A) TellC) Not TellD) Other | 16.8-10 Avrg. : 96-8 Avrg. : 7 | 17. 9-10 Avrg.: 9.54-5 Avrg.: 4.5 | 18.Physical AspectsEmotional Aspects | 19. 6-8 Avrg. : 7 | |

METHOD
Subjects
The participants in this study consisted of twenty total participants. Ten were male and ten females. Eight of them were Black/African American, eleven were white and six of them said they were of the Spanish ethnicity. They all were students of Fort Lauderdale High, all between the ages of fourteen and eight-teen.
Procedure
I went up to each student and asked them to fill out a survey. The survey had 19 questions. Three questions were long response; eight were multiple choice seven of which had “other and a blank” as a response; and seven were rating questions, one being left to specify their gender. The survey was anonymous to get more truthful answers. Every fourth individual, for both genders, was then interviewed. They were asked about their responses for every question. The only question asked was why they chose the certain answer. Their responses were recorded and compared with the others. Five girls and five boys were interviewed making the total ten.
RESULTS
1. MaleFemale Both | 2. Physical activity4 0Emotional activity2 8both4 2 | 3. A) Alone8 6B) Other People2 4C) Other0 0 | 4. 7-10 Avrg. : 8.68-10 Avrg. . : 8.5 | 5. A) Dates3 6B) Home6 4*1= both | 6. A) Yes5 9B) No5 1C) Other0 0 | 7. A) in person10 9B) Phone0 1C) Text0 0D) Other0 0 | 8. A) Permanent2 2B) Moment3 2C) Other5 6*because I like them*to find out what I want/ I like them | 9. A) Yes6 10B) No4 0C) Other0 0 | 10.A) Talk6 10B) Argue1 0C) Ignore1 0D) Other2 0*depends on problem | 11.6-8Avrg. : 7.257-8 Avrg. : 7 | 12. 7-8 Avrg. : 7.68-10 Avrg: 9.2 | 13. 7-9 Avrg: 7.8Avrg. : 6.5 | 14. Physical aspects
1 0Emotional aspects5 9Both4 0*1= I do not know | 15. A) Tell10 10B) Lie0 0C) Not tell0 0D) Other0 0 | 16. 8-10 Avrg. : 9.6Avrg. : 8 | 17.8-10 Avrg. : 9.68-10 Avrg. : 8.5 | 18. Physical aspects0 0Emotional aspects8 10Both 1 0*1= I do not know | 19. 9-10 Avrg. : 9.8 | |

Multiple Choice Questions
The female multiple choice portion showed that females are emotional and not physical. When participants asked about their answers, they said they prefer to be alone with a significant because it is more intimate but they do not mind being with other people. They stated that they care whether or not their significant other was liked by their family and if they, themselves, were liked by their significant others family. This is because other people see thing they may not and it is hard to see a future with someone if you cannot fit in their others life.
While entering a relationship females had many different reasons that did not correlate together. The females also wanted to not argue with a significant other; they stated that they would rather talk it out because of the fact that they do not like it and thought it did not help the problem. They said it usually ends faster and is easier. They also stated that if their significant other were to do something they do not like they would rather tell them than have them lie or not say anything. Males, however said they would rather be alone and hang out at home. They stated that it was easier to do ‘physical’ things if they wanted but more importantly they said it was better to be alone because it was more sentimental. They felt more comfortable alone with their significant other. On another note, it was pretty even if they cared if their significant other got along with their friends/family. They said that they do not care a substantial amount because “they are dating them because they like them not for the acceptance of their friends/family” (– direct quote from participants.) They do care, however, if their significant others friend/family likes them. Most male participants said they would rather get broken up with in person, just like females out of respect. Most males stated they enter relationships just because they like them or for the moment. They stated it was because they did not like to think for the future. Most male said that they would rather talk to their significant other about their problems instead of arguing but some did say it depended on the problem. All males agreed with females that they would rather be told the truth even though they would get hurt than be lied to or not told at all.
Long Responses
For females, all long responses were emotional. They stated that while with their significant other alone they would rather cuddle, go out on a date, watch movies, and/or just talk. Some answers were physical, but mostly emotional. What they expected to get out of relationships was wisdom, love, happiness and compassion. Also aspect of relationships that were most important to them was trust, honesty and communication. Males wanted mostly physical aspects while alone but some emotional ones as well. They stated they wanted to watch movies, play board games, cuddle or do whatever their significant other pleases. When asked what they expected to get out of a relationship they did state physical aspects, again, but more emotional one this time. Most of them wanted love, happiness and most of all a friend. Even more emotional answers came when we asked “what aspects of a relationship are most important to you.” Most of them again stated a friendship, but also love and trust.
Rating Questions Most males and females like cuddling. Males however feel like the protector or that their significant other is theirs. Females, however, like it for the comfort and warmth. Both sexes care about looks because they want their significant other to take care of themselves. Males think that it is their job to be romantic toward their significant other to show that they care. Females think they should but feel as though their significant other does not really care so it is not as important. Females do thing that their significant other should be romantic towards them but males do not. Both sexes think communication is important. Females find listening more important than males. Both sexes find friendship in a relationship important.
Conclusions
The hypothesis was incorrect. Males are just as emotional as females along with their physical aspects. Females are less physical but still more physical than predicted. Their results did not fully inversely correlate but did with certain answers. Over all males and female mostly want the same things emotionally but not physically.
Strengths/Weaknesses
One 'strength' of the study is that the survey was done anonymously to get truthful answers from participants. A weakness of the study is that the sample population was not a true random sample and was quite small.