AFTER CONFLICT, DO WOMEN AND MEN DIFFER?

Do women and men behave differently after experiencing conflict?

One interesting attempt to answer that question was a study of four sports in 44 countries. The study found men were far more likely to engage in friendly physical contact—handshakes, back pats, and hugs—after a competition than women were.

This conclusion, based on animal studies and assumptions of early human behavior, contends that females focused on family relationships and had a few close friends, while males actively cultivated large friendship networks. From this, the researchers concluded women frequently reconciled with family and close friends, while men more typically reconciled with a larger number of unrelated same-sex peers.

The researchers go one step further to suggest current studies support the observation that when women compete in the workplace the aftermath of possible reconciliation is more challenging after a disagreement than it is for men.

The researcher’s observations also suggest that in mediation women may place greater value on resolution with close relationships compared to casual and professional ones, while men may reconcile more indiscriminately.

In other words, reconciliation may have a significant contextual meaning and value for women and a more transactional one for men.

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Fred Jandt is the author of “How to Survive a Mediation,” available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold.