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Related Experiment Video

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Sex differences in self-regulation: an evolutionary perspective.

Niki Hosseini-Kamkar1, J Bruce Morton1

  • 1Cognitive Development and Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Psychology, The University of Western Ontario London, ON, Canada.

Frontiers in Neuroscience
|August 21, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sex differences in self-regulation show a female advantage in children, but results are mixed in adults. Some studies suggest females are less impulsive when fertile, aligning with evolutionary predictions.

Keywords:
delay of gratificationdelay-discountinginhibitory controlparental investment theorysex differences in impulsivitysex differences in inhibitionsex differences in self-regulationsex differences the mesocorticolimbic dopamine pathway

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary psychology
  • Developmental psychology
  • Neuroscience

Background:

  • Evolutionary framework predicts female advantage in self-regulation due to differing selection pressures.
  • Investigates sex differences in behavioral, neural, and hormonal aspects of self-regulation.
  • Examines potential sexual dimorphism in self-regulatory capacities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Summarize sex differences in self-regulation at the behavioral level.
  • Investigate neural and hormonal underpinnings of potential sexual dimorphism.
  • Relate experimental findings to the Bjorklund and Kipp (1996) hypothesis.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on sex differences in self-regulation.
  • Analysis of behavioral, neural, and hormonal data.
  • Synthesis of findings in relation to evolutionary theory.

Main Results:

  • Sex differences in self-regulation are more consistently reported in prepubescent children.
  • Results in adult cohorts are mixed, with some studies showing no significant differences.
  • Recent findings indicate females may be less impulsive during fertile menstrual cycle phases.

Conclusions:

  • Evolutionary pressures may shape sex differences in self-regulation.
  • Female self-regulation advantage appears more pronounced in childhood.
  • Adaptive self-regulatory strategies in females may be linked to fertility, warranting further investigation.