Study: Women more harsh on their peers than men

Women are less tolerant of each other than men are, according to a new published theory which might also put in plain words why women prefer to have a male boss.

A recent study says women easily form negative attitude to other women, while on the other hand men are more tolerant of their peers. A team of researchers from Emmanuel College in Boston, who published this theory in the US journal Psychological Science, has reportedly asked male and female college students to rate their room-mates under different scenarios. The result of the study showed that women were far more likely to be critical of other women, while men were much more tolerant. It is also said by the researchers that women were more likely to switch to a new room-mate than men were. Joyce Benenson, the associate professor of psychology and the leader of the team, thinks that women expect more from their same-sex relationships than men do, and this mentality makes them harsher on their peers. The research team said: "Women may simply weight negative information more heavily than men do, because negative information disrupts the establishment of intimacy, which serves a more important function in same-sex relationships for women than for men." Although the research team did not pursue their experiment in any workplace, but it seems that the same reasoning would be applicable to a last year survey result which showed women prefer to work for a male boss. Also see this.