Decision-making and aggression...

We make so many decisions everyday – some individually and some with others. And in the process, we influence and get influenced by others. When we make decisions with others, how does the gender of the other person influence such decisions? Two Marketing professors – Hristina Nikolova and Cait Lamberton – have researched on this topic:

·        Usually, when faced with a set of choices, individuals choose the middle option, the compromise option

·        In experiments conducted by these researchers in pairs (combinations of male-male, male-female, female-female) and individually where participants were asked to arrive at one choice between extreme options and moderate options, they found some very revealing insights:

            o  Pairs of men chose the extreme options far more than any other combination or individual

            o  In all other pairs, participants preferred the moderate (compromise ) options more

·        Men making decisions together feel driven to take actions that prioritize extremity (which corroborates with masculine norms as per evolutionary theories) and minimize moderation (which corroborates with feminine norms as per evolutionary theories)

Now, you can reflect on what’s happening in your organizations and lives, check how many critical decisions are being made in male-male pairs as against other combinations and reflect if they are extreme decisions or moderate ones?