Men Read News After Fight to Fight Again

When men and women are angry, they both choose the news media articles they read with the goal of regulating their moods, a new study suggests.
But, in some circumstances, men choose to read articles that will fuel their anger, while women choose articles that will dissipate it.
Researchers found that when men were angered and anticipate the chance to retaliate, they chose to read negative online news stories, presumably to sustain their anger until their opportunity to get even.
Women faced with the same situation, however, chose to read more positive news to help dissipate their anger before a possible confrontation.
“For women, it is not seen as appropriate for them to retaliate when they're angry, but it is OK for men. And that's reflected in their selection of media content,” said Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, co-author of the study and assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University.
“This shows that even our news consumption is not motivated just by information concerns. We use news to regulate our moods.”
Knobloch-Westerwick conducted the study with Scott Alter of the University of Michigan. Their results were published in a recent issue of the journal Human Communication Research.