A still from The Proposal, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds

Men tend to be more assertive when working for a woman because they feel threatened by a female boss, psychologists have found.

A deep-seated fear of their masculinity being questioned could explain why many men react against a female colleague in a more senior role by behaving in a more self-assured and difficult manner, the scientists suggest, reports the independent.co.uk.

The manhood theory

A study has appeared to confirm the “precarious manhood theory” of psychology which supposes that men react more strongly against more senior women because the concept of masculinity is more easily threatened.

“Male subordinates experience especially strong levels of threat when interacting with a female superior, which further leads them to act self-assertively,” said Ekaterina Netchaeva of Bocconi University in Milan.

“The explanation is rooted in the idea that men’s masculinity or manhood is elusive and tenuous. It is something that needs to be continuously bolstered, especially when it is threatened by close association with femininity,” Dr Netchaeva said. The study, published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, involved 76 college students — 52 male and 24 female — who were asked to negotiate their salary in a hypothetical job interview with a male or female manager.

At the end of the negotiation they were asked to carry out a psychological test to measure how threatened they felt. Male participants negotiating with a female manger exhibited more threat and consistently pushed for a higher salary compared to men negotiating with a male manager. Gender did not affect female participants, who negotiated for a lower salary than the male interviewees, which reflected a common trend for women to be less aggressive in negotiations, Dr Netchaeva said.