Gender Differences - Understanding the dual nature of reactivity & proactivity - Part 1

That being said, unless you have a large body of interests with your partner, you are most likely to fall into one of the two categories in the relationship. Though I could be wrong, since numerous closed studies would be needed between couples in order to elucidate the following facts. One of the individuals within the relationships will need to take on each of the roles ie. reactivity and proactivity. In many relationships where the men are the most masculine and the strongest of the genders, the role of proactivity may go to them whereas the females will have a more reactivity type role. Based on my experience, these type of roles can have serious underpinnings and grievances to the entire relationship if it’s not properly understood.

Take the case of a young couple where the female has understands her role to be fixed in any men vs women relationship. She would expect her partner to make most of the moves regarding where they go on a date and what he chooses to do or decide. It is very similar to the animal kingdom where the male is the predator when it comes to hunting females for mating. In this situation, the male over time may have certain expectations from the females and the female needs to be able to see this and play a more active role. However, it is entirely possible that a female who appears to be in a reactive role is ‘in fact’ playing a subtle ‘proactive’ role. For example, she induces a reactionary role within the partner just simply by observation and making subtle moves. This could also stem from the women’s survival skills to hold on to her partner so that she has someone who can father her children and will always be around for this.

It is a cautionary tale of love & conquests that we hear of from many romantic novels and movies. The roles of proactivity and reactivity are significant factors that come into play in a relationship without many men or women being aware of it. For some people who are skilled in the art of seduction, they may have a good handle on this technique and many men and women may unwittingly fall for this. Next time you find yourself being pulled in a certain direction, you may want to think for a moment whether you are in fact playing a proactive or a reactive role.

Gender Differences - Understanding the dual nature of reactivity & proactivity - Part 3

Tags: couples, Gender Differences - Understanding the dual nature of reactivity & proactivity - Part 2, Partner, relationship

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Dating Help for All, Dating and Relationship Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.