An old North Carolina proverb states that every man is sheriff of his own hearth. And that belief seems alive and well, particularly south of the Mason-Dixon line. One survey recently found that 36 percent of white Southerners approve of killing to defend one's house, while only 18 percent of Northerners do. In a similar vein, Southerners are more likely than their Northern counterparts to believe it is appropriate for a man to punch a drunk who bumps into his wife. And while Northerners most often kill while committing property crimes, such as holding up a 7-Eleven, Southerners, especially those in cities of fewer than 200,000 people, more commonly commit homicides when embroiled in personal arguments.
These statistics show that that honor, home, and violence are deeply intertwined in the white Southern male psyche, contends Richard Nisbett, Ph.D., a University of Michigan social psychologist, native Southerner, and author of Culture of Honor (Westview Press). Nisbett has conducted numerous experimental studies of this culture, with often astounding results.
In one study, members of Nisbett's research team sent letters to store, hotel, and restaurant chains in the guise of a hard-working, 27-year-old man requesting a job application. Half of the letters admitted that the "applicant" had been convicted of manslaughter for accidentally killing a man who had been having an affair with his fiancee and who had challenged him to a fight if he were "man enough." In the rest of the letters, the writer stated that he had been convicted of stealing a car to help support his wife and kids. The response rate to this second letter, it turned out, was similar throughout the country. But in the South and West almost 60 percent of employers sent applications to the letter writer who had accidentally killed a man, compared to only 46 percent of Northern companies. One Southern business owner even sent back a sympathetic letter to the man convicted of manslaughter, writing that "anyone could probably be in the situation you were in...Your honesty shows that you are sincere." These results suggest that many in the South still approve of using violence to defend male honor.
It's no surprise, then, that Nisbett finds that Southern men react more strongly than Northerners when insulted. In one experiment, as male college students walked down a long, narrow hallway, Nisbett had a large, burly man approach them. Southerners, on average, stepped aside to let the man pass when he was nine feet away, while Northerners waited until he was five to six feet away But if the man, without provocation, called the subject an "asshole" as he approached, Southern subjects would wait until he was three feet away to step aside. Northerners, however, didn't change their distance. Nisbett also found that Southern men had increased levels of testosterone and the stress hormone cortisol when insulted in this way, while Northern men did not.
How did this culture of honor arise? Most white people in small southern cities are descendants of Scotch-Irish herders who immigrated to the area in the 17th and 18th centuries. And herding cultures, Nisbett notes, have traditionally been violent because of the need to defend one's flock and grazing territory. In comparing herding regions of the South with areas where farming predominates, Nisbett found that the herding regions indeed have higher homicide rates. Even though these areas are no longer dependent on raising sheep and cattle, at least some of the herding culture's values seem to have endured.
RUMINATIONS ON DEPRESSION
Socrates insisted that "the unexamined life is not worth living," but it may be a lot happier than the life of a compulsive ruminator, according to Susan K. Nolen-Hoeksema, Ph.D., a University of Michigan psychologist. The tendency to repeatedly revisit one's problems, Nolen-Hoeksema finds, is the single greatest predictor of depression. And while it's widely known that women and victims of sexual abuse have high rates of depression, it's the ruminators in these groups who are especially likely to be depressed.
Nolen-Hoeksema assessed individuals who had recently lost a loved one for their tendency to ruminate, then followed up six months later. The ruminators, she found, were more likely to be depressed at the later date than non-ruminators, regardless of gender or histories of abuse. Moreover, although therapists tend to emphasize social support as a way to deal with life difficulties, those with greater support didn't show lower rates of depression.
Most people say that they ruminate because they're trying to figure out their problems, says Nolen-Hoeksema. And ruminating may indeed help non-depressed people resolve difficult situations. But depressed people, unfortunately, may tend to dwell on things that they can't change, or on the reasons they are depressed. Either way, their ruminations may interfere with effective problem-solving and further worsen their mood.
How can depressed ruminators get out of their rut? Nolen-Hoeksema observed that distracting questions elevated the moods of depressed people so that their state of mind nearly resembled that of non-depressed folk. In a related finding, she also found that people overloaded with responsibilities--working mothers, or those who have numerous non-occupational commitments--seem to have lower rates of depression. So the message for ruminators may be: It's time to get busy.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY MARIAN M. JONES
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