How big are gender differences in personality and interests? How stable are these differences across cultures and over time?

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Gender differences in personality are small to moderate. However, women are drastically more people-oriented than men. Gender differences in interests are pretty consistent around the world and over time, suggesting they may be biological:

How big are gender differences in personality and interests, and how stable are these differences across cultures and over time? To answer these questions, I summarize data from two meta-analyses and three cross-cultural studies on gender differences in personality and interests. Results show that gender differences in Big Five personality traits are ‘small’ to ‘moderate,’ with the largest differences occurring for agreeableness and neuroticism (respective ds = 0.40 and 0.34; women higher than men). In contrast, gender differences on the people–things dimension of interests are ‘very large’ (d = 1.18), with women more people-oriented and less thing-oriented than men. Gender differences in personality tend to be larger in gender-egalitarian societies than in gender-inegalitarian societies, a finding that contradicts social role theory but is consistent with evolutionary, attributional, and social comparison theories. In contrast, gender differences in interests appear to be consistent across cultures and over time, a finding that suggests possible biologic influences.

Source: “Gender Differences in Personality and Interests: When, Where, and Why?” from Social and Personality Psychology Compass, Volume 4, Issue 11, pages 1098–1110, November 2010

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