1000 word limit essay for the 'Personality and Intelligence' psychology module.
Answering the question: 'With relevant theory and research evidence, critically discuss the view that there are sex differences in personality'.
With relevant theory and research evidence, critically discuss the view that there are
sex differences in personality.
Links have been made between sex and personality that suggest that sex is a factor
in differences in personality amongst men and women in a population. These links have
been made and tested over the years in various studies that have collected significant
evidence to suggest that this is the case (Feingold, 1994).
Personality can be explained through separate traits such as what is suggested by
the ‘Big Five’ personality structure (Goldberg, 1993). This divides personality into 5 areas
that are assessed and scored separately to show different levels in each trait such as
neuroticism and openness etc. These traits are affected by didn’t factors within each person
tested, sex is one of those factors. A study done by Budaev (1993) investigated this link
along with testing evolutionary thesis. This study supports the previous claims that there are
sex differences in personality especially in the ‘Big Five’ model. Findings showed that
females in the study showed significantly higher levels of agreeableness and lower levels of
emotional stability when compared to their male counterparts thus showing that sex
differences do exist among people. Budaev explained these findings using evolutionary
theory suggesting that this difference could be due to dominance related aggression in
humans with regards to social dominance, similar to how other mammals behave (Buirski et
al, 1978). The study by Buirski et al (1978) looked into the differences in chimpanzees. The
study looked at possible differences in personality and dominance within sexes to which it
did find sex differences in the personalities thus further strengthening the argument in favour
of sex differences in personality.
Cross cultural studies have also been conducted to investigate if the sex differences
in western participants can also be observed in the rest of the world. A meta-analysis by
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