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发帖数: 29846 | 1 Men and women have distinct personalities
Men and women really do have fundamentally different characteristics,
according to a study which has confirmed many longheld gender sterotypes.
A new analysis of a survey of 10,000 people found that each sex has firmly
entrenched characteristics, with women showing more sensitivity, warmth and
apprehension than men.
In contrast, emotional stability, dominance, rule-consciousness and
vigilance are more typically male characteristics, experts said.
Previous research has claimed that that average personality differences
between men and women are small.
But the new analysis published in the Public Library of Science One journal
revealed that each sex shares a distinct set of characteristics, with just
18 per cent of men having a typically "female" set of traits or vice versa.
Past studies have shown that men and women average similar scores on the
16PF5 – a well-known and frequently used measure of personality.
But by estimating the average difference in men's and women's scores on each
of the test's 15 different measures of personality, and comparing them
against one another, researchers found that in fact the sexes shared less
ground than previously thought.
The study showed that because men scored higher in some areas and women in
others the differences between the sexes cancelled each other out when
viewed as a simple average, but made for a significant gulf when added
together.
The new paper "clearly rejects the idea that there are only minor
differences between the personalities of men and women," researchers said.
The study could explain why certain professions, such as engineering, are
dominated by a particular sex in spite of efforts by governments to promote
equality, Dr Paul Irwing, of Manchester Business School, who co-authored the
paper, said.
He added: "You find far fewer women in engineering and it is normally
contended that you cannot explain this in individual differences, but that
is on the assumption they are small and our study shows they are huge.
"People are self-selecting into careers that fit their personality
characteristics – it is the complete opposite of what people have assumed
for the past 100 years."
Dr Marco Del Giudice, who led the study, said: "Sex differences in
personality are believed to be comparatively small. However, research in
this area has suffered from significant methodological limitations.
"The idea that there are only minor differences between the personality
profiles of males and females should be rejected as based on inadequate
methodology."
Prof Janet Hyde of the University of Wisconsin – Madison, who proposed the
theory that men and women have largely similar characteristics, said the
method used by the researchers led to "uninterpretable" results.
She said: "The scientific evidence still shows that, contrary to stereotypes
, men and women are quite similar on a wide array of psychological qualities
." |
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