gender and personality

Question 1

what is statistical significance

Answer 1

tells us if there is a meaningful difference (statistically) in averages between groups
-conveyed via p-value (p < 0.05 = statistically significant)

Question 2

what is effect size

Answer 2

tells us the magnitude/size of the difference between groups

Question 3

what is the benefit of using effect size

Answer 3

the p-value is influenced by sample size, but effect size is not
-some things can be significant with a large sample, even if the actual effect size is small

Question 4

what is normally used to calculate effect size

Answer 4

Cohen’s d

male mean - female mean / std. deviation of all

Question 5

explain numbers of d for the male - female example

Answer 5

• when males > females, d will be positive
• when females > males, d will be negative
• when there is no difference d will be 0 or close to it

Question 6

how to interpret Cohen’s d

Answer 6

0-0.1 = trivial
0.11-0.35 = small
0.36 - 0.65 = medium
0.66 - 1.0 =  large
> 1 = very large

Question 7

why is effect size relevant for studying gender differences

Answer 7

looking at “how much” of a difference not “whether” there is a difference

• small effect size means men and women are similar in personality trait
• large effect size means men and women are different in the personality trait

Question 8

explain the distributions of large and small effect sizes

Answer 8

• small effect size there is more overlap in the distributions
• large effect size there is less overlap in the distributions

there is still overlap even when there are large differences between genders, shows genders are more similar than different overall

Question 9

explain gender stereotypes in culture

Answer 9

gender stereotypes are embedded in our culture (hero vs. princess culture)
-we are exposed to them at early age

Question 10

what are some personality gender stereotypes

Answer 10

men; active, independent, confident, get things done

women; expressive, emotional, gentle, understanding

Question 11

what are gender stereotypes in social roles

Answer 11

men; leaders, financial providers

women; caregivers, homemakers

Question 12

where else are there stereotypes in society surrounding gender

Answer 12

physical attributes, emotional experiences and cognition

Question 13

why is it important to point out gender stereotypes

Answer 13

1) to what extent do stereotypes shape behavior

2) to what extent do stereotypes influence our interpretation of behavior

Question 14

explain the largest gender differences in Big 5

Answer 14

largest in assertiveness (men > women, facet of extraversion) and tender-mindedness (women > men) facet of agreeableness

Question 15

what has a medium effect size of gender differences in Big 5

Answer 15

women tend to be higher in neuroticism

Question 16

what does the rest of the effect sizes of the Big 5 and their facets show us

Answer 16

the majority of differences between men and women are small or trivial
-genders are more similar than different

Question 17

explain gender differences of aggression

Answer 17

not a part of Big 5, sort of like assertiveness but not really (aggressiveness is more extreme)
-in general, men tend to be more aggressive than women , but there are nuances

Question 18

what are the nuances of gender differences in aggression

Answer 18

men are more aggressive than women

• physical aggressiveness (d = 0.4, medium)
• verbal aggression (d = 0.18, small)

women are more aggressive than men:
-relational aggression: in the form of social rejection, exclusion, gossip, rumors, etc (d = -.74, large)

Question 19

gender differences in aggression when provoked?

Answer 19

when someone is provoked, the gender difference goes to almost 0 in physical aggression
-both genders likely to retaliate back

Question 20

explain gender differences in helping behaviors

Answer 20

not part of Big 5, sort of like agreeableness but not fully

-research finds men tend to engage in more helping than women (d= 0.34)

Question 21

nuances of helping behaviors between gender

Answer 21

type of help and audience vs. no audience

Question 22

explain gender differences of helping in audience v. no audience

Answer 22

if audience is present, men tend to help more than women (d=0.34)
-with no audience, the gender difference goes close to 0

Question 23

explain gender differences of helping with different types of help

Answer 23

• researchers tend to look at bystander intervention behavior (so men help more with this) in lab
• women’s helping behavior tends to be more communal (take place in context of relationships)

Question 24

explain study of gender helping behaviors

Answer 24

looked at dementia patients and caregivers

• 2/3 of caregivers are women (typically family)
• twice as many women spend part-time to full-time hours caregiving
• women’s lost wages due to early exit from the workforce (to caregive) exceed those of men

this is also the case for childcare and other caregiving

Question 25

explain gender differences in empathy

Answer 25

part of tender-mindedness or agreeableness - women more tender-mindedness than men (large effect size) - empathy is the ability to put yourself in another's shoes

Question 26

nuances in gender differences of empathy

Answer 26

self-report vs actual behavior - large gender differences in self-report data in empathy - when looking at empathy behavior (ex. identify what people are feeling while watching video in lab) women report they are more accurate at determining other's feelings, but when looking at actual accuracy there is no gender difference

Question 27

what causes gender diffference

Answer 27

there exist nature and nurture explanations that exist on a continuum -we will be covering things on both sides and in the middle

Question 28

what does the biological model (nature) say

Answer 28

differences in gender are innate that are due to biological causes (hormones, genetics, evolution)

Question 29

explain the role of hormones in the biological model

Answer 29

men and women have different hormones, but some of the same (estrogen, testosterone w/ different levels) -oxytocin is referred to as the love hormone, both sexes have this but females have more (oxytocin is associated with child birth and sex)

Question 30

explain what researchers say about oxytocin differences in males/females

Answer 30

research suggests that with stress females release oxytocin and epinephrine (adrenaline)- this results in "tend and befriend" rather than "fight or flight"; females seek social relations and companionship with others during stress response -males release testosterone in stress response

Question 31

what does male/female difference in stress response suggest

Answer 31

important because oxytocin could be important in gender differences of personality -maybe tender heartedness or aggression

Question 32

explain the evolutionary model (nature)

Answer 32

humans have evolved certain characteristics to adapt to environment -have similar and different evolutionary challenges

Question 33

what are the similar and different evolutionary challenges between males and females

Answer 33

similar: finding food and shelter, preference for high sugar and fat food different: parental investment, different roles in biology of having child (women have high parental investment, pregnancy and child dependence on mother; males have low parental investment they only need to give sperm)

Question 34

explain what differences in parental investment could lead to

Answer 34

females have evolved to procreate wisely men have evolved to procreate widely -women have large parental investment = more tender heartedness -men should be more focused on risk taking/social dominance/aggression to attract mates

Question 35

what is the biopsychosocial model (in the middle)

Answer 35

biological and social forces can act on each other to create gender differences -biological predispositions interact with social environment

Question 36

explain genotype-environment interactions (2 examples)

Answer 36

active: when someone is born with a predisposition for a personality trait and they seek out experiences based on these innate traits reactive: people treat someone differently because of a trait they already have ex. active: male child with predisposition to assertiveness seeks out environments where assertiveness is beneficial (competition or leadership) reactive: female child given baby doll and others encourage her to nurture the doll

Question 37

what do nurture explanations say

Answer 37

that gender differences are caused by environmental factors

Question 38

explain social role theory (nurture)

Answer 38

gender differences come from exposure to sex role socialization -society defines appropriate sex roles

Question 39

what are the appropriate sex roles in US culture

Answer 39

males tend to have power/status - leads to the development of assertiveness females tend to have caregiving roles - leads to the development of tenderheartedness

Question 40

what does changing roles do in the social role theory

Answer 40

changes gender differences

Question 41

explain the study that shows how changing gender roles changes gender differences

Answer 41

study about a cognitive gender difference (idea that males have better spatial ability than females, believed to be innate) ex. rotate object in mind - in this study males and females were asked to do spatial rotation task in lab and were randomly assigned 1) spatial instructions 2) non spatial instructions results: in spatial instructions condition males perform better than females - in non spatial instructions condition the gender difference disappears

Question 42

what does the study that shows how changing gender roles changes gender differences tell us

Answer 42

evidence for social role theory, gender differences come from exposure to sex role socialization -if we change expectations gender differences disappear

Question 43

what is social construction (nurture)

Answer 43

the idea that we define or create out own reality -whether we thing something/someone is male or female shapes our perceptions "gender is in the eye of the beholder"

Question 44

study method that supports social construction

Answer 44

experiment with video of baby playing with jack in the box and crying when it pops open -baby is young so cannot tell gender by looking at it showed participants video, randomly assigned 1) told baby was boy 2) told baby was girl -had to describe how baby was feeling when they start to cry after jack in the box opens

Question 45

results of study that supports social construction

Answer 45

- participants differed in how they described baby's feelings depending on condition - if told boy, tended to describe baby as angry - if told girl, tended to describe baby as sad so support for social construction, watching same baby do same thing but answers changed if they were told baby was boy/girl