Story of Psychology - Morton Hunt [219]
The upshot is that while the radical feminist view is not justified by the findings, many traditional beliefs about innate differences in male and female personality have been disproved. Most male-female differences are now ascribed to social learning or to the interplay of social forces and biological factors, but some do appear to be innate. Kay Deaux, a psychologist at the City University of New York, concluded a review of research in the field with this comment:
What one may wish as a feminist is not necessarily what one sees as a scientist… Attempts to “disprove” the existence of sex differences have given way to arguments, both at the scientific and popular level, that differences do exist. Acknowledgment of the existence of differences should not, however, serve as a cap on efforts to understand the processes by which sex and gender have become influential in human behavior.66
But that temperate summary did nothing to quiet the long-running debate. Over the past two decades, many other studies of gender differences in personality have been published, some concluding that there are only trifling differences, others that there are significant differences, some holding that such differences as exist are culturally acquired, others that they are largely of genetic or biological origin. It would be tedious to exhibit examples of all this, but the distinguished researcher Stephen Kosslyn and co-author Robert Rosenberg recently summarized what has been learned:67
In general, personality differences between females and males are not very great, especially when compared with the large differences among people within each sex. For example, there are no notable sex differences in social anxiety, locus of control, impulsiveness, or reflectiveness.
Nonetheless, some consistent differences have been found. Women tend to score higher on traits reflecting social connectedness, which is a focus on the importance of relationships, men on traits reflecting individuality and autonomy. Women tend to be more empathic than men and report more nurturing tendencies [and] are better at spotting when their partners are deceiving them.
Males and females also differ in their degree of neuroticism, with men scoring lower. However, women generally score lower on anger and aggression.
The fact that a difference exists doesn’t tell us why it exists—what might be the role of biological or cultural factors. In spite of the evidence that culture and context shape gender differences, we must also note that there are biological explanations for these differences.
Which nicely illustrates a general truth about psychology that will become ever more apparent as our story proceeds: to some degree, opposed and seemingly incompatible theories about many a psychological phenomenon, pitted against each other for two and a half millennia, are both proving in the light of accumulating knowledge to be right.
Body, Genes, and Personality
The theory that male-female trait differences are biologically determined is part of the larger one that personality is innate. There are two related versions of this theory: one, the characteristics of an individual’s body influence personality; and two, personality is determined by specific genes or the interactions of certain genes.
The first version is nearly as old as psychology itself. Galen’s humoral theory of personality was one form it took in antiquity. Another was physiognomy, the view held from Greek times to today that the shape of the features and configuration of the body are accompanied by related personality traits. One example, of thousands: In The Canterbury Tales Chaucer pictures the sober, studious Clerk (scholar) as “not right fat” but “hollow,” the earthy, much-married Wife of Bath as “bold” of face, “red of hue,” and “gat-tothed” (gaps between the teeth, according