What did
this study do differently to get such large sex differences in personality?
(a) measure personality with a higher resolution than that afforded by the Big Five; (b) estimate sex differences on latent factors; and (c) assess global sex differences with multivariate effect sizes. We then apply these guidelines to a large, representative adult sample, and obtain what is presently the best estimate of global sex differences in personality.
The conclusion:
The idea that, on average, there are only minor differences between the personality profiles of males and females should be rejected as based on an inadequate methodology. For example, a recent analysis of FFM aspects by Weisberg and colleagues [53] led the authors to conclude that sex differences in personality are small to moderate, and that the distributions of men and women are largely overlapping. However, the analysis relied on observed scores, and the authors did not aggregate univariate differences into a proper multivariate effect size...
In conclusion, we believe we made it clear that the true extent of sex differences in human personality has been consistently underestimated.
