Makale Özeti:Why Can’t a Man Be More Like a Woman? Sex Differences in Big Five Personality Traits Across 55 Cultures

The aim of this article was, observing sex differences in personality traits and providing evidence of widening gap between men’s and women’s personality traits in developed and more egalitarian countries. There were 17,637 participants from 55 different nations. All participants were administered the BFI (Big Five Inventory) personality traits.
Findings showed that, women were significantly higher than men in the level of neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion and conscientiousness. The factor of openness to experience was mixed across cultures. In 37 cultures, men scored higher than women where as in 18 cultures, women scored higher than men.
Sexual differences were also correlated with Hofstede’s individualism dimension. More individualistic cultures as Western nations showed greater sex differences in personality traits rather than non- Western collectivistic cultures.
It was also shown that, differences between men and women in their personality traits become more extreme with the increasing development of human society. In more egalitarian societies, the personality traits of men and women become less similar. In more traditional and less developed cultures a man is, more like a women.
The correlation between, higher levels of human development which includes long and healthy life, high level of knowledge and education and economic wealth, were the main nation-level predictors of larger sex differences in personality. The important cause of sex difference across cultures, was seen because of the some changes in the men’s personality traits.
In traditional countries, division of labor between men and women is more disparate than in egalitarian countries. In traditional countries, women occupy roles which need more domestic behaviors then men do and men show more agentive and domiant sex role performence. So, it shows us that, the gap between personality traits of men and women widens as the society in which they live more modern and economically sufficient. This study also confirms these findings including several African and Middle East countries as well.

Schmitt D.P., & Voracek M., & Realo A., & Allik J. ( 2008). Why Can’t a Man Be More Like a Woman? Sex Differences in Big Five Personality Traits Across 55 Cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 168-182.

Makaleyi İngilizce'den özetleyen: Merve Feyizoğlu