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Sex Differences in Personality Traits

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

Introduction

The history of research into sex differences in personality is long and at times controversial. In the introduction to a seminal text on sex differences in psychological traits, Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) set out a series of questions that remain the core questions in the area today:

  • Do sex differences in personality exist? If so, how big are the effects?

  • Are these effects of a magnitude that they could meaningfully affect life decisions and outcomes?

  • Moreover, if they do exist, why do they exist?

In this entry, we will consider the empirical evidence speaking to the existence, or not, of sex differences and consider how these findings relate to the varied theoretical positions that seek to explain sex differences or a lack thereof. The focus of this entry is primarily on differences in subclinical trait measurement. However, we provide brief discussion of the evidence for sex differences in psychopathological traits. Finally, we consider some of the methodological debates...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Tom Booth

  2. Violence Research Centre, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Aja Louise Murray

Authors
  1. Tom Booth
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  2. Aja Louise Murray
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tom Booth .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Ashton C. Southard

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Booth, T., Murray, A.L. (2018). Sex Differences in Personality Traits. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1265-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1265-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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