Men and women, even more different than thought

           -One study measured personality differences according to sex

          -The differences are 'extremely large'according to the authors

     The personality traits of men and women are important differences and much older than what experts took for granted, according to a new study that has investigated the psychological characteristics of a total of 10,000 volunteers.

      The personality differences between men and women have been the subject of muchdebate among the scientific community. The two most prevalent hypothesis is that ofthe psychologist Janet Hyde, who estimates that these differences are minimal, and the evolutionary view, in which men and women have developed distinct personalitiesas they have had to confront different adaptive problems .

     The authors of the new study, published in the journal   'PLoS One' , attach importance to this debate, but consider that there is "a pressing need for accurate empirical estimates of sex differences in personality." To this end, have conducted an investigation which takes into account more features of the commonly used in this kind of work, and have concluded that psychological differences "appear to be extremely large by any reasonable standard."

     "The greatest gender differences were found in sensitivity, warmth and apprehension(higher in women), and emotional stability, dominance, adherence to rules and supervision (higher in men)" resolves the study, signed by the researcher Marco del Giudice, University of Turin (Italy), and staff from the School of Business, University of Manchester (United Kingdom).

     According to the authors, previous studies on the matter had been considered a few personality traits, so that all of them "suffered, in varying degrees of limitations." They have therefore developed a "new guidelines" to try to measure these differences "with precision". In any case, admit that their research is not conclusive and invite other experts to make their own measurements of the psychological differences between the sexes.

     The traits examined in this study, a total of 15, can be organized into five global scales (some features are present at various scales): extraversion (which containsthe traits of warmth, animation, social boldness, privacy, self-confidence) , anxiety(emotional stability, surveillance, apprehension and tension), obstinacy (warmth, sensitivity, abstraction and openness to change), independence (mastery, social boldness, vigilance and openness to change) and self (animation, adherence to rules and perfectionism ).

     The study results reject the 'hypothesis of gender similarities' advanced Hyde, but not support the evolutionary view, as the authors note. The fact that there are large differences found may be due to both biological and cultural factors.

      Also highlights the differences identified are consistent with the traditional view of two opposing personalities according to sex, which gives more sensitivity and insight to women and more obstinate and self to men. "These effects subsume the traditional sex differences in terms of instrumentality / expressiveness or domain /understanding."

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