University Study Finds Gap in Perception and Reality of Gender Differences

“Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus.” Not so, according to a new study by researchers at Iowa State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Western Carolina University. The study found that despite popular perceptions, men and women aren’t that different after all.

Researchers conducted a meta-synthesis of more than 100 meta-analyses of gender differences. They found an 80 percent overlap for more than 75 percent of the psychological traits analyzed. In short, men and women are not that different in their psychological make-up. “This was true regardless of whether we looked at cognitive domains, such as intelligence; social personality domains, such as personality traits; or at well-being, such as satisfaction with life,” reports lead author Zlatan Krizan, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University.

The paper, “Evaluating Gender Similarities and Differences Using Metasynthesis,” was published in the journal American Psychologist. It may be accessed here.