The gender similarities hypothesis
Affiliation.
- 1 University of Wisconsin--Madison.
- PMID: 16173891
- DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.60.6.581
The differences model, which argues that males and females are vastly different psychologically, dominates the popular media. Here, the author advances a very different view, the gender similarities hypothesis, which holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. Results from a review of 46 meta-analyses support the gender similarities hypothesis. Gender differences can vary substantially in magnitude at different ages and depend on the context in which measurement occurs. Overinflated claims of gender differences carry substantial costs in areas such as the workplace and relationships.
Copyright (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved.
Publication types
- Comparative Study
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
- Achievement
- Aggression / psychology
- Career Choice
- Gender Identity
- Individuality
- Men / psychology*
- Meta-Analysis as Topic
- Psychological Theory
- Sex Characteristics*
- Stereotyping
- Women / psychology*
Gender Similarities Hypothesis
- Living reference work entry
- First Online: 07 April 2023
- Cite this living reference work entry
- Janine Bosak 2 &
- Clara Kulich 3
168 Accesses
3 Altmetric
This hypothesis states that females and males are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables.
Introduction
To date, the question whether men and women are different in their abilities, personality, interests, attitudes, and behaviors occupies scientific and public discourse. Common lay theories in society and best-selling books such as John Gray’s ( 1992 ) Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus stress a gender differences hypothesis. Such essentialist views typically advance two sources for these presumed differences (Saguy et al., 2021 ). First, scientific evidence on sex differences in certain biological indicators (variations in hormonal levels or genetics) lead people to infer that men and women differ in traits and behaviors. Second, sociocultural explanations advance that girls and boys are socialized into different “gender” roles and thus women and men should differ in important ways and across various psychological domains. In contrast to this gender differences...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Institutional subscriptions
Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review, 106 (4), 676–713. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.676
Article PubMed Google Scholar
Buss, D. M. (2004). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Google Scholar
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity (p. 33). Routledge.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Deaux, K., & Major, B. (1987). Putting gender into context: An interactive model of gender-related behavior. Psychological Review, 94 (3), 369–389. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.94.3.369
Article Google Scholar
Flore, P. C., & Wicherts, J. M. (2015). Does stereotype threat influence performance of girls in stereotyped domains? A meta-analysis. Journal of School Psychology, 53 (1), 25–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2014.10.002
Gray, J. (1992). Men are from mars, women are from venus: A definitive guide to relationships . HarperCollins Publishers.
Guimond, S. (2008). Psychological similarities and differences between women and men across cultures. Social and Personality Psychology Compass , 494–510. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00036.x
Hyde, J. S. (1981). How large are cognitive gender differences? A meta-analysis using !w 2 and d.. American Psychologist, 36 (8), 892–901. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.36.8.892 .
Hyde, J. S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60 (6), 581–592. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.6.581
Hyde, J. S., Bigler, R. S., Joel, D., Tate, C. C., & van Anders, S. M. (2019). The future of sex and gender in psychology: Five challenges to the gender binary. American Psychologist, 74 (2), 171–193. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000307
Kling, K. C., Hyde, J. S., Showers, C. J., & Buswell, B. N. (1999). Gender differences in self-esteem: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 125 (4), 470–500. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.4.470
LaFrance, M., Hecht, M. A., & Paluck, E. L. (2003). The contingent smile: A meta-analysis of sex differences in smiling. Psychological Bulletin, 129 (2), 305–334. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.2.305
Morgenroth, T., Fine, C., Ryan, M. K., & Genat, A. E. (2018). Sex, drugs, and reckless driving: Are measures biased toward identifying risk-taking in men? Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9 , 744–753. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617722833
Richard, F. D., Bond, C. F., Jr., & Stokes-Zoota, J. J. (2003). One hundred years of social psychology quantitatively described. Review of General Psychology, 7 (4), 331–363. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.7.4.331
Saguy, T., Reifen-Tagar, M., & Joel, D. (2021). The gender-binary cycle: The perpetual relations between a biological-essentialist view of gender, gender ideology, and gender-labelling and sorting. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376 , 20200141. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0141
Shan, W., Kellet, J., & Joseph, D. (2019). Are men better negotiators everywhere? A meta-analysis of how gender differences in negotiation performance vary across cultures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40 , 651–675. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2357
Wood, W., & Eagly, A. H. (2012). Biosocial construction of sex differences and similarities in behavior. In J. M. Olson & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 46, pp. 55–123). London, England: Else.
Zell, E., Krizan, Z., & Teeter, S. R. (2015). Global gender differences can be operationalized and tested. American Psychologist, 70 (7), 664–665. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039590
Download references
Author information
Authors and affiliations.
Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland
Janine Bosak
University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Clara Kulich
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Corresponding author
Correspondence to Janine Bosak .
Editor information
Editors and affiliations.
Department of Psychology, Oakland University, ROCHESTER, MN, USA
Todd K. Shackelford
Section Editor information
Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA
Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA
Gavin Vance
Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester Hills, MI, USA
Madeleine K. Meehan
Rights and permissions
Reprints and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry.
Bosak, J., Kulich, C. (2023). Gender Similarities Hypothesis. In: Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_163-1
Download citation
DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_163-1
Received : 28 October 2022
Accepted : 01 November 2022
Published : 07 April 2023
Publisher Name : Springer, Cham
Print ISBN : 978-3-031-08956-5
Online ISBN : 978-3-031-08956-5
eBook Packages : Springer Reference Behavioral Science and Psychology Reference Module Humanities and Social Sciences Reference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences
- Publish with us
Policies and ethics
- Find a journal
- Track your research
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
The gender similarities hypothesis holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. That is, men and women, as well as boys and girls, are more alike than they are different.
The Gender Similarities Hypothesis (Hyde, 2005) proposes that women and men, girls and boys, are more similar than different and that age and context can lead to observed differences. This hypothesis rests on the small effect sizes of gender differences and on their context-dependence.
Numerous psychological theories lay the foundation for gender similarities in psychological constructs and attempt to explain why gender differences exist. This chapter focuses on three specific theories that are often applied to the theoretical foundation of psychological gender differences.
Here, the author advances a very different view, the gender similarities hypothesis, which holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. Results from a review of 46 meta-analyses support the gender similarities hypothesis.
Here, the author advances a very different view, the gender similarities hypothesis, which holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. Results from a review of 46 metaanalyses support the gender similarities hypothesis.
Here, the author advances a very different view, the gender similarities hypothesis, which holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables. Results from a review of 46 meta-analyses support the gender similarities hypothesis.
The gender similarities hypothesis recognizes that the genders are not necessarily similar in every domain and that exceptions of consistent and substantial gender differences should be acknowledged.
Cognitive social learning theory, sociocultural theory, and expectancy-value theory, although designed to explain gender differences, can easily be adapted to understanding gender similarities, as well as trends over time toward greater gender similarities in the United States.
This review summarizes major theories designed to explain gender differences: evolutionary theories, cognitive social learning theory, sociocultural theory, and expectancy-value theory. The gender similarities hypothesis raises the possibility of theorizing gender similarities.
Here, the author advances a very different view, the gender similarities hypothesis, which holds that males and females are similar on most, but not all, psychological variables.