Study debunks notion that men and women are psychologically distinct

[Matariki]

(to which I say: 'duh')

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/04/study-debunks-notion-that-men-and-women-are-psychologically-distinct/

A first-of-its-kind study to be published in the February issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology has dealt a devastating blow to the notion that men and women are fundamentally different when it comes to how they think and act.

“Although gender differences on average are not under dispute, the idea of consistently and inflexibly gender-typed individuals is,” Bobbi J. Carothers of Washington University in St. Louis and Harry T. Reis of the University of Rochester explained in their study. “That is, there are not two distinct genders, but instead there are linear gradations of variables associated with sex, such as masculinity or intimacy, all of which are continuous.”

[patrice]

1. There is more variation within each gender group than there is between gender groups. nt

[bemildred]

2. Yeah, "Duh?". People are not widgets, nor meant to be widgets. nt

[DreamGypsy]

3. Men and women are from Earth

The study in the JPSP mentioned in the post is entitled Men and women are from Earth: Examining the latent structure of gender.

Here is a link that I found useful in understanding the abstract of the study: Taxometric Search Procedures

Here is the abstract of the study:

Taxometric methods enable determination of whether the latent structure of a construct is dimensional or taxonic (nonarbitrary categories). Although sex as a biological category is taxonic, psychological gender differences have not been examined in this way. The taxometric methods of mean above minus below a cut, maximum eigenvalue, and latent mode were used to investigate whether gender is taxonic or dimensional. Behavioral measures of stereotyped hobbies and physiological characteristics (physical strength, anthropometric measurements) were examined for validation purposes, and were taxonic by sex. Psychological indicators included sexuality and mating (sexual attitudes and behaviors, mate selectivity, sociosexual orientation), interpersonal orientation (empathy, relational-interdependent self-construal), gender-related dispositions (masculinity, femininity, care orientation, unmitigated communion, fear of success, science inclination, Big Five personality), and intimacy (intimacy prototypes and stages, social provisions, intimacy with best friend). Constructs were with few exceptions dimensional, speaking to Spence's (1993) gender identity theory. Average differences between men and women are not under dispute, but the dimensionality of gender indicates that these differences are inappropriate for diagnosing gender-typical psychological variables on the basis of sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

Copyright © [2013] by the American Psychological Association. Reproduced with permission.
Men and women are from Earth: Examining the latent structure of gender.
Carothers, Bobbi J.; Reis, Harry T.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 104(2), Feb 2013, 385-407.
The use of APA information does not imply endorsement by APA.

[Shivering Jemmy]

4. Why was this even a study?

No statistician I know doubts that

1). There are average differences in sexed behaviors

2). These differences are are hard to discriminate over and against individual variation.

"Although gender differences on average are not under dispute, the idea of consistently and inflexibly gender-typed individuals is"

Did this study receive federal funding? It's not exactly a stunning finding.