Course:PSYC305/2013ST2/ClassProject/5.1 Discussion - Overview
Overview of the Findings
Overview
The study suggests that there is a correlation between personal characteristics and the gender of an individual. The questionnaire was created and completed by PSYC305 students. No control group was used for the study. The null hypothesis that there be no correlation between preferences and gender group was rejected (p<0.05).
Overall, the results of the questionnaire showed some gender differences between males and females. While some findings are consistent with stereotypical sex roles: occupational preference (homemakers vs auto mechanic), preferences in potential romantic partners (males valuing beauty, females earning potential) and emotional reactions (females more likely to hide or cry in a movie, males having had longer periods without crying) there were some interesting findings of note: preferring an only child be male was predictive of being female, volunteering shows up for females not males, but no sports on the female side to name a few. So while sex role stereotypes could be used to predict group membership for some traits, it is doubtful that it could have been known that preferring that only child be male would be predictive of being in the female group.
Findings
The following items from the questionnaire were significantly correlated to being male: Relationship/Sex Behaviour- masculine spousal role, noticing physical characteristics of opposite sex first, likelihood of having sex with someone just met, ideal number of sexual partners, most attracted to personality/looks/intelligence/status,beautiful vs. intelligent romantic partner preference, been involved in one night stand, relationship importance of physical attractiveness, sexual/physical vs. emotional cheating hurtfulness; Emotional Responses- aggressive/sensitive to negative comment, length of time since cried; Occupational Preferences- automobile mechanic; Activities- basketball, football, watching scifi movies; Hobbies - modifying cars
The following were associated with being female: Relationship/Sex Behaviour- preference for older significant other, relationship importance earning capacity, male gender choice for only child; Emotional Reactions- ever cried during movie, hiding in a scary movie, Hygiene/appearance- wearing make-up frequency, likelihood of carrying a purse, preference for smaller silhouette size in mirror, liking skin care products Occupational Preferences- kindergarten teacher, elementary school teacher, baker, homemaker; Activities - wearing makeup talking to friend on phone, baking, length of phone conversation with close friend, watching talk shows, volunteering; Hobbies - knitting, baking, board games.
Additionally, the gender difference in gender diagnosticity scores provided further evidence that males and females do differ with respect to these aforementioned items. The results illustrated that both genders scored similarly in magnitude, but are inversely related. However, it’s important to note that a sample size of seven males is extremely small and thus, there may be extraneous factors affecting the results. Furthermore, the standard deviations for both scores are quite large, which means that there is a lot of variance within both gender groups. A much larger sample would be needed in order rule out whether individual variation within the groups is in fact large, or whether this is a statistical artifact.
A factor analysis was also used to determine which traits covary or go together.
The following were associated with being male: Relationship/Sex Behaviour- Most attracted to: personality/looks/intelligence/status, beautiful vs. intelligent romantic partner preference, having been involved in one night stands, ideal number of sexual partners, masculine spousal role, likelihood of having sex with someone just met; Emotional Reactions- aggressive/sensitive to negative comment, length of time since cried; Activities - watching sci-fi movies, football, basketball; Occupational Preference- automobile mechanic; Hobbies - modifying cars;
The following traits covaried with females: Relationship/sex behaviour- Preference for older significant other; Emotional reactions- cried during movie, hiding during scary movie; Activities - chatting to friend on phone, length of phone conversation with close friend, liking skin care products, baking, wearing makeup, volunteering; Occupational preference - homemaker, elementary school teacher, baker; Hobbies- Knitting
An analysis was completed to determine if the Big 5 personality traits and age correlated with the findings of the questionnaire. There was no significant correlation between the following traits: Age, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, and Openness. However, a significant correlation (r=0.42) was found between scoring high on Agreeableness and belonging to female group.
It is important to keep in mind that these findings are subject to flaws of any self report measure, such as untruthful self-reports particularly for questions involving unusual desires, unconventional sex practices, and undesirable traits for which is increased attention may have invoked a socially desirability bias. Also, any self report measure is limited in the degree to which subjects have access to their true values and preferences which are inherently subjective. For this study, a total of 60 participants reported their gender. There were a total of 50 females and only 7 males. Thus, the results may not be a fair presentation of a certain gender. It is also important to remember that the survey was designed by the gender unproportioned population of the Psychology 305A class, therefore a large percentage of questions outlined might have been biased towards the female population.