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Male extroverts are surprisingly similar to female extroverts. Both feed off of the energy of others, both tend to have large social networks, and both spend many of their waking hours communicating with others.
But there are some interesting differences. New research appearing in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science identifies two such differences — female extroverts are less likely to experience romantic satisfaction and they are less likely to exhibit a high degree of occupational commitment.
To arrive at this conclusion, a team of psychologists led by Christopher Soto of Colby College in Maine analyzed over 6,000 personality tests to see which dimensions of personality were most predictive of various life outcomes.
Surprisingly, Soto and his team found remarkable consistency across gender. In other words, many of the personality traits they measured (for instance, extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism) were associated with the same life outcomes (e.g., leadership, well-being, humor, and job satisfaction) for men and women.
“I expected that most of the trait-outcome associations would be consistent across gender, but I wasn't sure whether the degree of consistency would be closer to 60% or 90%,” commented Soto. “So finding that 90-95% of the trait-outcome associations were consistently observed across demographic groups was definitely at the high end of my expectations.”
Where else did meaningful differences emerge? For one, women who scored high on the personality dimension of agreeableness — that is, the set of characteristics that lead people to be perceived as kind, cooperative, warm, and considerate — possessed less financial security than agreeable men. This should not come as a surprise, as other research has found agreeableness to be associated with lower wages for women. Agreeable men also exhibited marginally higher romantic satisfaction than women, although the trait of agreeableness in women was generally associated with higher romantic satisfaction.
The personality trait of conscientiousness — that is, the tendency to exhibit carefulness, diligence, and seriousness — showed considerable divergence between men and women. For example, conscientious men were more likely to exhibit occupational commitment and intrinsic success than women. Alternatively, conscientious women were more likely than conscientious men to exhibit pro-social behaviors.
The researchers also explored the personality dimension of “openness,” or the degree to which a person is imaginative, variety-seeking, and intellectually curious. They found that openness was more strongly associated with volunteerism in women. It was also more highly associated with job attainment and job success in women. For men, openness was associated greater well-being and a heightened ability to engage in forgiveness.
This research was conducted as part of a broader effort to replicate many of the associations between personality traits and life outcomes that have been found in previous research. To this end, the researchers view their work as a success. They write, “These results indicate that the personality-outcome literature provides a reasonably accurate map of trait–outcome associations but also that it stands to benefit from efforts to improve replicability.”
