Are Many Sex/Gender Differences Really Power Differences?

In this seminar, Joe Magee will discuss his research (with Hannah Riley Bowles, among other co-authors) addressing the long-standing debate about the determinants of sex/gender differences in psychology and behavioral tendencies.

Their analyses explore whether some reported sex/gender differences are actually due to the fact that men tend to have more power than women in society. For example, psychological studies on sex/gender differences show that men tend to display more agency than women and that women tend to be more interpersonally sensitive than men. But many studies that randomly assign some individuals to high power and others to low power find that those with power exhibit more agency and those without power are more sensitive towards others. According to the authors' comprehensive synthesis of the empirical evidence, there is a strong connection between sex/gender differences and power differences in psychology and behavior, which suggests that most sex/gender differences may be driven by power differences between men and women.