Personality Traits and the Gender Gap in Ideology

Rebecca Morton; Jean-Robert Karl Tyran; Erik Roland Wengström

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-40118-8_7

Personality Traits and the Gender Gap in Ideology

Rebecca Morton, Jean-Robert Karl Tyran, Erik Roland Wengström

Abstract

What explains the gender gap in ideology, i.e. the observation that women tend to be more leftist than men? We provide new evidence showing that personality traits play a key role. Using a novel high-quality data set, we show that the mediating (i.e. indirect) effects of gender operating through personality traits by far dominate the direct effects of gender. They also dominate other potential differences between the sexes like income or education as explanatory factors. Our findings suggest that women tend to be more leftist than men mainly because they have different personalities, which, in turn, shape their expressed ideology. Taking such mediating effects of personality traits into account explains over three quarters of the observed gender gap in general ideological preferences.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Titel	The Political Economy of Social Choices
Forlag	Springer
Publikationsdato	2016
Sider	153-185
ISBN (Trykt)	978-3-319-40116-4
ISBN (Elektronisk)	978-3-319-40118-8
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40118-8_7
Status	Udgivet - 2016

Navn	Studies in Political Economy
ISSN	0707-8552

FN’s Verdensmål

Dette resultat bidrager til følgende verdensmål

Adgang til dokumentet

10.1007/978-3-319-40118-8_7

Citationsformater

@inbook{ac33e9f4425b4d63b23d257643acfa2e,

title = "Personality Traits and the Gender Gap in Ideology",

abstract = "What explains the gender gap in ideology, i.e. the observation that women tend to be more leftist than men? We provide new evidence showing that personality traits play a key role. Using a novel high-quality data set, we show that the mediating (i.e. indirect) effects of gender operating through personality traits by far dominate the direct effects of gender. They also dominate other potential differences between the sexes like income or education as explanatory factors. Our findings suggest that women tend to be more leftist than men mainly because they have different personalities, which, in turn, shape their expressed ideology. Taking such mediating effects of personality traits into account explains over three quarters of the observed gender gap in general ideological preferences.",

author = "Rebecca Morton and Tyran, {Jean-Robert Karl} and Wengstr{\"o}m, {Erik Roland}",

year = "2016",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-319-40118-8_7",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-3-319-40116-4",

series = "Studies in Political Economy",

publisher = "Springer",

pages = "153--185",

booktitle = "The Political Economy of Social Choices",

}

TY - CHAP

T1 - Personality Traits and the Gender Gap in Ideology

AU - Morton, Rebecca

AU - Tyran, Jean-Robert Karl

AU - Wengström, Erik Roland

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - What explains the gender gap in ideology, i.e. the observation that women tend to be more leftist than men? We provide new evidence showing that personality traits play a key role. Using a novel high-quality data set, we show that the mediating (i.e. indirect) effects of gender operating through personality traits by far dominate the direct effects of gender. They also dominate other potential differences between the sexes like income or education as explanatory factors. Our findings suggest that women tend to be more leftist than men mainly because they have different personalities, which, in turn, shape their expressed ideology. Taking such mediating effects of personality traits into account explains over three quarters of the observed gender gap in general ideological preferences.

AB - What explains the gender gap in ideology, i.e. the observation that women tend to be more leftist than men? We provide new evidence showing that personality traits play a key role. Using a novel high-quality data set, we show that the mediating (i.e. indirect) effects of gender operating through personality traits by far dominate the direct effects of gender. They also dominate other potential differences between the sexes like income or education as explanatory factors. Our findings suggest that women tend to be more leftist than men mainly because they have different personalities, which, in turn, shape their expressed ideology. Taking such mediating effects of personality traits into account explains over three quarters of the observed gender gap in general ideological preferences.

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-40118-8_7

DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-40118-8_7

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978-3-319-40116-4

T3 - Studies in Political Economy

SP - 153

EP - 185

BT - The Political Economy of Social Choices

PB - Springer

ER -

Personality Traits and the Gender Gap in Ideology

Abstract

FN’s Verdensmål

Adgang til dokumentet

Fingeraftryk

Citationsformater