Predicting the size and direction of sex differences in measures of emotion and personality

Plutchik's (1980, 1994) psychoevolutionary theory, which posited eight basic emotions, was used as a framework for the organization of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) coping strategies and Bem's (1981) gender-schematic items regarding equivalent motivations and coping strategies. Personality factors from the 16PF, Edwards's Personal Preference Schedule (Edwards, 1959), and the Jackson Personality Research Form (Jackson, 1984) were drawn into the same model to explain and predict both typical (actually occurring) and stereotypical (expected or assigned) sex differences in motivation and emotion. Data from several experiments and a meta-analysis support the conclusion that the model can successfully predict sex differences and that although most differences tend to occur in the direction predicted by the model, typical sex differences are less frequent and of a smaller magnitude than stereotypical differences.