ABSTRACT
Personality comprises individual differences in characteristic ways of thinking, behaving, and feeling. Multiple approaches to personality exist. The most popular current model identifies five major traits of personality (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism). There are substantial biological bases to personality, as indicated by research examining excitability and arousal, hormones and emotion, and behavioral genetics. Personality development is strongly influenced by socialization, including parents, the media, and religion, all of which emphasize activity and strength in boys and men, passivity and submissiveness in girls and women. There are gender differences in personality found consistently all over the world, although differences are smaller within various cultures. There are few if any gender differences in cognitive abilities, the largest difference being in spatial reasoning tasks, especially mental rotation, favoring men. Men around the world have higher mortality rates while women have higher morbidity rates. Women are more likely to be diagnosed as depressed or anxious, but less likely than men to be alcoholic. Men experience gender role stress surrounding psychological problems, which may affect display of symptoms and decrease help-seeking. Gender role and minority stress affect psychological and social outcomes among men, women, members of racial minority groups, and LGBTQ individuals.
