Personality and Gender Differences

Q – Almost all assessments such as Meyers-Briggs and DISC show a rather strong difference between the preferences and behaviors of males and females, yet that isn’t reflected in CORE MAP. Why is that?

A – Assessments like Meyers-Briggs and DISC are designed to measure self-perception. CORE MAP gets past self-perception and to the true nature. Most societies are build around the paternalistic model which is full of spoken and unspoken rules that dictate how people are to behave. In such societies, which includes almost all of them including the U. S. and Europe, men are valued for being strong, decisive and capable of supporting their family. Women are valued for taking care of others and for their looks.

Being strong, decisive and capable requires calling on the thinking function (Commander and Organizer) and for those who are expected to lead the way, the extroverted thinking function (Commander).  Taking care of others requires calling on the feeling function – preferably introverted feeling (Relater) and looking pretty requires calling on the extroverted feeling function (Entertainer).

Because of the societal bias and the fact that our number one human need (for both males and females) is to be valued, we learn very early to play the game. In the process, we get stuck in those stereotypical boxes and many don’t even know they are there.

The reality is there are as many thinking females as there are males and there are a many feeling males as there are females. It’s just that society discourages thinking and determination in women and feeling tenderness in men.  Young girls who display thinking and determination are often labeled as “tomboys” and young boys who display feeling or tenderness are labeled as “sissies.” Both the labels and the insinuations that come with them are often enough to force the child into the accepted box where far too many remain trapped for life.

See the article I am about to post called “The White Male Advantage” to see how insidious this is.

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