One of the largest studies of its kind revealed a significant difference between men and women in terms of generosity and kindness. More than a thousand adults participated in an experiment based on the so-called "dictator game," a widely used psychological and economic tool for studying behaviors. The results, published in the journal 'PLOS One,' showed that women were significantly more generous compared to men.
"We were struck by the significant difference in the display of kindness between men and women," said Professor Marina Bavan from the University of Haim I in Spain, one of the co-authors of the research. She linked these results to the larger size of the experiment, explaining that "the majority of previous studies showed negligible or absent differences in generosity between genders, but they did not have such a large sample size as we did."
The research found that two personal traits positively influence generosity: openness (related to agreeableness and tolerance towards change) and charm (related to likability). In addition to this, it was noted that women displaying stronger cognitive abilities were less generous.
During the experiment, each participant, taking on the role of the 'dictator,' was given a sum of 10 euros and was asked to determine what portion of this amount they were willing to share with another randomly selected participant. The 'dictator' did not disclose their identity or that of their partner. Participants were also informed that later they would have the opportunity to take on the role of receiver, but already with another partner, which reduced the likelihood of affecting their decisions based on reciprocity principles.
On average, the study showed that women offered larger gifts than men. In fact, the most common decision among men was not to share anything with their partner, while women were more likely to share money equally (50-50). Specifically, women on average offered 3.50 euros while men offered 2.50 euros.
The researchers indicated that the differences between genders were linked to cognitive abilities, personality traits, and emotions.
