Understanding Women: Implications for Personality Theory and Research

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Abstract
This paper addresses the neglect of work on feminine psychology as a symptom of the far broader impoverishment of contemporary work in personality. Bakan's concepts of agency and communion are invoked toward understanding the constraints imposed by current research paradigms. Agentic (masculine) modes of inquiry involving manipulation, quantification, and control need to be complemented by the communal (feminine) research styles (naturalistic, qualitative, open) developed in other disciplines. Three issues are proposed for research in personality: duality in human nature, typology and qualitative patterning and biological bases of personality. These issues are consonant with the nature of feminity, engage the talents of female investigators, and could foster development of the new research paradigms required for serious inquiry in personality. Suggestions for conceptual elaboration and empirical research are proposed.

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