Four Major Approaches to the Research of Sex Difference

Psychologists are intrigued by sex and sex stereotypes as ways of defining and understanding human behavior. In the past years, there has been a proliferation of research on the topic of sex and gender. This article identifies four major approaches to this research: (1) sex as a subject variable; (2) individual differences in masculinity, femininity, and androgyny; (3) gender schema theory; and (4) sex as a social category. Using these four categories to organize the material, this paper examines issues in the area of sex, gender, and personality.