Thirteenth International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

As Americans’ trust in their government – most specifically Congress – has declined over the past half century, it has become increasingly important to answer the question of who does or does not trust government, and why. A popular avenue of inquiry has been into potential gender differences in trust. The evidence, however, is mixed. One possible reason for this is that studies may be focusing on the wrong interpretation of gender. Specifically, studies focus on biological sex as the key to trusting attitudes when the more appropriate explanatory variable is likely to be gendered personalities. The psychological literature has long demonstrated that common beliefs about sex effects are actually better explained by personalities, but this idea is relatively new to political science. Given that feminine individuals are more caring and compassionate while masculine personalities are more individualistic and tough – and that these personalities are not sex-specific – it makes sense that feminine personalities, not women, are the more trusting. This paper analyzes the effects of gendered personality traits on trust in government, demonstrating that feminine personalities are significantly more trusting of our governing institutions than are masculine personalities. It also examines what happens when individuals possess equally high levels of both sets of gendered traits – androgynous personalities – or low levels – the undifferentiated.