Dr. Ethan Zell has published a new paper, “Evaluating Gender Similarities and Differences Using Metasynthesis” in American Psychologist (Jan. 2015), which is the official journal of the American Psychological Association. The paper examines the magnitude of psychological gender differences across numerous domains, such as math ability, self-esteem, and aggression. In this effort, data were aggregated across 106 meta-analyses and over 12 million participants. Despite the popular belief that males and females are highly different, the results indicated that differences between males and females are typically small in size.

Zell earned his Ph.D. at Ohio University in 2010 and took a position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign prior to joining the Department of Psychology at UNCG as an Assistant Professor in 2011.

Broadly, Zell’s work focuses on the self and social perception, with an emphasis on the influence of social comparison information on self-evaluation and whether some comparisons have a greater influence than others. He is also interested in meta-analysis, self-talk, and the effects of age, culture, and gender on the self. Additional information about his research is available here.