International survey says women more moral than men

If you're a morally upstanding citizen both at work and in your personal life, chances are fairly good that you are possessing of two X-chromosomes.

According to an online survey taken by approximately 60,000 people in over 200 countries — including Canada -- women tend to be more willing to put others first in the workplace, whereas men tend to be more self-interested.

But some experts are thoroughly skeptical.

"There is a long history of gender differences in the field of moral psychology," says Elizabeth Page-Gould, assistant professor of psychology at The University of Toronto. "And there are as many studies saying men are more moral than women as vice versa, and even more that find no sex differences whatsoever."

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The survey's creators are psychologist Pavlos Stamboulides and Roger Steare -- the author of ethicability®: How to decide what's right and find the courage to do it and ethics professor at London's Cass Business School.

Called The Moral DNA Test, the survey is "designed to help humanity understand how we make good decisions and do the right thing."

It asks such questions as how compliant, caring, compassionate and sympathetic you are in your personal life, and asks for similar information from your work life, as well as asking questions about truth-telling, reactions to being praised and impulse control. In some cases, how moral or caring someone is in their everyday life is entirely different from how moral and caring they are in their career -- this seems to be especially true of men.

"What this shows is that when it comes to work men have to grow up, put their ego to one side and show some humility and compassion — qualities they all too often have in their personal lives, but ignore when they walk into the office," Steare tells the Daily Mail.

He adds: "Women prefer to make their decisions based on how it impacts others — which tends to produce better decisions — while men have a more individual approach and are more self-interested."

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In addition to gender, age also plays a role in one's morality, according to Steare. Those over the age of thirty tend to be more moral, and people peak in terms of their intellectual and moral powers in their early sixties.

According to the survey, everyone has a dominant morality personality type — Philosopher, Judge, Enforcer, Angel, Teacher and Guardian.

If you're curious about learning how moral you are, and whether or not you're a better person in or out of the office, you can take the Moral DNA Test online here.

Speaking of morals, could you forgive someone who cheated on you? Check out the video discussion below.