Androgyny Flashcards
(9 cards)
What is Androgyny?
-displaying a balance of both traditional masculine and feminine psychological characteristics.
-e.g a women who is a caring and sensitive parent but is also aggressive and competitive at work
-Over-representation of opposite-sex qualities is not androgyny
What is high androgyny associated with?
high androgyny is associated with good mental well-being as they are people with many qualities to handle different situations
Who created the Bem Sex Role Inventory
Sandra Bem
What is the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) (1974)
-20 characteristics that are female and 20 that are male then 20 that are neutral
-Respondents were asked to rate themselves on that characteristic using a likert scale ( 7 point rating scale) where 1 = “never true of me” and 7= “always true of me”
-Then were rated on 2 spectrum: Masculine-feminine and Androgynous-undifferentiated
What are some of the female characteristics in the Bem Sex Role Inventory?
feminine, loves children and soft spoken
What are some of the male characteristics in Bem Sex Role inventory?
Ambitious, athletic and competitive
What are some of the neutral characteristics in the Bem Sex Role inventory?
happy, friendly and helpful
strengths of androgyny
-Measured Quantitatively: Bem’s numerical approach is useful for research purposes- e.g. quantifying dependent variable.
However Janet Spence (1984) argues more to gender than set of behaviours typical to a gender and that more qualitative methods should be used. This led to the addition of other scales - Personal attribute questionnaire (PAQ) which added instrumentality-expressivity dimension to BSRI. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative methods used together are useful.
Valid and reliable: scale was created using 50 males and 50 females to rate 200 characteristics as either male or female and the traits that scored highest were used. BSRI was then piloted with 1000 students and matched their own description of gender identity (validity). Follow-up study occured with smaller sample size of same students and similar results found - test-retest reliability. Therefore test is valid and reliable
Limitations to Androgyny
-Counter to Valid and reliable: BSRI est. 1974 so what may be typical of males or females then is different to now so may be outdated and therefore lacks temporal validity. Also Cultural bias as scale was devised using people from US so all characterisitics chosen are what is typical of the West and may not account globally for what is masculine or feminine.
-Self-awareness: People may not understand how masculine and feminine they are. Gender is a social construct and therefore is more open to interpretation on what is feminine or masculine. This is exacerbated by the nature of the likert scale as this is subjective and people’s application of the scale may be different. Therefore, BSRI is not objective or scientifc.
