Androgyny Flashcards
(17 cards)
What is androgyny?
A personality type that is characterised by a mixture of masculine and feminine traits, attitudes and behaviours
What is high androgyny associated with?
Psychological wellbeing
Why is high androgyny associated with psychological well being?
Individuals who are both masculine and feminine in roughly equal measure are better equipped to adapt to a range of situations
Why would non-androgynous people struggle in a range of situations?
Narrower range of traits to draw on
Who measured androgyny?
Bem
What is the Bem role sex inventory?
20 characteristics - Masculine
20 characteristics - Feminine
20 characteristics - Neutral
7 point rating scale for each item
Producing scores of 2 dimensions
What is the score for the classification of masculine?
High masculine
Low feminine
What is the score for the classification of feminine?
High feminine
Low masculine
What is the score for the classification of androgynous?
High masculine
High feminine
What is the score for the classification of undifferentiated?
Low masculine
Low feminine
What are examples of Masculine items?
Acts as a leader
Agressive
Athletic
Dominant
What are examples of feminine items?
Affectionate
Cheerful
Gullible
Loves children
What are examples of neutral items?
Friendly
Happy
Jealous
Truthful
What is a strength of Bems work?
Quantitive method
Useful
Eg. to quantify dependant variable
Qualitative method may be better way to analyse gender
Both together may be useful for studying different aspects of androgyny
What is another strength of Bems work?
Valid and reliable
Scale developed by asking 50 female and 50 male judges
Rate 200 traits in how much the traits represented maleness or femaleness
Traits scored highest became 20 in the scale
Piloted over 1000 students
Results corresponded with participants own description of gender identity - validity
Follow up, smaller sample of same students produced similar scores when tested a month later - test-retest reliability
What is a negative of Bems work?
Developed over 40 years ago
‘typical’ and ‘acceptable’ behaviours have changed
Made up of stereotypical ideas of masculinity and femininity
Outdated
All from USA - views may not be shared across cultures and societies
Lack temporal validity
Lack generalisability
What is a negative of Bems work?
May not have an insight into their degree of masculinity, femininity etc
Need an understanding of their personality and behaviour - which they might not necessarily have
Gender - social construct
Open to interpretation
Subjective and peoples application of scale may differ
May not be an objective, scientific way of assessing masculinity, femininity and androgyny
