Androgyny Flashcards
What is meant by androgyny
- in psychology, refers to personality type that characterised by mixture/balance of masc/fem traits/attitudes
-a man/woman who is competitive at work, but a sensitive parent - Bem developed method for measuring androgyny , suggesting high androgyny is associate with psychological well being
-this is bc individuals who are psychologically both masculine and feminine/feminine in roughly equal measure are better equipped to adapt new situations , whereas non androgynous ppl would find this difficult as have narrower range of traits to draw on
-over representation of opposite gender characteristics doesn’t qualify as androgyny. A woman who’s very masculine or man who’s very fem wouldn’t exhibit necessary balance of masc/fem traits
How do we measure androgyny
-Bem sex role inventory BSRI
-systematic atempt
-scale presents 20 characteristics commonly identified as ‘masc’ - competitive/ aggressive and ‘fem’ - tender/ gentle
-further 20 neutral traits included
-respondents rate themselves on seven point rating scale for each item, and scores then classified on basis of 2 dimensions (masculine—feminine and androgynous—undifferentiated)
Whats a strength of Bems work that androgyny is measured quantitiatively
Numerical approach useful for research purposes
However spence argues there is more to gender than set of behaviours typical of one gender or other, so qualitative methods offer better way to analyse gender
Compromise to combine scales
Eg personal attribute questionnaire PAQ adds another dimension (instrumentality and expressivity) to bems masc-fem dimension
Suggests both quan/qual methods together = useful for studying dif aspects of androgyny
Whats another strength of BSRI in that its a valid and reliable measure of androgyny
Scale developed by asking 50 male/female judges to rate 200 traits in terms of how much they represented maleness / femaleness
Traits that scored highest in each category became 20 masc/fem traits on scale
BSRI then piloted with 1000 students , and results corresponded with ps own description of their gender identity , so is valid
Follow up study involving smaller sample of same students produced similar scores when students tested a month later, so test-retest reliability
Whats a counterpoint to the BSRI strength of it being valid and reliable
BSRI developed over 40 yrs ago, and behaviours regarded as ‘typical/acceptable’ in relation to gender have changed since then
Bems scale is made up of stereotypical ideas of masc/fem that may be outdated
Also devised using people from US
Notions of maleness and femaleness may not be shared across all cultures/societies
Suggests BSRI may lack temporal validity / generalisability , and so not suitable measure of gender identity today
Whats a limitation of BSRI in that ppl may be unaware of their degree of masc, fem, androgyny
Asking ppl to rate themselves on Questionnaire relies on ppl having understanding of their personality which they may not have
Gender is a social construct which may be more open to interpretation than sex as this is biological fact
Also questionnaire system to score is subj , so ppls application of 7 pt scale may differ
Suggests BSRI may not be obj scientific way of assessing masc, fem and androgyny
