Androgyny

Question 1

What is androgyny?

Answer 1

The co-existence of both male and female characteristics in an individual

Question 2

What did Olds (1983) believe?

Answer 2

That androgyny is a higher developmental stage only reached by some

Question 3

What did Bem (1983) believe?

Answer 3

• That androgynous individuals have a different cognitive style and adopt behaviours when necessary that are independent of their gender concepts.
• Androgynous people are not influenced by sex-role stereotypes

Question 4

Explain BSRI.

Answer 4

Bem Sex Role Inventory

• Self-report measure (questionnaire)
• Rated themselves 1-7 on 60 characteristics ; 20 stereo-typically female, 20 stereo-typically male and 20 gender neutral.
• High scoring masculine characteristics and high scoring feminine characteristics mean they are androgynous

Question 5

Why does Bem believe that it is advantageous to be androgynous?

Answer 5

• It allows people to have qualities to enable them to cope with a range of situations
• It is an indicator of better psychological well-being

Question 6

What did Bem (1974) find when she used the BSRI scale to measure androgyny?

Answer 6

• 34% of males were androgynous
• 27% of females were androgynous
• Small amount of people are predominately androgynous

Question 7

What did Flaherty and Dusek (1980) find?

Answer 7

Androgynous individuals have a higher degree of self esteem, a better sense of emotional well-being and having more adaptable behaviour

Question 8

What did Peters and Cantrell (1993) find?

Answer 8

Androgynous females have the best quality of relationships, supporting the idea of being in a positive condition and having higher interpersonal functioning.

Question 9

What did Rose and Montemayor (1994) find?

Answer 9

25% to 30% of US high school students defined themselves as androgynous
More females falling into masculine category than males falling into feminine category
Sex roles are less rigid in older children

Question 10

Evaluation of BSRI

Answer 10

• Good test-retest reliability
• Lack external validity in terms of being relevant to modern day society; created in 1970’s
• Issues with generalisation; created in America
• Over simplistic to reduce femininity and masculinity to a single score

Question 11

Nature vs nurture argument for androgyny?

Answer 11

Parents who adopt an equal attitude to gender roles are more likely to foster this attitude in their children. Children’s who mother’s in non traditional sex role orientations

Question 12

What are some negatives of androgyny?

Answer 12

Negative male characteristics = over-aggressive

Negative female characteristics = too timid

Question 13

What is a limitation of Olds (1983)?

Answer 13

There is no explanation why some people reach a higher developmental stage of androgyny than others
Incomplete explanation

Question 14

What is the contemporary approach to androgyny?

Answer 14

An attempt to measure additional aspects of gender related behaviour, such as interests and abilities, rather than simply personality characteristics

Question 15

Aim and method of Burchardt and Serbin (1982)

Answer 15

Aim; to see whether androgyny was associated with positive mental health in both normal and psychiatric populations
Method; 106 females and 84 male undergraduates, 48 female and 48 male psychiatry inpatients. All RPS given BSRI and the FAMMPI, to be classified as masculine, feminine, androgynous or undifferentiated

Question 16

What does FAMMPI stand for?

Answer 16

Faschingbauer Abbreviated Minnesota Mutliphasic Personality Inventory

Question 17

What were the findings of Burchardt and Serbin (1982)?

Answer 17

• Androgynous females scored lower for depression and social introversion than feminine females .
• In college samples, they were lower on schizophrenia and mania scales than masculine females.
• In hospitalised male sample, this pattern was partially sustained, androgynous and masculine males significantly less deviant than feminine males and lower on depression
• In college, androgynous males scored lower on social introversion than feminine males

Question 18

What conclusions can be drawn from Burchardt and Serbin?

Answer 18

• That androgyny is positively correlated with good mental health
• Masculinity is also correlated with good mental health
• The results indicate that sex-role conformity may relate differently to personality development and psychological functioning for makes and females.