Androgyny and the BSRI Flashcards
Defining androgyny
displaying a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in one’s personality
└both males and females can be androgynous
└Sandra Bem suggests androgynous people can better adapt to a wider range
Measuring androgyny: The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
person
Sandra Bem (1974)
Measuring androgyny: The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
└Sandra Bem (1974)
└the first systematic attempt to measure androgyny
└using rating scale of 60 traits
└(20 masculine, 20 feminine, 20 neutral)
└masculine e.g. competitive, aggressive
└feminine e.g. tender, gentle
└neutral e.g. friendly, happy
└respondents rate themselves on 7 point rating scale (7 being always true)
└produce scores across 2 dimensions
└masculinity-femininity, androgynous-undifferentiated
└high masculine, low feminine= masculine
└low masculine, high feminine= feminine
└high masculine, high feminine= androgynous
└low masculine, low feminine= undifferentiated
Measuring androgyny
name of process
The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
Measuring androgyny: The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
(traits examples
└(20 masculine, 20 feminine, 20 neutral)
└masculine e.g. competitive, aggressive
└feminine e.g. tender, gentle
└neutral e.g. friendly, happy
Measuring androgyny: The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
results
└produce scores across 2 dimensions
└masculinity-femininity, androgynous-undifferentiated
└high masculine, low feminine= masculine
└low masculine, high feminine= feminine
└high masculine, high feminine= androgynous
└low masculine, low feminine= undifferentiated
Androgyny and the BSRI
strengths
Valid and reliable scale
└the BSRI was developed by asking 50 male and 50 female judges to rate 200 traits in terms of how desirable they were for men and women
└highest 20 scorers in each category became the traits used on the scale
└the BSRI was then piloted with 1000 students
└results broadly corresponded with own description of gender identity
└=suggests high validity
└follow up study involving a smaller sample of the same students 1 month later
└resulted in similar scores
└=suggests the scale has high test-retest reliability
Androgyny and the BSRI
limitations
summary
Association between androgyny and physical - Sandra Bem ,Adams and Sherer (1985)
Oversimplifies a complex concept - Golombok and Fivush (1994)
Cultural and historical bias
Measuring gender identity using questionnaires
Androgyny and the BSRI
limitations
Association between androgyny and physical wellbeing
└Sandra Bem
└suggests androgynous people can better adapt to a wider range of situations and contexts
└Adams and Sherer (1985)
└suggests people with more masculine traits are better adjusted
└as are more highly valued in Western society
└suggest Bem’s research may not have taken into account social and cultural context it was developed in
Androgyny and the BSRI
limitations
Oversimplifies a complex concept
└gender identity too complex to be reduced to a single score
└alternatives developed
└e.g. Personal Attribute Questionnaire (PAQ)
└replaces masculinity-femininity dimension with instrumentality-expressivity
└still based on the idea that gender identity can be quantified
└Suzan Golombok and Robyn Fivush (1994)
└claimed gender identity is a more global concept
└broader issues such as persons interests and perception of own abilities must be considered
Androgyny and the BSRI
limitations
Cultural and historical bias
└BSRI developed over 40 years ago
└typical and acceptable gender behaviours have changed a lot since then
└=scale may be out dated, lacks temporal validity
└scale created by panel of judges all from the US
└western ideas may not be shared by all cultures, cant generalise
Androgyny and the BSRI
limitations
Measuring gender identity using questionnaires
└people have to rate themselves on a questionnaire
└may not have sufficient understanding of own personality/behaviour
└subjective interpretation of 7 point scale
└limitations of questionnaires
