androgyny- gender Flashcards
what is androgyny
illustrate common sense understanding and the way a concept is used in psychological research
have appearance of someone who cant be clearly identitifed as man or woman and look is seen as an asset in fashion or music
refers to personality type that is characterised by mixture or a balance of masculne and feminine traits attitudes and behaviours
bem developed method for measuring and suggested high androgyny associated with psychological well being because individuals who are both masculine and feminine in roughly equal measure better equipped to adapt a range of situations
important to recognise both men and women can be androgynous- worth noting overrepresentation of opposite gender characteristics does not qualify as androgyny
what is the bem sex role inventory
bem- scale presents 20 characteristics that would be commonly identified as masculine and 20 would be typically judged as feminine
further 20 neutral traits included in the scale
respondents required to rate themselves on a seven point scale for each item
scores classified on basis of two dimensions (masculinity- femininity and androgynous-undifferentiated)
high masculine low feminine- masculine
high feminine low masculine- feminine
high masculine high feminine- adrogynous
low feminine low masculine- undifferentiated
masculine items- acts as leader, aggressive, ambitious, analytical, assertive, athletic, competitive, defends own beliefs, dominant, forceful, has leadership abilities, independent, individualistic, makes decisions easily, masculine, self sufficient, strong personality, willing to take a stand, willing to take a risk
feminine items- affectionate cheerful childlike compassionate does not use harsh language eager to soothe hurt feelings feminine flatterable gentle gullible loves children loyal sensitive to the needs of others shy softly spoken sympathetic tender understanding warm yielding
neutral items- adaptable conceited concientious conventional friendly happy hepful inefficient jealous likeable moodly reliable secretive solemn tactful theatrical truthful unpredictable unsystematic
what is the quantitative approach
adrogyny measured quantitatively
numerical approach useful for research pruposes when necessary
spence argues there is more to gender than set of behaviours typical of one gender or the other so qualitative methods offer better way of analysing gender
one comprimise to combine different scales
personal attribute questionnaire adds another dimension to bems masculinity feminity dimension
suggests both quantitative tigether with qualitative approaches may be useful for studying different aspects of androgyny
what is valid and reliable
appeared to be valid and reliable way of measuirng androgyny
scale developed by asking 50 males and 50 females judges to rate 200 traits in terms of how much traits represented maleness and femaleness
traits scored highest in each category became 20 masculine and 20 feminine traits on scale
bsri piloted with over 1000 students and results broadly corresponded with the pps own description of thier gender identity demonstrating validity
follow up study involving smaller sample of same studdents produced similar scores when students tested a month later demonstrarting test retest reliability
gives reason to believe test both valid and reliable
bsri developed over 40yrs ago and behaviours regarded as typical and acceptable to gender have changed significantly since then
bems scale made up of stereotypical ideas of masculinity and femininity that may be outdated
scale devised using people all from us
notions of maleness and femaleness in country may not be shared across all cultures and societies
suggests may lack temporal validity and generalisability and not be suitable measure of gender identity today
what is self awareness
people may not have insight into degree of masculinity femininity or androgyny
asking people to rate themselves relies on poeple have understanding of personality and behaviour that they may not have
gender social construct which may be more open to interpretation than sex
questionnaires scoring system subjective and peoples application of 7point scale may differ
suggests bsri may not be objective scientific way of assessing
