sex and gender flashcards
what is the definition of sex ?
biological differences between male and females
XY - male
XX- female
assigned based on the male + female genitalia
what is gender ?
a person’s self-representation of whether they are male or female
gender is a social construct
what are sex role stereotypes ?
set of expectations of appropriate male & female behaviours shared by a culture
psychologists argue that development of sex-role stereotypes come from cognitive,SLT and psychodynamic processes
what is the definition of androgyny ?
having a high mixture of both
stereotypically masculine + feminine personality traits
what does undifferentiated mean ?
having few either very masculine or very feminine traits
someone who doesn’t strongly identify with traditional gender roles
Who developed the BSRI
Sandra Bem ( 1974)
What is the BSRI ? How does it work ?
- characterises personality as masculine, feminine, androgynous or undifferentiated
- 60 different characteristics are listed, 20 which are stereotypically masculine, feminine or stereotypically neutral
- person rates themselves on a 7 point scale ( 1 means never or almost never true, 7 means almost always true)
- ratings are added up for masculine + feminine traits ignoring the neutral items
how was the inventory developed ?
- developed by asking 100 american undergraduate students which personality traits they thought were desirable in men+ women
What did Bem argue about androgynous people ?
argued that they are psychologically healthier, with higher self esteem + better relationships
Positive correlation between androgyny + psychological health
Prakash et al tested 100 females in India on masculinity + femininity and outcome measures related to health ie physical health, anxiety etc
females with high masculinity scores had lower depression while those with high femininity scores had higher depression
supports idea that anodrogyny has a psychoprotective effect as those with a strong sense of masculinity + femininity were better off in terms of health
support for parental influence in sex-role stereotypes learning
- Smith and LLoyd (1978) showed mothers treat boy and girl babies differently
mothers were videotaped playing with a baby, not their own child - 7 toys were present: two stereotypically masculine, 2 stereotypically feminine + 3 neutral
- if a mother thought she was playing with a boy, she verbally encouraged more motor activity and gave gender appropriate toys
- shows how parental behaviour can impact learning sex-role stereotypes
high reliability of the BSRI
- a strength of the BSRI is high reliability
- research has demonstrated high test-retest reliability for the BSRI over a 4 week period
- correlations ranging from 0.76 to 0.94
- also, a shorter form was introduced with just 30 items + this improved the internal reliability of test because less socially desirable terms like “gullible” and “childlike” were removed
validity of the BSRI
- the adjectives used in the BSRI were selected back in the 1970s, so people’s attitudes have changed since then.
- Hoffman and Borders ( 2001) asked 400 undergrad students to rate terms on the BSRI as masculine or feminine
- all terms failed to reach a 75% agreement level, except for “masculine” + “feminine”.
- suggests that BSRI lacks temporal validity
BSRI score may oversimplify an individual’s gender identity
behaviour often changes depending on context
ie someone may display more masculine behav at work, but more feminine behaviour in their social interactions + personal relationships
Mead’s research into tribal societies ( evaluation of sex role stereotypes)
Mead (1935) anthropological research describes three tribal societies
Mundugumor with both males + females displaying highly aggressive masculine behaviours
Arapesh with both sexes showing high levels of “feminine” caring behav
Tchambuli with females expected to be more dominant + males as more emotional and responsible for caring for children
the evidence of large variation in male + female normative gender roles in new Guinea suggests cultural forces are key for gender stereotypes, so much gendered behaviour is learnt through socialisation, not innate biological processes.
