Sex role stereotypes and Androgyny Flashcards
What is sex?
Being genetically male (XY) or female (XX)
What is gender?
The psychological and cultural differences between males and females
What are sex-role stereotypes?
A set of preconceived beliefs about what is expected of males and females in a given society
What are the costs of maintaining sex-role stereotypes?
- Limits opportunities for boys and girls
- Perpetuates unfairness
- Ignores talent
What is a research study that shows evidence of sex-role stereotypes?
Seavey et al. (1975)
What is androgyny?
Displaying a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in one’s personality
What is the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)?
The first systematic attempt to measure androgyny using a rating scale to produce scores
How was the BSRI developed?
- 100 American undergraduates were asked which personality traits they thought were desirable for men and women
- List was narrowed to 40 (20 masculine and 20 feminine) and 20 neutral items
- Person rates themselves on a 7-point Likert scale (never true of me to always true of me) and given score of masculinity, femininity, undifferentiated or androgynous
What did findings from the BSRI reveal?
Bem found that males and females who were classified as androgynous on the BSRI were more adaptable to situations and a greater sense of well-being
What is the research evidence for sex-role stereotypes?
Seavey et al. (1975):
Adult participants were asked to interact with a three-month-old infant for 3 minutes. The baby was dressed in a yellow jumpsuit.
A range of toys were made available including a football, a rag doll and a plastic ring. The adults were carefully observed and how they interacted with the baby was recorded, including the toy(s) they chose and the things they said.
One third of participants were told that the infant was male, another third were told that the infant was female, and the other third were not given a sex label.
When the baby was labelled as female, the participants were more likely to use the rag doll when playing with the child. When the baby was labelled as male, the ring was chosen most frequently as the plaything.
In the no-label condition almost all the participants spontaneously decided on a sex for the baby. Their decision was often justified in terms of how the baby was perceived physically (e.g. ‘it’s a boy because he’s got a strong grip, it’s a girl because she’s soft’).
The participants interacted differently with the infant depending on whether they believed they were male or female. However, when no gender label was given, the female participants interacted with the baby significantly more than the male participants.
What are the three strength for Androgyny and the BSRI?
BSRI is valid and reliable
The scale was developed by asking 50 male and 50 female judges to rate 200 traits – those that scored highest in each category became the 20 masculine and 20 feminine traits on the scale. The BSRI was then piloted with over 1,000 students and results broadly corresponded with the participants’ own description of their gender identity, demonstrating validity. A follow-up study of a smaller sample of the same students produced similar scores when students tested a month later, demonstrating high test-retest reliability.
Counter-argument- BSRI was developed over 40 years ago – people’s attitudes have changed since then. Bem’s scale is made up of stereotypical ideas of masculinity and femininity that may be outdated and lacking in temporal validity. Hoffman and Borders (2001) asked 400 undergraduates to rate the items on the BSRI as masculine or feminine and found that only two terms were still endorsed as masculine and feminine. All other terms failed to reach a 75% agreement level.
Support for the relationship between androgyny and psychological health-
Research has found a positive correlation between androgyny and psychological health, as Bem predicted. Prakash et al. (2010) tested 100 married females in India on masculinity / femininity and a range of outcomes were measured, including their physical health, depression, anxiety and perceived stress. Females high in masculinity had lower depression scores etc., whereas those with higher femininity scores had higher depression scores etc. This supports the view that androgyny has a psycho-protective effect, because those with masculinity AND femininity were better off in terms of health.
Real-world applications-
If androgyny is better for physical and psychological health, then the obvious application is to encourage parents to raise children free to assume characteristics of either gender.
One British couple raised their son in a gender-neutral manner. The child knew he was a boy, but in every other way he did not identify with either gender. There was a storm of protest about the parents’ choice. Specifically by people who felt it amounted to child-abuse, thus revealing how strongly people feel about sex-role stereotypes and the persisting belief that such stereotypes are important to healthy development. This therefore highlights the need to promote the benefits of androgyny.
What are the two limitations for Androgyny and the BSRI?
Issues with using questionnaires-
Asking people to rate themselves on a questionnaire relies on an understanding of their personality and behaviour that they may not necessarily have. This can make it more open to response biases. Such as acquiescence bias, whereby respondents selects answers at one end of the Likert scale regardless of content of questions. Some individuals tend to select answers at the higher end of the Likert scale, and thus become classed as androgynous. Therefore, the scores may be an artefact of the measurement rather than representing a true difference.
Issues and debates evaluation point- Androgyny theory may be ethnocentric. claims that androgyny Is the healthiest gender identity and ignores the cultural differences that exist world wide. Androgyny is considered crucial to the mental well being in western cultures; however other cultures may disagree. E.G Margaret Mead studied tribes in Papa New Guinea, some tribes valued masculine traits and some valued feminine.
