Sex Role Stereotypes & Androgyny - GENDER Flashcards
what is sex type
a biological fact: male or female
what is gender
behaviour and/or subjective differences between sexes
what is the way we behave affected by
our social environment, upbringing and experiences
what is a sex-role stereotype
socially and/or culturally defined sets of expectations we have about the behaviour of each gender
how do we learn sex-role stereotypes
through implicit and explicit behaviour
how do we learn sex-role stereotypes
through implicit and explicit behaviour
how do we learn sex-role stereotypes implicitly
internalisation, schema building
how do we learn sex-role stereotypes explicitly
through modelling (social learning theory)
who introduced the idea of androgyny
Sandra Bem (1970s)
what is androgyny
when someone displays the characteristics/behaviours of both genders
what did Bem claim about gender behaviour
that you could not reliably tell someone’s gender by a list of their behaviours alone
what did Bem say stereotypes in modern society could cause
psychological and social harm - specifically restricting behaviour
what could reinforcing fixed (musturbatory) distinctions result in
lower self-worth of the individual
name of the research Bem did
Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)
what items did the BSRI involve
20 masculine, 20 feminine and 20 neutral behaviours
three possible results from the BSRI
masculine (high m, low f), feminine (high f, low m) and androgyny (high rates of f and m)
3 weaknesses of BSRI
- undefined/neutral terms are more negative than the other headings
- lists of items have problems with culture change and temporal validity
- fourth category (undifferentiated) added but lacked construct validity (Spence et al, 1975)
what did Bem call her findings when writing about them
the gender schema theory
what was the first thing the gender schema theory said
everyone acts according to their dominant schema for a given situation
what was the second point the gender schema theory made
some people have a wider repertoire of schematic references than others (they’re androgynous)
what was the third (and final) thing the gender schema theory suggested
some have learnt very specific schemata (they’re strongly m or f)
