Androgyny

Question 1

What is androgyny?

Answer 1

Co-existence of male and female characteristics within the same individual

Question 2

What did Olds and Bem argue about androgyny?

Answer 2

Olds- believed that androgyny is a higher developmental stage reached only by some
Bem - argued that androgynous individuals have a different cognitive style and adopt behaviours, when necessary, that are independent of their gender concepts meaning that androgynous people are gender aschematic (not influenced by sex-role stereotyped)

Question 3

What does BSRI stand for?

Answer 3

Bem Sex Role Inventory

Question 4

What was the BSRI/

Answer 4

Bem developed a hypothesis that androgyny was a positive and desirable condition and created a self-report measure of masculinity - femininity and gender roles.

Question 5

What did the self report consist of?

Answer 5

60 items rated on a seven point scale - 20 related to stereotypically masculine characteristics, 20 related to stereotypically feminine characteristics and 20 gender neutral

Question 6

What four categories did the BSRI suggest a person could fit into?

Answer 6

Masculine (high M, low F)
Feminine (high F, low M)
Androgynous (low M, low F)
Undifferentiated (high M, high F)

Question 7

What did a predicted derived from BSRI suggest?

Answer 7

Androgyny is a better indicator of psychological well being than just having masculine/ feminine qualities

Question 8

What was Bem’s research?

Answer 8

Used the BSRI to measure androgyny, finding 34% of males and 27% of females to androgynous, which suggests a sizeable minority of people are predominately androgynous rather than being masculine or feminine

Question 9

What was Flaherty and Dusek’s research?

Answer 9

Found that androgynous individuals have a higher degree of self-esteem, a better sense of emotional well being and being more adaptable, backing up the idea of psychological androgyny indicating psychological well being

Question 10

What was Peters and Cantrell research?

Answer 10

Used the BSRI to find that androgynous females had the best quality of relationships , supporting the idea of being in a positive condition and being associated with higher inter-personal functioning than individuals who are predominately masculine or feminine

Question 11

What was Rose and Montemayor’s research?

Answer 11

Found that 25-30% of US high school students defined themselves as androgynous with more girls than boys showing this pattern and more girls falling into the masculine category than boys into the feminine category - supporting the idea that sex roles are less rigid in older children

Question 12

What are some evaluative points for the BSRI test?

Answer 12

Has good test-retest reliability - producing consistent results when used on different occasions with same participants.
Created by American students in the 70’s based on what they perceived as desirable characteristics in men and women - therefore may lack external validity as not necessarily relevant to today and other cultures

Question 13

What is he evaluation of Bem viewing androgyny as positive and desirable?

Answer 13

It may not always be positive as individuals can exhibit negative masculine characteristics (over aggressive) and negative feminine characteristics (too timid) in certain situations

Question 14

Why is Old’s suggestion that androgyny is a higher stage of development sometimes criticised?(evaluation)

Answer 14

There is no explanation as to why this only occurs in some individuals or how it occurs in some people

Question 15

What is the problem with reducing masculinity and femininity down to a single score?

Answer 15

It is over simplistic - more contemporary approaches attempt to measure additional aspects of gender related behaviour such as interests and abilities rather than simply personality characteristics

Question 16

What may happen as a result of masculine bias in western cultures? (evaluation)

Answer 16

Where masculine qualities like independence and competitiveness are valued more than feminine ones such as cooperation, masculine qualities may be seen as superior even within androgynous individuals.

Question 17

What was the aim of Burchardt and Serbin’s study?

Answer 17

To see whether androgyny was associated with positive mental health in both normal and psychiatric populations

Question 18

What was the procedure of Burchardt and Serbin’s study?

Answer 18

Participants = 106 male and 84 male undergraduates and 48 male + 48 female psychiatry inpatients
All patients were administered the BSRI and the FAMMPI in order to be classified as masculine, feminine, androgynous or undifferentiated personalities

Question 19

What were the findings of Burchardt and Serbin’s study?

Answer 19

Androgynous females scored significantly lower for depression and social introversion than feminine females, and in the college sample were also lower on the schizophrenia and mania scales than masculine females
In the hospitalised male sample, this pattern was partially sustained with androgynous and masculine participants significantly less deviant than feminine males and lower on depression
In the group of college males, androgynous males scored lower on social introversion than feminine males.

Question 20

What were the conclusions of Burchardt and Serbin’s study?

Answer 20

Being androgynous is positively correlated with good mental health, especially concerning levels of depression

Question 21

What research does Burchardt and Serbin’s research link to?

Answer 21

Flaherty and Dusek - found that androgynous individuals have a higher degree of self-esteem, a better sense of emotional well being and more adaptable behaviour suggesting that androgyny can indicate psychological well-being

Question 22

What are two evaluative point for Burchardt and Serbin’s research?

Answer 22

The results indicate that sex-role conformity may relate differently to personality development and psychological functioning for males and females
Androgynous personalities score well in mental health terms but masculine types scored equally well which masculinity also assists positive mental health

Question 23

What is a strength of using BSRI in Burchardt and Serbin’s research?

Answer 23

Has good test-retest reliability - producing consistent results when used on different occasions with same participants.

Question 24

What are two weaknesses for using BSRI for Burchatdt and Serbin’s research?

Answer 24

Created by American students in the 70’s based on what they perceived as desirable characteristics in men and women - therefore may lack external validity as not necessarily relevant to today and other cultures
Reducing masculinity and femininity down to a single score is over simplistic - more contemporary approaches attempt to measure additional aspects of gender related behaviour such as interests and abilities rather than simply personality characteristics