Androgeny

Androgeny

Having a balance between male and female characteristics

-higher levels associated with better mental halth as you can adapt to a greater range of situations

Bem's Sex Role Inventory (BSRI)

Bem's scale presents 20 mas, 20 fem and 20 neutral traits in a systematic attempt to measure androgeny

BSRI masc and fem examples

Masc: Competitive, ambitious, leader

Fem: Gentle, softly spoken, gullible

AO3

(-) Issues with questionnaires

(+) Measures to make it more valid + reliable

(-) Amount of self awareness required for BSRI

(-) Issues with questionnaires

Response bias: long, broring

Deman characteristics: obvious which traits are masc/fem so they may change their answers

Innacurate measure of androgeny

(+) Measures to make it more valid + reliable

Created by 50 males and 50 females judging 200 traits (highest scoring 20 selected)

-removes personal opinion, more objective

Piloted with over 1000 students and found it correlated with their own gender identities

Follow up study (same students) was consistent

(-) Amount of self awareness required for BSRI

Need understanding of personality + behaviour -> could be unconscious, not something they think about

Gender - social construct, sex - bio fact, gender more open to interpretation

-> leads to stereotypes being used, may not be representative

Scoring system subjective, affect accuracy and consistency

BSRI may not be scientific