Androgyny and the BSRI

androgyny

displaying a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in ones personality

to have the appearance of someone who cannot be clearly identified as male or female

Bem

Bem developed a method for measuring androgyny and suggested that a high androgyny is associated w psychological wellbeing

individuals who are both masculine and feminine in roughly equal measure are better equipped to adapt to a range of situations and contexts that other non androgynous ppl would find difficult

how to measure androgyny

Bem sex role inventory 1974 scale presents 20 characterictids that would be commonly identified as masculine-competitive and aggressive 20 typically judged as feminine-tender and gentle a further 20 neutral traits also included on a scale respondents required to rate themselves on.a 7 point rating scale for each item 1=never true of me 7=always true of me scores then classified on the basis of 2 dimensions-masculinity/femininity and androgynous/undifferentiated

strength

P-BSRI was developed by asking 50 male and 50 female judges to rate 200 traits in terms of how desirable they were for men and women E-traits that were the highest scorers in each category became the 20 masculine and 20 feminine traits on the scale E-BSRI was then piloted w over 1000 ppts and the results broadly corresponded w the ppts own description of their gender identity L-suggests the BSRI has a high degree of validity

link

however

limitation

P-asking ppl to rate themselves on a Q relies on an understanding of their personality and behaviour that they may not necessarily have E-gender is a hypothetical construct which is much more open to interpretation than to say biological facts E-furthermore

limitation

P-test retest reliability is not consistent across cultures E-BSRI developed over 40yrs ago and behaviours that are regarded as typical and acceptable-particularly in relation to gender- have changed significantly since then E-bems scale is made up of stereotypical ideas of masculinity and femininity that may be outdated and lacking in temporal validity L-in addition

Limitation

P-within her research