GENDER - SEX ROLE STEREOTYPES AND ANDROGYNY

BSRI

________ has high test- retest reliability over a four- week period with correlations of 0.76 to 0.94.

Gender

________ is a social contrast based on how we think about men and women in terms of their roles (stereotypes)

Psychological androgyny

________= a person can be both masculine and feminine.

Sex role stereotypes

________ can have a negative effect on individuals mental and physical health, supporting the importance of androgyny.

Test retest

________ refers to if a questionnaire is consistent in giving the same results on two or more separate occasions.

sex role stereotypes

Learning of ________ can be both implicit and explicit as we model behaviours of same- sex people (SLT)

Stereotypes

________= a fixed belief about a particular group of people.

KEY THEORIST

SANDRA BEM, 1970s

Sex-role stereotypes

- sex is a biological fact
- XX chromosomes for female, XY chromosomes for male
- Gender is a social contrast based on how we think about men and women in terms of their roles (stereotypes)
- Society has clear expectations about how men and women should behave
- Stereotypes \= a fixed belief about a particular group of people
- Sex-role stereotypes are learnt from birth as children are exposed to attitudes in society
- Learning of sex-role steretypes can be both implicit and explicit as we model behaviours of same-sex people (SLT)

Androgyny - Sandra bem 1970s

- Psychological androgyny \= a person can be both masculine and feminine
- Contrasts with the traditional view that masculine and feminine behaviours are two separate clusters
- Traditional view was that rigid sex roles were important for mental health but her opposite view is that it's more psychologically healthy to avoid fixed sex-role stereotype
- Men and women should feel free to adopt a variety of masculine and feminine-type behaviours that suits their personality
- Stifling personality can lead to mental health disorders

Bem sex role inventory (BSRI)

- Asked 10 American undergrads what traits were desirable for men or women
- 40 with 20 neutral items added as disractors
- possible to test for masculinity and femininity independently rather than setting them against each other
- In traditional tests, if you selected a masculine item, you couldn't pick a feminine item
- Masculine \= high masc score, low fem score
- Feminine \= high fem score, low masc score
- Androgynous \= high ratio of masc to fem traits
- Fourth category added later to account for individuals with a different type of androgyny where they're neither masculine or feminine with low scores in both (undifferentiated)
- For each 60 different attributes, you should rate yourself on a scale of 1-7 with 1 meaning never and 7 meaning almost always true

Gender schema theory - Bem 1983

- difference between an androgynous person and a traditionally sex-typed person is one of cognitive style
- When faced with a decision about behaviour, an androgynous person responds independently of any gender concepts
- traditionally sex-typed person determines what would be appropriate for their gender using gender schemas
- A person who has a "freer" cognitive style will be psychologically healthier

EVAL - support from parent-child play ✅

- Smith and Lloyd videotaped mothers playing for 10 minutes with a 6-month old baby that was not their own child, and who they did not know the gender of
- When the child was dressed and named as a boy, the mother offered more masculine toys and vice versa
- Parents socialise their children into traditional gender roles from an early age through their interactions with the children, suggesting why sex-role stereotypes still exist

EVAL - link between androgyny and psychological health ✅

- Prakash et al tested 100 married females in India on masculinity/femininity and outcomes measures related to health including physical health, anxiety, depression etc
- High masculinity scores had lower depression, anxiety, stress and physical health scores in comparison to those with high femininity scores
- Sex-role stereotypes can have a negative effect on individuals' mental and physical health, supporting the importance of androgyny.

EVAL - BSRI has high reliability ✅

- Test-retest refers to if a questionnaire is consistent in giving the same results on two or more separate occasions
- BSRI has high test-retest reliability over a four-week period with correlations of 0.76 to 0.94
- Shorter version with 30 items has a 0.90 correlation with the original
- Consistent results over time, improving its reliability and.the overall validity of the theory

EVAL - gender-neutral children ✅

- Parents raising their children gender-neutrally and keeping their gender from family and friends so their children can develop away from sex-role stereotypes
- Individuals raised like this are less likely to develop mental health conditions due to not being constrained bysex-role stereotypes
- Positive impact on society as there's a reduced demand for mental health services

STRENGTHS

gender-neutral children, BSRI has high reliability, link between androgyny and psychological health, support from parent-child play

Masculinity

\n qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys.

Femininity

qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls.

Male and female chromosomes

female - XX

Male = XY