Bem’s research into androgyny

• Define androgyny.

  Androgyny refers to when an individual displays high amounts of both masculine and feminine traits.

  E.g they may be very authoritative at work (a masculine trait) but very nurturing at home (a feminine trait).
• Outline Bem’s research into androgyny, including the use of the BSRI.

  Bem created the BSRI, a 60-item inventory, to measure androgyny. It comprises of 20 masculine traits (e.g. athletic and assertive), 20 feminine traits (e.g. shy and affectionate) and 20 neutral traits (e.g. helpful and likable).

  When completing the BSRI, participants rate themselves on each trait along a 7-point scale from almost never true to almost always true.
• Outline Bem’s research into androgyny, including the use of the BSRI.

  Based on these ratings, participants are identified as either: Masculine (high masculine score but low feminine score), Feminine (high feminine score but low masculine score), Androgynous (high masculine and feminine scores) or Undifferentiated (low masculine and feminine scores)
• Outline Bem’s research into androgyny, including the use of the BSRI.

  Bem found that people who scored as highly androgynous reported more positive feelings about themselves (higher self-esteem) and also viewed their relationships with others as more positive.
• Outline Bem’s research into androgyny, including the use of the BSRI.

  Bem therefore concluded that people who are androgynous are psychologically healthier than people who are strongly masculine, feminine or undifferentiated.

  Bem suggested that this was because androgynous people do not feel the need to suppress themselves to fit in with sex role stereotypes. Instead, they feel free to perform masculine or feminine behaviours regardless of their biological sex.
• Evaluate Bem’s research into androgyny: high test-retest reliability.


  Bem asked participants to complete the BSRI once and then again a few weeks later. Their two results were then correlated and Bem found a correlation coefficient of between 0.7-0.9. This is a strength because this suggests there is a strong positive

  correlation between the participants’ two sets of scores and so the BSRI must be a reliable measure of androgyny.
• Evaluate Bem’s research into androgyny: lacks temporal validity. 


  It was developed over 40 years ago and so the traits regarded as masculine and feminine may have changed. More recent research involved a group of undergraduates rating the items on the BSRI for masculinity and femininity. They found that only the word ‘masculine’ was considered a ‘masculine trait’ and only the word ‘feminine’ was considered a ‘feminine trait’. This is a limitation because it suggests the BSRI is mad up of stereotypical ideas of masculinity and femininity that are outdated.
• Evaluate Bem’s research into androgyny: may not generalise across cultures.


  This is because it was created by asking American people to rate traits in terms of how desirable they were for men and women. The 20 traits rated as the most desirable for men became the 20 masculine traits while the 20 traits rated the most desirable for women became the 20 feminine traits. This a limitation because it means the BSRI represents western views of what is masculine and what is feminine, and this may not be shared across all cultures.
• Evaluate Bem’s research into androgyny: subjective and potential social desirability bias. 


  This is because participants have to rate themselves on a scale of 1-7. This is a limitation because people may interpret the 7-point scale subjectively (i.e. someone’s idea of what 6 means may be very different to what another person’s perception of 6 is). They may also rate themselves higher or lower on certain traits so that they appear more desirable. As a result, the BSRI may not produce objective, valid findings about how androgynous someone is.