sex role stereotypes and androgyny A01

• Sex is biological fact – genetic male or female – determined by chromosomes – men = XY and women = XX (innate – result of nature )
• sex chromosomes influence hormonal differences + difference in anatomy
• gender includes the attitudes , roles and behaviours that we associate with being either male or female – heavily influenced by social norms + cultural expectations –
• gender is partly influenced by our environment – partly due to nurture
• gender - refers to a person’s psychological status / sense of maleness or femaleness.
• intersex

  -          Some children are inadvertently exposed to hormonal imbalances in the womb so that their genitals appear neither obviously female or male at birth – these children are known as intersex – parents usually opt for surgery to make their child’s sex clear
• intersex

  -          About 1 in 2000 babies are born with some level of intersex – but the level of variation in sexual anatomy tends to mean that some people are unaware of the condition until puberty or find themselves infection in adulthood .
• intersex

  -          About 1 in 2000 babies are born with some level of intersex – but the level of variation in sexual anatomy tends to mean that some people are unaware of the condition until puberty or find themselves infection in adulthood .
• intersex

  -          Some children are inadvertently exposed to hormonal imbalances in the womb so that their genitals appear neither obviously female or male at birth – these children are known as intersex – parents usually opt for surgery to make their child’s sex clear
• Sex roles – stereotypes

  -          Whether you are male, or female is a biological fact but how we behave is related to sex role stereotypes – gender stereotypes – refers to how we take on various roles and how are behaviour is related to social norms associated with this role.
• Sex roles – stereotypes

  -          There are expectations as to how individuals should behave and how you behave in a role is considerable influenced by these expectations.

  -          Society has expectations as to how men and women should behave.
• Sex roles – stereotypes

  -          Learning gender stereotypes is implicit – not directly expressed but is also explicit because we model the behaviour of individuals of the same sex – through social learning theory.
• Sex roles – stereotypes

  -          Gender stereotypes are learned from birth as children are exposed to the attitudes of their parents and others in society – who tell girls they don’t like climbing trees and boys they don’t cry.
• Androgyny

  -          Androgyny = displaying a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics in ones personality . – refers to a personality type that’s a mixture of masculine and feminine traits , attitudes and behaviours
• Androgyny

  -          Sandra Bem introduced the concept of psychological androgyny in the 1970s – suggesting a person can be both masculine and feminine – this idea contrasted traditional views masculine and feminine behaviours are separate clusters.
• Androgyny

  -          Bem argued that it was more psychologically healthy to avoid fixed gender stereotypes. And in fact high androgyny is associated with psychological well – being because androgynous people are better equipped to adapt to a range of situations than non androgynous people who follow rigid sex roles – which previously were believed to be important for mental health
• Androgyny

  -          Ben agued men and women should be free to adopt a variety of masculine and feminine types of behaviours as suits their personality.
• Androgyny

  -          Man, who likes cooking or being gentle should not have to stifle his personal inclinations because it’s not stereotypical mainly behaviour – and feeling they must stifle their personality in this way has a psychological cost which can lead to mental disorders.
• Measuring androgyny

  -          Bem tested her ideas by creating a psychological test to measure androgyny – called Bem sex role inventory (BSRI)
• Measuring androgyny

  -          BSRI was the first systematic attempt to measure androgyny using a rating scale of 60 traits = 20 masculine , 20 feminine and 20 neutral to produce scores across two dimensions – masculinity and femineity and androgynous undifferentiated
• Measuring androgyny

  -          In the BSRI – respondents rate themselves in each category on a 7 point scale – with 1 representing a item which is never true of the individual and 7 being always true . the scores for all the masculine items are then added up and so are the feminine items the person is given a score for masculinity , femininity and androgyny (high ration of both mas and fem traits)
• Measuring androgyny

  -          Masculine items = athletic , aggressive , ambitious and risk takers

  -          Feminine items = affectionate , gentle , warm , loves children

  -          Neutral items = conscientious , friendly , truthful , reliable
• Measuring androgyny

  -          A fourth category of undifferentiated was added – with low scores for both masculine and feminine items – after criticism by Spence et al who pointed out that Bem had not distinguished between persons who are androgynous and different kinds of androgyny – where a person is neither masculine or feminine
• Gender schema theory

  -          Bem 1983 reformulated her approach – called it gender schema theory – she suggested that the difference between androgynous and traditionally sex typed person is one of cognitive style
• Gender schema theory

  -          An androgynous person when faced with the decision of how to behave in a particular situation they respond independently of any gender concepts whereas a traditional sees typed person determines what would be appropriate for their gender to do using gender schemas
• Gender schema theory

  -          Which is why Bem argued a individual with a freer cognate style will be psychologically healthier