androgyny and BSRI

• androgyny 


  a personality type that is characterised by a balance of masculine and feminine attitudes and behaviours
• bem sex role inventory 


  a systematic attempt to measure androgyny using of rating scale of 20 masculine, 20 feminine and 20 neutral traits to produce scores across 2 dimensions

  1. masculinity - feminininity
  2. androgynous - undifferentiated
• using the sex role inventory

  respondents required to rate themselves on a 7 point scale

  • 1 = never true of me
  • 7 = always true of me
• score and classification of bem sex role inventory

  high masculine, low feminine = masculine

  high feminine, low masculine = feminine

  high masculine, high feminine = androgynous

  low feminine, low masculinity = undifferentiated
• X lacks temporal validity - BSRI developed over 40 years ago and typical behaviours of a gender have changed significantly since then

  • bem’s scale is made up of stereotypical ideas of masculinity and feminist that may be outdated
• X cultural bias - scale was devised using a panel of judges who were all from America

  • western notion of ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness’ may not be shared across all cultures and society
• X the questionnaires’s scoring system is subjective and people’s interpretation of the meaning of each end of the 7 point scale may differ
• X asking people to rate themselves on a questionnaire relies on an understanding of their personality and behaviour that they may not have
• X gender identity is too complex to be reduced to a single score
• ✔️alternative to BSRI is the personal attribute questionnaire (PAQ) which replaces bem’s masculinity-femininity dimension with one that measures instrumentality and expressivity
• X like the BSRI, the PAQ is still based on the idea that gender identity can’t be quantified
• X golombok and fivush - claim gender identity is a much more global concept than is suggested by these scales

  • to fully understand gender identity, broader issues should be considered such as the person‘s interests and perception of their own abilities
• bem emphasised that androgynous individuals are more psychologically healthy as they are best placed to deal with situations that demand a masculine, feminine or androgynous response
• X adams and shere - people who display a greater proportion of masculine traits are better adjusted as these are more high valued in western society - challenges emphasis on androgynous individuals being healthier psychologically as they are better placed to deal with situations that demand a masculine, feminine or androgynous response by suggesting bems research may not have taken adequate account of the social and cultural context in which it was developed
• ✔️ valid - BSRI piloted with over 1000 students and the results broadly corresponded with the participants‘ own description of their gender identity
• ✔️high test retest reliability - a smaller sample of the same students from the pilot study revealed similar scores when they were tested a month later