1. 1 Psychology 320: Gender Psychology Lecture 8

2. 2 1.What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology? (continued) History of Research on Gender Psychology

3. 3 By the end of today’s class, you should be able to: 1. describe major shifts in theory and research on sex and gender between 1920 and 1982. 2. describe early and contemporary measures (i.e., operationalizations) of gender. 3. identify criticisms of early and contemporary measures of gender.

4. 4 C. 1920 – 1936: The Objective vs. the Subjective Psychology adopted two new perspectives: What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology? (continued)

5. 5 1. The behaviorist perspective: a concern with objective, observable phenomena. > Largely studied learning and memory among nonhuman species. > Little interest in sex and/or gender differences.

6. 6 2. The psychoanalytic perspective: a concern with subjective, unobservable phenomena. > Proposed by Sigmund Freud. > Maintained that gender differences in personality and morality result from sex differences in “psychosexual development.”

7. 7 D. 1936 – 1954: M/F as a Global Personality Trait Psychologists shifted their interest from sex differences to gender roles. The construct of masculinity/femininity (M/F) was introduced by Terman. The Attitude Interest Analysis Survey (Terman & Miles, 1936) was developed as a self-report measure of M/F. Concerns regarding self-report measures of M/F led to the development of projective measures of M/F.

8. 8 Franck and Rosen’s (1949) Projective Test of M/F Sample StimulusFeminine ScoredMasculine Scored

9. 9 High Masculinity High Femininity Measures developed during this period viewed M/F as a single, bipolar dimension. One-Dimensional Model of M/F

10. 10 E. 1954 – 1982: Sex Typing and Androgyny Maccoby (1966) published The Development of Sex Differences. Constantinople (1973) published a critique of existing M/F instruments. Her criticisms resulted in the re- conceptualization of masculinity and femininity as independent dimensions.

11. 11 High Masculinity High Femininity Low Masculinity Low Femininity Feminine MasculineUndifferentiated Androgynous Two-Dimensional Model of M/F

12. 12 Following from this model, distinctions were made between individuals who were: (a) sex-typed. (b) cross-sex-typed. (c) androgynous (d) undifferentiated. Androgynous individuals were hypothesized to have the highest levels of psychological adjustment.

13. 13 Among the measures that were developed on the basis of the 2D model of M/F were those that assessed instrumental (i.e., agentic) and expressive (i.e., communal) traits. Examples: Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974), Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ: Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1974) These measures assumed that masculinity was reflected in instrumental traits and femininity was reflected in expressive traits.

14. 14 Questionnaire 1: BSRI (Bem, 1974) Score 1: Masculinity score. Score 2: Femininity score. Score 3: Androgyny score.

15. 15 BSRI: Descriptive Statistics (Bem, 1974) ScaleRangeMean for FemalesMean for Males Masculinity (M)1-74.57 (SD=.69)4.97 (SD=.67) Femininity (F)1-75.01 (SD=.52)4.44 (SD=.55) Androgyny0-6.44 (SD=.93)-.53 (SD=.82) Cronbach’s alphas, M, F:.86,.80. Test-retest reliabilities, M, F:.90,.90 (1 month interval). Correlations between M and F:.11 (males), -.14 (females).

16. 16 Questionnaire 2: PAQ (Spence & Helmreich, 1978) Score 1: Masculinity score. Score 2: Femininity score.

17. 17 1.What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology? (continued) History of Research on Gender Psychology