The nonverbal display of psychological androgyny.

Attempted to determine how individual differences in sex-role orientation, as assessed by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, were related to undergraduates' display of nonverbal behaviors indicative of "masculinity" and "femininity." Smiling, gazing (feminine behaviors), interrupting, and filled pausing (masculine behaviors) were coded for sex-typed males and females and androgynous males and females assigned to either an instrumental situation or an expressive situation in 36 same-sex dyads. Analyses of nonverbal behavior showed that androgynous Ss showed a blend of both masculine and feminine behaviors. The blend was the product of the addition of cross-sex behavior and deletion of some sex-consonant behavior. In contrast, sex-typed Ss showed more cross-sex behavioral avoidance and more sex-consonant behavioral cohesion. Results are discussed in terms of S. L. Bem's (1974, 1975) and J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich's (1977) conceptions of masculinity and femininity. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Masculine and feminine traits: Their relation to suitedness for and success in training for traditionally masculine and feminine army functions.

Evidence in support of the androgyny, masculinity, and congruence models is compared in a study of 200 men and 299 women training for traditionally masculine and feminine army functions. Ss rated their chances for success in and suitedness for functions for which they were being trained, and responded to the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. At the end of training they were rated by peers and training officers. Men rated themselves more likely to succeed than did women and had higher officer and peer ratings. Suitedness self-ratings were higher for sex-typed and androgynous men and cross-sex-typed women. Androgynous men and women, sex-typed men, and cross-sex-typed women saw themselves as most likely to succeed. Officers' ratings favored the sex-typed. Men and women high in masculinity had better self- and peer ratings than did those low in masculinity. These results lend most support to the masculinity model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Socially undesirable sex-correlated characteristics: implications for androgyny and adjustment

Since current measures of sex-role style, such as the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, assess only positive, socially desirable attributes, a set of socially undesirable but sex-typed characteristics was developed and examined in relation to the Bem categories. Data from 100 male and 100 female undergraduates show that androgynous males endorsed the fewest and undifferentiated males endorsed the most numbers of these undesirable characteristics. Feminine-typed females were least likely to use undesirable masculine self-attributes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The measurement of psychological androgyny.

Describes the development of a new sex-role inventory that treats masculinity and femininity as 2 independent dimensions, thereby making it possible to characterize a person as masculine, feminine, or "androgynous" as a function of the difference between his or her endorsement of masculine and feminine personality characteristics. Normative data, provided by 561 male and 356 female college and junior college students, are presented, as well as the results of various psychometric analyses. Findings indicate that: (a) The dimensions of masculinity and femininity are empirically and logically independent. (b) The concept of psychological androgyny is a reliable one. (c) Highly sex-typed scores do not reflect a general tendency to respond in a socially desirable direction, but rather a specific tendency to describe oneself in accordance with sex-typed standards of desirable behavior for men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relation between testosterone concentration, sex role identity, and personality among females.

84 female undergraduates completed measures of masculinity and femininity derived from the California Personality Inventory, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, and the Adjective Check List. Testosterone (T) concentration was determined from saliva samples. Results indicate that sex-role type was related to level of T concentration. Undifferentiated Ss had much higher levels of T concentration than did feminine Ss, and androgynous and masculine Ss had somewhat higher T levels than did feminine sex-typed Ss. Adjectival correlates indicated that Ss with higher T concentrations perceived themselves as self-directed, action-oriented, and resourceful; those with lower T concentrations viewed themselves as conventional, socialized individuals, possessing a caring attitude coupled with an anxious and dejected mood. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Androgyny and helping behavior.

Suggests that sex differences found in previous studies of how bystanders' help in emergency situations may have been due to Ss' following sex-role expectations for this type of situation. To study this possibility, 78 male and 82 female undergraduates, classified by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) as either androgynous or sex-typed, participated in an experiment in which a "victim" choked on food. Ss were either alone with the victim, with 4 other same-sex confederates, or with 4 other mixed-sex confederates. Data on speed of helping and/or proportion of Ss helping show (a) more help by males than by females, (b) more help in S-alone conditions than in larger group conditions, and (c) more help by androgynous than by sex-typed Ss. The pattern of direct, indirect, or no help differed between sex-typed males and females but not between androgynous males and females. Questionnaire data support the notion of diffusion of responsibility for the group-size effect for helping. Several of the sex effects suggested that instrumental competence is the crucial variable in dealing with emergencies. Results also suggest that such competence is due to masculinity rather than sex per se. Findings provide substantial construct validation for androgyny theory and for the BSRI as a measure of androgyny. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creativity, masculinity, femininity, and three models of psychological androgyny.

Five empirically derived indices of creative self-concept correlated positively with several indices of psychological masculinity in 85 female and 105 male undergraduates and somewhat negatively with indices of psychological femininity among males and females. Among the measures used were the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and Adjective Check List. Production on the Alternate Uses Test correlated positively with masculinity and negatively with femininity in a subset of 50 males explicitly instructed to "be creative." As a reflection of this positive association between masculinity and creativity indices, Ss defined as masculine or androgynous, using conventional median-split methods, obtained significantly higher creativity indices than conventionally defined feminine or unclassifiable Ss. Results are discussed in terms of (a) the applicability of balance, additive, and multiplicative models of androgyny to the study of creativity; (b) the factorial complexity of several currently used masculinity and femininity scales; and (c) possible conflicts between sex-role expectations and the self-concepts of creative females and apparent congruencies between sex-role expectations and the self-concepts of creative males. (85 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Love and sex role stereotypes: Do macho men and feminine women make better lovers?

Examined the relation of sex and sex-role orientation to self-reported feelings and behaviors of love. It was hypothesized that (a) sex role would have a greater effect on love feelings and behaviors than sex, and (b) androgynous individuals would experience love differently than sex-typed individuals. Data were gathered from 100 male and 136 female college students who identified themselves as being in a love relationship. Ss completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Both hypotheses were supported. There were no sex differences in self-reported love. Androgynous Ss differed from masculine Ss on awareness of love feelings, expression of love, nonmaterial evidence of love, toleration of the loved one's faults, and the total expression of love in their relationship. The androgynous Ss differed from feminine Ss on awareness, willingness to express feelings, and toleration of faults. In all comparisons, androgynous Ss were more loving than sex-typed and undifferentiated Ss. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex-typed execution and perception of expressive movement.

Do sex-typed individuals differ from other individuals in their execution and perception of expressive movement? Undergraduates classified as sex-typed, androgynous, undifferentiated, or cross-sex-typed on the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1981b) were videotaped as they walked in front of a dark background while wearing dark clothes with reflective tape on their body joints. Observers of these "dynamic point-light displays" judged the movements of sex-typed subjects to be somewhat more masculine or feminine than those of other subjects. When sex-typed subjects themselves described the videotaped displays of other people, they spontaneously used gender-connoting terms more often than did androgynous and undifferentiated subjects and were more accurate in identifying the sex of the person in the tape. Cross-sex-typed subjects—feminine men and masculine women—resembled androgynous and undifferentiated individuals in their execution of expressive movement, but resembled sex-typed individuals in their perception of expressive movement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction of sex role self-concept with relationship quality and relationship beliefs in married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay, and lesbian couples.

Examined the relationship between sex-role self-concept (masculine, feminine, undifferentiated, and androgynous) and relationship quality and dysfunctional relationship beliefs among 44 married (mean age 29.68 yrs), 35 heterosexual cohabiting (mean age 28.68 yrs), 50 homosexual (mean age 31.28 yrs), and 56 lesbian (mean age 31.18 yrs) couples. Ss completed questionnaires on demographic and background information, the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, a relationship beliefs inventory, and relationship quality assessments. Individual partner analyses revealed that relationship quality and relationship beliefs differed by Ss' sex-role self-concept. Androgynous and feminine Ss reported higher relationship quality than masculine and undifferentiated Ss; androgynous Ss had fewer "disagreement is destructive" beliefs than feminine Ss; and androgynous Ss had fewer "partner cannot change" beliefs than undifferentiated Ss. Couple analyses showed a relation between partners' sex-role self-concept only for the heterosexual cohabiting couples. For these couples, masculine men tended to pair with feminine or undifferentiated women, and androgynous partners tended to pair together. Relative to other couples, those in which one or both partners were androgynous or feminine reported the highest relationship quality; couples in which one or both partners were undifferentiated or masculine reported the lowest. These effects did not vary by type of couple. It is concluded that sex-role self-concept is a robust factor in appraisals of relationship quality. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role typing and ego identity in Israeli, Oriental, and Western adolescents.

1,129 Oriental and Western Israeli students from religious and secular high schools participated in a study to investigate (a) the relation between sex-role typing and ego identity, (b) the distribution of sex-role typing within different cultural groups, and (c) the relative contribution of masculinity (M), femininity (F), religiousness, sex, and ethnic origin to prediction of ego identity variables. Ss completed the Bar-Ilan Sex Role Inventory and the Adolescent Ego Identity Scale, which measures 3 factors: commitment and purposefulness, solidity and continuity, and social recognition. More androgynous, less sex-typed, and less undifferentiated Ss were found among Orientals than among Westerners. Sex-role type was significantly related to each of the ego identity variables, indicating that androgynous Ss were highest followed by masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated Ss. Boys were higher than girls on Solidity and Continuity, but lower on Social Recognition. Westerners were higher than Orientals on Commitment and Purposefulness and on Total Ego Identity. Religious Ss were higher than secular Ss on Commitment and Purposefulness. Regression analyses revealed high prediction of ego identity variables with greater prediction power for M than for F in both ethnic groups. Ego identity was predicted by M among boys, whereas both M and F predicted ego identity with greater prediction power for M than for F. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The enigma of androgyny: Differential implications for males and females?

A program of studies, comprising a total population of 1,404 college students, tested the hypothesis that psychological androgyny (i.e., a balance of masculine and feminine characteristics) permits greater behavioral flexibility and consequently leads to better adjustment. A variety of methods were used to compare androgynous with sex-typed and opposite sex-typed Ss (determined by the Bem Sex-Role Inventory) along several attitudinal, personality, and behavioral dimensions. Contrary to expectation a pattern of findings replicated across measures of attitudes toward women's issues, gender identification, neurosis, introversion–extraversion, locus of control, self-esteem, problems with alcohol, creativity, political awareness, confidence in one's own ability, helplessness, and sexual maturity indicated that flexibility and adjustment were generally associated with masculinity rather than androgyny for both males and females. Feminine Ss, independent of gender, would prefer to become more masculine were that possible. These results are interpreted as suggesting an alternative to S. L. Bem's theory of androgyny. Additional analyses indicated few differences between the additive and the original definitions of androgyny. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex-role conflict in alcoholic women: Myth or reality.

Compared various dimensions of masculinity–femininity in 120 female alcoholics, 118 females in treatment for emotional or psychiatric disorders, and 119 women in a nontreatment normal control group. Measures included the Femininity scale of the California Psychological Inventory, Bem Sex Role Inventory, Franck Drawing Completion Test, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Limited evidence was found for the greater existence of sex-role conflict between "unconscious masculinity" and "conscious femininity" among alcoholic Ss than among nonalcoholic Ss. Less than 25% of the total alcoholic sample evidenced this pattern of sex-role conflict. Alcoholic Ss showed feminine role-relevant preferences similar to those of the nonalcoholic controls. They reported fewer "masculine" behaviors on a measure of sex-role style than did nonalcoholic, nontreatment, normal Ss. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the relationship between psychological androgyny and components of self-concept.

357 college students participated in a study designed to investigate whether the higher levels of self-esteem and self-concept of androgynous individuals are due to an integration of both masculine and feminine traits or due only to a high level of masculinity. Ss completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and a semantic differential scale previously shown to assess 4 dimensions of the self-concept. The androgynous group scored higher than the undifferentiated group on adjustment to the environment. The androgynous and masculine groups scored higher than the feminine and undifferentiated groups on achievement/leadership, which tends to reflect an instrumental role. Androgynous and feminine Ss scored higher than masculine and undifferentiated Ss on congeniality/sociability, which reflects an expressive role. The masculine and feminine groups scored at appropriate ends of the masculinity/femininity self-concept dimension, with the androgynous and undifferentiated groups at intermediate levels. These results support S. L. Bem's (1975, 1977) theory of androgynous flexibility. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role orientation and resolution of Eriksonian crises during the late adolescent years.

Administered the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the Industry Inferiority and Identity vs Identity Diffusion scales from the Inventory of Psychosocial Development (IPD) to 182 male and 222 female undergraduates. Results indicate that the androgynous Ss had the highest difference scores on the IPD scales, with masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated Ss having progressively lower mean scores. Androgynous, masculine, and feminine Ss had equivalently low scores on the scales measuring unsuccessful resolution, with the undifferentiated Ss obtaining the highest scores on these scales. It is suggested that the androgynous and sex-typed Ss view themselves as varying along a dimension of successful resolution. These groups did not vary on measures of unsuccessful resolution. The undifferentiated Ss saw themselves not only as less successful in resolving the crises but also as more unsuccessful. Further analyses revealed that the masculine component of the sex role was the more important for predicting better resolution of the 2 crises. The importance of employing multiple measures of adjustment, the importance of theory-guided research, and the consideration of the relative contributions of masculinity and femininity to adjustment are discussed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A different perspective on androgyny: Evaluations of masculine and feminine personality characteristics.

Hypothesized that androgynous Ss would be liked best and perceived as most adjusted (Exp I) and also be perceived to be as instrumental as masculine Ss and as expressive as feminine Ss (Exp II). 179 undergraduates served as Ss in Exp I and 160 undergraduates served in Exp II. Personal Attributes Questionnaires ostensibly filled out by others were the stimuli evaluated. These stimuli were constructed so that the stimulus persons (SPs) were classified as either androgynous, undifferentiated, masculine, or feminine. Male and female Ss evaluated the SPs on dimensions of likeability, adjustment, expressiveness, instrumentality, masculinity, and femininity. Results demonstrate that androgynous persons, regardless of gender, were liked best and perceived as most adjusted, whereas undifferentiated persons were liked least and perceived as least adjusted. Masculine and feminine persons, regardless of gender, were rated midway between androgynous and undifferentiated persons and generally were not evaluated differently on these dimensions. Evaluations of SPs on stereotypically gender-related dimensions revealed that androgynous persons were seen to be as highly instrumental as masculine persons and as highly expressive as feminine persons, but generally less masculine and feminine than sex-typed persons. Implications for self-fulfilling prophecies in social behavior are discussed. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological androgyny and sex role flexibility: A test of two hypotheses.

In a conceptual replication and extension of a study by S. L. Bem and E. Lenney (1976), 90 male and 118 female college students rated their comfort in and preference for performing several series of masculine, feminine, and neutral activities. Correlations between ratings and scores on the masculinity (instrumentality) and femininity (expressiveness) scales of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) of J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich (1978) tended to be theoretically reasonable in sign but in each sex were low in magnitude and only occasionally significant. Classification of Ss into 4 PAQ groups (androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated) on their joint masculinity and femininity scores revealed that androgynous and masculine Ss of both sexes had higher comfort ratings, independent of type of task, than did feminine and undifferentiated Ss, suggesting the importance of instrumentality and expressiveness per se. For forced-choice preference ratings, significant differences were found only in males, masculine Ss having a stronger preference for sex-typed tasks than those in other categorical groups. The PAQ variable, however, accounted for only a small percentage of the variance. The data support the Spence-Helmreich hypotheses that the PAQ and similar instruments are largely measures of instrumental and expressive personality traits rather than sex roles and that these personality dimensions are only minimally related to many sex role behaviors. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)