Revision:Bem - Sex Role Inventory and Spence - Personal Attributes Questionnaire

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Bem (1974) constructed the BSRI - Bem Sex Role Inventory from 20 adjectives viewed as desirable for men, 20 adjectives viewed as desirable for women, and 20 gender-neutral adjectives. Examples of these adjectives:

People were asked to rate themselves along a 7 point scale, according to how much each applied to them.

Originally, if someone scored similarly on the masculine and feminine traits they were labelled as "androgynous". If their score was significantly different on the two scales, they were labelled as "sex-typed".

Revising the Definitions

Spence et Al (1975) defined an androgynous as someone who had high scores on both the masculine and feminine scales of their new Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Normally, someone who rated highly on both scales had high self-esteem. If they had low self-esteem (i.e. they lacked positive traits) then they were labelled as "undifferentiated".

Criticism

Two subsequent critics conclude that there is no link between masculine traits and androgyny. Moreover, the link between self-esteem and androgyny only exits because androgyny comes about because of an association with masculine traits.

Another study suggests that although men derive their self-esteem from their abilities, women derive their self-esteem from attachments and connections to others.

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