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Psychology 320: Psychology of Gender and Sex Differences

Lecture 10

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Office Hour InvitationsOctober 2nd, 1:30-2:30, Kenny 2517

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Reminder

The first meeting of the PLC will be held today, October 1st, 5:00-6:00, in room 2510 of the Kenny Building (the Suedfeld Lounge).

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Announcement

Students who wish to obtain more information regarding Psychology 417A: Psychology and Developing Societies may attend a course-specific information session at the Go Global Showcase.

Date: Wednesday, October 3, 2012 Time: 4:30-5:15pm Location: Irving K. Barber, room 302 (Dodson Room)

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1. What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology? (continued)

History of Research on Gender Psychology

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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 1954 and present day.

2. describe contemporary measures (i.e., operational-izations) of gender.

3. discuss the relationship between gender and psychological adjustment.

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5. discuss changes in levels of masculinity and femininity across time in North America.

4. define and explain the “masculine superiority effect.”

6. interpret gender diagnosticity scores.

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From last class …..

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BSRI: Descriptive Statistics(Bem, 1974)

Scale Range Mean for Females Mean for Males

Masculinity (M) 1-7 4.57 (SD=.69) 4.97 (SD=.67)

Femininity (F) 1-7 5.01 (SD=.52) 4.44 (SD=.55)

Androgyny 0-6 .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).

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PAQ: Descriptive Statistics (Spence & Helmreich, 1979)

Scale Range Mean for Females* Mean for Males*

Masculinity 0-32 20.1 22.4

Femininity 0-32 24.0 21.4

*SDs not available.

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What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology? (continued)

E. 1954 – 1982: Sex Typing and Androgyny (continued)

• Research has examined the relations among masculinity, femininity, and psychological adjustment:

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PAQ: Correlations Among M, F, and Adjustment Measures (Spence et al., 1979)

ScaleSelf-Esteem Neuroticism Acting Out

Males Females Males Females Males Females

Masculinity .66** .68** -.53** -.41** -.09 -.01

Femininity .23** .20** -.06 -.06 -.17* -.02

*p<.01, **p<.001

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Correlations Among M/F, Self-Esteem, and Ego Strength (Woo and Oei, 2006)

Scale Low Self-Esteem Ego Strength

Masculinity -.61* .72*

Femininity -.11 -.02

*p<.001

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• Research (e.g., Auster & Ohm, 2000; Holt & Ellis, 1998; Oswald, 2004) supports the validity of the BSRI and PAQ among contemporary populations.

• Data collected between 1970 and 2000 (e.g., Leuptow et al., 2001; Spence & Buckner, 2000; Twenge, 1997) demonstrate:

(a) consistent sex differences in femininity.

(b) reduced sex differences in masculinity.

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Correlation Between Women’s BSRI-M Scores and Year of Study Publication

(Twenge, 1997)

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995

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F. 1982 – Present: Gender as a Social Category

• Since 1982, research on sex, gender, and psychology has proliferated.

• Two trends are apparent in this research:

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1. Gender as a multidimensional construct.

Many contemporary theorists argue that gender is not adequately represented by two dimensions (i.e., expressiveness and instrumentality).

Rather, gender reflects highly diverse content, including traits, physical characteristics, and interests.

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Consistent with this perspective, these theorists view femininity and masculinity as prototypes: abstract sets of features commonly associated with femininity and masculinity.

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E.g., Helgeson (1994):

Feminine prototype Traits: Caring, soft-spoken, social, delicate, shy.Physical characteristics: Well dressed, high pitched voice, long hair.Interests: Likes art, concerned with appearance.

Masculine prototype Traits: Self-confident, dominant.Physical characteristics: Muscular, tall, hairy face.Interests: Likes sports, fitness, cars, concerned with work.

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Lippa et al. (1990, 1995) developed a multi-dimensional measure of femininity and masculinityreferred to as gender diagnosticity (GD).

GD scores indicate levels of femininity and masculinity on the basis of an individual’s traits, physical

characteristics, and interests.

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GD scores are not highly correlated with scores on the BSRI or the PAQ.

GD scores of 0 and 1 indicate high levels of femininity and masculinity, respectively.

GD scores are computed statistically, by combining an individual’s scores on diverse indices of femininity and masculinity (e.g., preferred occupation, hobbies, level of dominance).

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1. What theories and research characterize the history of gender psychology? (continued)

History of Research on Gender Psychology