What is the point of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory?

What is the point of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory?

The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) is a measure of masculinity and femininity, and is used to research gender roles. It assesses how people identify themselves psychologically.

Is the Bem Sex-Role Inventory valid?

Abstract. The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) is a widelyused instrument in measuring gender role perceptions. All but two of the adjectives were validatedusing Bem’s criteria. These findings suggest that theBSRI may still be a valid instrument for assessing genderroles.

Which scales are most commonly used to measure masculinity and femininity today?

The BSRI is by far the most commonly used measure in all areas of gender-related research; indeed, by the late 1980s, 795 articles and 167 ERIC documents using the BSRI were already identified by Beere (1990).

What does undifferentiated gender mean?

People who score low on scales of masculinity and low on scales of femininity are said to be undifferentiated. People who score high on scales of masculinity and high on scales of femininity are said to be androgynous or bigender. Terms similar to undifferentiated would be Agender and neutrois.

What are instrumental traits?

Instrumental and expressive (I/E) traits represent stereotypical masculine and feminine personality characteristics that are. exhibited at varying levels in both genders, with instrumentality representing masculine traits and expressiveness repre- senting feminine traits (Jolson and Comer 1997).

What is femininity or masculinity of a person’s role and behavior?

It is important to distinguish gender identity, as presented above, from other gender-related concepts such as gender roles, which are shared expectations of behavior given one’s gender. For example, gender roles might include women investing in the domestic role and men investing in the worker role (Eagly 1987).

What is undifferentiated androgynous?

An undifferentiated person is low on both feminine and masculine traits. According to Sandra Bem, androgynous individuals are more flexible and more mentally healthy than either masculine or feminine individuals; undifferentiated individuals are less competent.

What are the gender roles of masculine and feminine?

In the U.S., masculine roles are usually associated with strength, aggression, and dominance, while feminine roles are associated with passivity, nurturing, and subordination. Gender socialization begins at birth and occurs through four major agents of socialization: family, education, peer groups, and mass media.

Which theory of gender development emphasizes the role of reward and punishment for gender appropriate and gender inappropriate?

Social Learning Theory Thus, an explanation for psychological gender differences is that children learn how to behave differently based on their gender. That is, boys and girls act appropriately for their genders because they have been rewarded for doing some things and punished for doing others.

What are instrumental roles?

The instrumental role is a functionalist understanding of the male’s function in the family. This role’s main purpose is to discipline and provide economic support for the family. Males who fulfil this role are considered to be power brokers in the relationship as they make all the decisions for the family.

Is Sandara Bem’s Sex Role Inventory useful?

The well-known social psychologist Sandara Bem (1944-2014) developed a sex role inventory to measure different aspects of hypothesized psychological gender traits. This measure has not been without criticism (see references), and one can question its usefulness. Nevertheless, it has been a popular test and can be of use in student projects.

How is androgyny calculated on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory?

Originally androgyny was calculated by finding the t-ratio difference between masculine and feminine scores; however, in 1981 Bem advises users to utilize a split median technique for more accurate scoring. The Bem Sex-Role Inventory offers four different possible resulting categorizations: masculine, feminine, androgynous and undifferentiated.

What does the Bem test tell us about gender?

The Bem test indicates the degrees of absorption of cultural definitions of gender, as reflected in the user’s personality. Cynthia Connor and colleagues summarize Bem’s findings in an interesting article titled “Intrinsic Motivation and Role Adaptability with Regards to Drama Students:”

What is the Open Sex Role Inventory?

The Open Sex Role Inventory was developed as open source, modernized measure of masculinity and femininity. The documentation of its development can be found here. The test has 22 statements of opinion that you must rate on a seven point scale of how much you agree with each.