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Gender and Psychology Chapter One

© Tara Kimball

Identity and the Self

Chapter one of Gender and Psychology is concerning Identity and the Self. The author begins the chapter talking about the word gender and how many attributes are thought of by society when the term gender is used. Gender can be seen as one’s sex, their sexuality, or sexual identity. However, it can also be thought of along the lines of one’s psychological sense of themselves (gender identity) or seen as a cultural gender role. Therefore, using the word gender needs clarification before total comprehension of the meaning can be attained. This is due to the fact that some people attribute gender to sex only, yet others will be way off mark since they see gender being a completely different entity.

The chapter continues with a brief synopsis of the historical moments in our past that really shed light upon understanding our psychological representations of the male and female groupings. It starts with the period of 1894-1936. During this time, psychologists were very interested in intelligence testing and found that they could reduce the construct of gender down to a variable that could be measured just like personality or intelligence. This testing would allow for differences between males and females to become known. The next period is from 1936-1974 where individuals were believed to gain their gender from societal rules and roles. Men were masculine and worked hard, while women were feminine and were caretakers. From 1974-1982 a different take on the subject was brought up. Bem introduced the term androgyny, which means that a person doesn’t have more or less of one gender characteristic… having roughly equal portions. Introductions of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personal Attribute Questionnaire (PAQ) all led to an understanding that the two attributes (female and male) are not linked yet independent variables. The last historical period was from 1982-1990 and there were three articles that gave rise to the current beliefs that we all share about gender. Bem started first by changing her view from androgyny to more of a gender-schematic view. This view suggested that experience and the schemas that are formed through these experiences guide gender. This thus guides our behavior. The other paper was by Sherif and brought to being that gender was more so a product of social categories than an actual embedded personal characteristic. Gilligan’s article concerned the moral growth of male or female attributes that was determinant upon how the individual was raised and experienced gender roles and rules.