Sandra Bem

1. Sandra Bem Lindsay Farrar Rachel Wiedeman Sam Lytal Katie Richter

2. Overview • Family/Academics • Zeitgeist • Historical Antecedents • Personal Obstacles • Bem Sex-Role Inventory • Gender Schema Theory • The Lenses of Gender • An Unconventional Family

3. Family • Born: June 22, 1944 • Her father was a postal clerk and her mother was a secretary • Financial struggle • Parents always fighting • Mother emphasized the need to work outside the home.

4. Early Academics • Hillel Academy (kindergarten -8th grade) • Jewish school • Was not interested in what she studied here and did enough just to get by • Her ideas about gender began during her time here • Expulsion due to wearing pants

5. Carnegie-Mellon University Bachelors in psychology Hypothesis testing Developmental psychology Daryl Bem (assistant professor) Egalitarian marriage College Academics

6. College Academics • University of Michigan • Graduate school in child clinical psychology • Ph.D dissertation • The Role of Task Comprehension in Children’s Problem Solving

7. Professor Sandra Bem • Seminars on Daryl and Sandra Bems marriage life • An Unconventional Family • Career comes first for both units in the marriage • Equality of men and women • Carnegie-Mellon until 1971 (assistant prof) • Began to focus on ideas involving gender issues rather than the psychology of children • Stanford University until 1978 (assistant prof) • “healthy person” = male + female traits • sexually-biased job discrimination • The effects of gender-specific job advertisements • BSRI Bem Sex Role Inventory • Cornell University 1981 – professor • Psychology • Director of Women Studies

8. Zeitgeist • Social Climate of the 20th Century • Women • Gender Issues • Inequality in the workforce

9. Historical Antecedents • Psychology during the mid-1900’s to late-1900’s • Behaviorism • Humanistic Psychology • Cognitive Psychology • Developmental Psychology

10. Historical Antecedents • Developmental Psychology • Majority of research during the time she was in grad school and after she graduated • She was not interested in this so she began to experiment on her own original ideas of gender.

11. Personal Obstacles • Family Problems • Financial Issues • Minority/Inequality Issues • Jewish • Very few women in Psychology programs • It took longer for her to become a professor in psychology than it would take a man. • She had her own ideas that she chose to study

12. Bem Sex-Role Inventory • Description • 60 personality characteristics • Likert scale 1-7 • Three scores • Administration Rules • Male or female high school student or older • 10 to 15 minutes • Individual to large group Bem, S. L. (1976). Bem sex-role inventory; Bem, S. L. (1974).

13. Scoring of BSR Inventory • Masculinity Score • Femininity Score • Androgyny Score • Difference between Masculinity Score and Femininity Score • Conversion factor = 2.322 Bem, S. L. (1974); Bem, S. L. (1975).

14. Androgyny? • Meaning of Androgyny Score • Androgyny: • Reflects the relative amount of masculinity and femininity that the person includes in his/her self-description. • Best characterizes the nature of the total sex role and sex identity of the individual. Bem, S. L. (1975); Bem, S. L. (1977).

15. Strengths of the BSRI • Normative Data • Stanford Introduction to Psychology Course • 444 Males and 279 females • Foothill Junior College • 117 Males and 77 Females (paid volunteers) • These normative samples helped create the cut points for the data and the conversion factor to calculate the Androgyny Score • Large normative sample Bem, S. L. (1976). Bem sex-role inventory; Bem, S. L. (1974).

16. More Strengths of the BSRI • Both Masculine and Feminine characteristics included and they are on different continuums. • Social Desirability Score • To verify that the androgynous score is valid • Applicability of the findings to other areas • Inventory is easy to complete and has short administration time. Bem, S. L. (1974); Bem, S. L. (1975); Bem, S. L. (1977).

17. Weaknesses of the BSRI • Face Valid • Self-Evaluation only • Created and Normed in 1970’s

18. BSRI Influence on Future • Masculinity and Femininity should be conceptualized on separate continuum. • Androgyny research • metrosexual • Sex Typing Research • Children and parenting Bem, S. L. (1976). Sex typing and the avoidance of cross-sex behavior; Andersen, S. M., & Bem, S. L. (1981); Bem, S. L. (1974).

19. Gender Schema Theory Overview • Conditioning • Results • Characteristics

20. Study 1: Gender Clustering in Free Recall • The BSRI • Experimental Phase: Free Recall

21. Study 2: Gender-SchematicProcessing of the Self-Concept • Basic Self Concept • Non-sex typed Self Concept

22. The Heterosexuality Subschema • Common experiences • Universal Symbolism • Phone Attraction

23. The Antecedents of Gender-Based Schematic Processing: Some Speculations • From the beginning children are taught two things: • Associations • A Dichotomy

24. Strengths and Weaknesses • Strengths • Environment • Methods of assessment • Weaknesses • Nature Verses Nurture

25. Consequences for the Future • Consequences of gender typing

26. Lenses of Gender 1) Androcentrism 2) Biological Essentialism 3) Gender Polarization • “These 3 gender lenses provide the foundation for a theory of how biology, culture, and the individual psyche all interact in historical context to systematically reproduce male power.”

27. Biological Essentialism • Definition • Division of labor • Not the only way for society to function • Differences should be considered, not devalued • “Yes, women might turn out to be more biologically nurturant than men on the average, but that should make them psychiatrists, not secretaries”

28. Androcentrism • Defines males (and male experience) as a standard or norm and females (and female experience) as a deviation from that norm. • 3 explanations: • Judeo-Christian • Greek Philosophy • Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory

29. Gender Polarization • Superimposes male-female differences on virtually every aspect of human experience (from modes of dress and social roles to ways of expressing emotion and sexual desire.)

30. Bem’s suggestion • “we need to sever all the culturally constructed connections that currently exist in our society between what sex a person is and virtually every other aspect of human experience” Bem, S. L. (1998). An Unconventional Family.

31. An Unconventional Family • Autobiographical account • “If The Lenses of Gender is the statement of my theory, An Unconventional Family is the statement of my practice” • Egalitarian Partners • Feminist Child-rearing • Interviews Bem, S. L. (1998)

32. Summary • Influential in personality and gender research through her work with the BSRI, the Gender Schema Theory, and theories of societal gender roles. • Her writings influenced feminist thought and parenting beliefs.

33. Bibliography • Andersen, S. M., & Bem, S. L. (1981). Sex typing and androgyny in dyadic interaction: Individual differences in responsiveness to physical attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 74 – 86. • Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155 – 162. • Bem, S. L. (1975). Sex role adaptability: One consequence of psychological androgyny. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 634 – 643. • Bem, S. L. (1976). Bem sex-role inventory. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. • Bem, S. L. (1976). Sex typing and the avoidance of cross-sex behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 48 – 54. • Bem, S. L. (1977). On the utility of alternative procedures for assessing psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 45, 196 – 205.

34. Bibliography continued • Bem, S. L. (1981). Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing. Psychological Review, 88, 354 – 364. • Bem, S. L. (1993). The Lenses of Gender. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. • Bem, S. L. (1998). An Unconventional Family. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. • Bettis, N. (n.d.). Sandra Ruth Lipsitz Bem. Retrieved June 18, 2007, from http://www.psych.cornell.edu/sec/pubpeo ple/s1b8/s1b6_vita.pdf • Koesterer, M.(n.d.). Dr. Sandra Lipsitz Bem: An Unconventional Life. Retrieved June 18, 2007, from http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/sandrabem.html • Synder, M., Tanke, E. D., & Berscheid, E. (1977). Social perception and interpersonal behavior: On the self- fulfilling nature of social stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 656 – 666.