The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

66 Chapter 2

Ashmore, R. D. (1990). Sex, gender, and the

individual. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.),Hand-

book of personality: Theory and research

(pp. 486–526). New York: Guilford Press.

Bakan, D. (1966).The duality of human

existence. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.

Pollack, W. S. (1998).Real boys: Rescuing

our sons from the myths of boyhood. New

York: Random House.

Spence, J. T., & Sawin, L. L. (1985).

Images of masculinity and femininity:

A reconceptualization. In V. E. O’Leary,

R. K. Unger, and B. S. Wallston (Eds.),

Women, gender, and social psychology

(pp. 35–66). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum.

Suggested Reading

Key Terms

Androgyny—Displaying both masculine

and feminine traits.

Cross-sex-typed—Exhibiting gender-role

characteristics that correspond with the

other sex.

Gender-role strain—Tension that develops

when the expectations that accompany one’s

gender role have negative consequences

for the individual.

Self-fulfilling prophecy—When

people’s beliefs influence their actions

toward a target in a way such that

the target comes to confirm their

beliefs.

Self-role discrepancy theory—The strain

that arises when we fail to live up to the

gender role society has constructed.

Sex-typed—Exhibiting the gender-role

characteristics that correspond with our sex.

Social constructionists—People who

believe that masculinity and femininity are

categories constructed by society and that

each society may have a different definition

of masculinity and femininity.

Socialized dysfunctional characteristics

theory—Inherently dysfunctional personality

characteristics that are fundamental to the

gender roles instilled by society.

Unmitigated agency—Personality

orientation characterized by a focus on the

self to the exclusion of others.

Unmitigated communion—Personality

orientation characterized by a focus on

others to the exclusion of the self.

in an experiment influenced your

behavior.

5. Describe the greatest difficulty
   you believe researchers face when
   studying gender. What is the best
   precaution to take against this
   difficulty?


6. What are some of the weaknesses
   and strengths of the instruments

that have been used to measure

masculinity and femininity?

7. Discuss the concepts of agency,
   communion, unmitigated agency,
   and unmitigated communion. How
   would you expect these constructs to
   be related to one another?


8. What are some areas of gender-role
   strain for men and women today?

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