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Psychological androgyny and creativity: Dynamics of gender-role and personality trait

Social Behavior and Personality, 2000 by Norlander, Torsten, Erixon, Anna, Archer, Trevor

The present study was performed to describe the involvement of gender-role and personality traits in a cluster of tests to ascertain individuals' creative ability. Participants were 200 students at Karlstad University. Five gender-role types, based upon masculinity/femininity scales were derived, namely the androgynic, stereotypic, retrotypic, midmost and undifferentiated types. Results indicated that the androgynic group scored higher than the other groups on creativity, creative attitude (trend), dispositional optimism and graffiti/scrawling - with the exception of the stereotypic group which scored non-significantly higher on optimism. Nor was the the androgynic group significantly different from the retrotypic group with respect to creativity although this group scored significantly higher than did the stereotypic group. Small, or negligible, gender differences were found on the masculinity/femininity scales.

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A vast array of studies have been aimed at the definition and description of the putative differences between male and female creativity (for a comprehensive review, see Abra and Valentine-French, 1991). As recurringly maintained almost as historical fact, there are-and have been-more distinguished men than women within the widespread enterprises of art, literature, music, science and technical development (Eccles, 1985). Modern research seems, however, to indicate that explanations for gender differences in these areas of endeavor ought to be sought primarily in gender role imprinting, which is underlined by the observation that between-gender differences decrease concurrently with the emancipation of women (Becker & Hedges, 1984; Feingold, 1988; Rosenthal & Rubin, 1982).

An area with considerably less research pertains to the combination of "male" and "female" in the mental processes of individual creativity. McKinnon (1962) reported that creative men and women exhibit attitudes and interests more readily considered typical for the opposite sex. In the western culture, sensitivity is considered a feminine virtue - whereas independence is masculine (Ekvall, 1991). Torrance (1963) has found that creative boys possess more feminine characteristics than their peers, and that creative girls are perceived as more masculine than other girls. In an investigation of female scientists (Helson, 1967) a prestigious group of successful female mathematicians was compared with another group of female mathematicians adjudged as having more average ability. The creative group received significantly higher judgments for the following characteristics: individualism, originality, concentration, artistry, complexity, courage, emotion, fascination, self-orientation. This gives an assortment of typically female and male gender characteristics, thus allowing Ekvall (1991), after a review of a couple of studies, to postulate that creative persons cross the boundaries of commonly-- accepted gender roles thereby acquiring greater freedom and more divergent experiential material with which to work. This observation may be associated markedly with research relating to the androgynous person "who does not rely on gender as a cognitive organizing principle" (Bem, 1984, p. 189).

The concept psychological androgyny has been applied to describe individuals with both stereotypic masculine and feminine behavioral traits (Bem; 1977) and, for several years, research has been focussed upon the psychological benefits of an androgynous personality (Murphy, 1994). Studies associating androgyny with high self-esteem (Mullis & McKinley, 1989; Spence & Helmreich, 1981), achievement motivation (Spence & Helmreich, 1978), more mature self-descriptions (Block, 1973), more satisfaction with life (Ramanaiah, Detwiler & Byravan, 1995), marital satisfaction (Zammichieli, Gilroy & Sherman,1988), subjective feelings of wellbeing (Lubinski, Tellegen & Butcher, 1981), more adaptive or flexible behavior (Bem,1974; Vonk & Ashmore,1993), and parental effectiveness (Baumrind, 1982).

The concepts masculine and feminine, which are often employed as subscales in tests of androgyny, have been questioned on several standpoints, e.g. masculinity/femininity present a reinforced association between gender and behavior that renders redundant any particular theory regarding androgyny (Loft, 1981, Vonk & Ashmore, 1993), the concepts strengthen gender stereotypes (Betz, 1993), and concepts other than masculinity/femininity ought more validly to describe that which the two subscales seek to capture (Spence & Helmreich, 1981). These latter authors suggest that the concept of instrumentality should be employed instead of masculinity to describe characteristics such as self-esteem and competence-and that expressiveness should be used instead of femininity to describe characteristics such as sensitivity and orientation towards interpersonal relations. One criticism of the most common androgyny tests is that stereotypic men (i.e. those scoring high on masculinity and low on femininity) are not analyzed in conjunction with stereotypic women (i.e. those scoring high on femininity and low on masculinity). In the opposite manner, should men and women with anti-stereotypic or "retrotypic" properties (i.e. opposite to stereotypic) be analyzed in their own right? Genderrole types may well have as their basis a complex and multifaceted self with a range of identities associated with different social settings (Vonk & Ashmore,1993). It should, therefore, be reasonable to analyze stereotypic and retrotypic independently independent of gender. For example, is it reasonable to assume that a stereotypic role dimension limits possibilities for crossing over gender role boundaries with reduced creativity as a consequence?

Psychological androgyny and creativity: Dynamics of gender-role and personality trait

Social Behavior and Personality, 2000 by Norlander, Torsten, Erixon, Anna, Archer, Trevor

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