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Psychological androgyny and ego development

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Abstract

Psychological androgyny has often been described as associated with increased behavioral flexibility, with the availability of skills in both traditionally masculine and feminine areas. Ego development has been described as involving an increasing differentiation of one's perception of self, of behavior, and of one's thoughts and feelings, as well as an increasing ability to integrate these differentiated aspects. We therefore predicted that androgynous individuals would show higher levels of ego development than sex-typed individuals, who would in turn be higher than undifferentiated subjects. Eighty-four undergraduate and graduate students completed the Washington University Sentence Completion Test and the Personality Research Form AN-DRO scale. No evidence of a relation between these measures was found. Several other negative findings have recently been reported, using other sex role measures. It appears that ego development, as currently measured, is not associated with sex-related self-concepts, as typically measured, though it may be associated with more androgynous sex role expectations of others, and with self-perceptions of agency and communion. Measures of sex-related self-concepts that provide separate scores for positive and negative attributes should be employed in future studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, 4th Floor, 10003, New York, New York

    Karen Schwarz & Clive J. Robins

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  1. Karen Schwarz
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  2. Clive J. Robins
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Additional information

This report is based on a thesis conducted by the first author in partial fulfillment of requirements for a master's degree in psychology, under the supervision of the second author. The authors are grateful to Leo Goldberger, Bob Holt, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this report.

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Schwarz, K., Robins, C.J. Psychological androgyny and ego development. Sex Roles 16, 71–81 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302852

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