Jeanne Marecek

When stereotypes hurt: Three studies of penalties for sex-role reversals☆

Abstract Three studies that demonstrate penalties for sex-role reversals are reported. In each study, subjects evaluated men and women who behaved either in line with sex-role stereotypes or counter to them. The results show that popularity ratings and perceived psychological adjustment of both passive-dependent men and aggressive-assertive women were adversely affected. The findings are discussed in terms of their contribution to recent theories about womens achievement motivation.

Psychology Reconstructs The Female: 1968–1988

Recent work on the psychology of gender is pluralistic, stemming from varied specialty areas within psychology, grounded in several intellectual frameworks, and reflecting a spectrum of feminist perspectives. This article is a critical appraisal of diverse approaches to the study of women and gender. It first describes prefeminist or “womanless” psychology, then analyzes four co-existing frameworks that have generated recent research. The four frameworks are: Exceptional Women, in which empirical research focuses on the correlates of high achievement for women, and womens history in the discipline is re-evaluated; Women as Problem (or Anomaly), in which research emphasizes explanations for female “deficiencies” (e.g., fear of success); the Psychology of Gender, in which the focus of inquiry shifts from women to gender, conceived as a principle of social organization that structures relations between women and men; and a (currently relatively undeveloped) Transformation framework that reflexively challenges the values, assumptions, and normative practices of the discipline. Examples of research programs within each approach are described, and the strengths and limitations of each approach are critically examined.

Children's Conceptions of Disordered Behavior.

MAAS, ELIZABETH; MARECEK, JEANNE; and TRAVERS, JEFFREY R. Childrens Conceptions ofDisordered Behavior. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 146-154. 3 vignettes describing characters who exhibited disordered (antisocial, withdrawn, or self-punitive) behavior were read to second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade children. The children were asked what caused the behaviors, whether characters wanted to behave as they did, and whether and how characters could change their behavior. Older children attributed disordered behavior to social-environmental causes more

“I'm Not Going to Be a Girl”: Masculinity and Emotions in Boys' Friendships and Peer Groups

This study examines the peer relations and emotion practices of adolescent boys in light of their expectations and assumptions about masculinity. We carried out semistructured interviews with middle-class and upper-middle-class boys from an independent high school. The boys reported that they assiduously avoided displays of emotional or physical pain and disparaged such displays in other boys. They tied tough, stoic self-presentations to manliness; moreover, they said that their peer groups derided expressions of hurt and worry and of care and concern for others as “gay” or “girly.” Boys described interactions with boys as centering on taunting, mocking, and “shoving around.” Although these practices were hurtful, boys valued them as means of bolstering one anothers masculinity. The study points out that securing masculinity demands ongoing efforts from boys and their peers. Moreover, it points to feeling rules and emotion practices as important constituents of young White masculinities.

Gender, Politics, And Psychology's Ways Of Knowing

Recent work on the psychology of gender has emphasized comparisons of men and women. Such comparisons rest on a view of gender as an individual difference or psychological attribute. Feminist theorists have challenged this view as limited and inadequate. In place of it, a variety of alternative conceptions of gender are emerging. These conceptions shift the focus of analysis from the individual to interpersonal and institutional arenas. Moreover, they dispute the idea of gender as static, unitary, and separable from other markers of social identity and status. In contrast to Alice Eagly (1995), I assert that the production of knowledge (whether by scientific procedures or other means) is not set apart from society, but rather is always and inevitably embedded within it. Therefore, I call for efforts to uncover the ways in which psychological knowledge is shaped by ongoing societal struggles and cultural politics.

Sex‐Role Identity, Sex‐Role Behavior, and Satisfaction in Heterosexual, Lesbian, and Gay Male Couples

Partners in 10 heterosexual, 10 lesbian, and 5 gay male couples completed the BSRI and a questionnaire about their demographic backgrounds, sex-role differentiation in their relationships, and satisfaction with the relationship. Members of heterosexual couples were more sex-typed on the BSRI and more sex-role differentiated in their behavior than members of lesbian couples. Members of gay male couples appeared the most sex-typed in their identities, but the least sex-typed in their behavior. BSRI scores predicted sex-role differentiation in heterosexual couples, but not in lesbian couples. Satisfaction was related to the amount and type of sex-role behavior, but unrelated to gender, background characteristics, BSRI score, or couple type.

Critical Cultural Awareness: Contributions to a Globalizing Psychology

The number of psychologists whose work crosses cultural boundaries is increasing. Without a critical awareness of their own cultural grounding, they risk imposing the assumptions, concepts, practices, and values of U.S.-centered psychology on societies where they do not fit, as a brief example from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami shows. Hermeneutic thinkers offer theoretical resources for gaining cultural awareness. Culture, in the hermeneutic view, is the constellation of meanings that constitutes a way of life. Such cultural meanings-especially in the form of folk psychologies and moral visions-inevitably shape every psychology, including U.S. psychology. The insights of hermeneutics, as well as its conceptual resources and research approaches, open the way for psychological knowledge and practice that are more culturally situated.

A Short History of the Future: Feminism and Clinical Psychology

Since the 19th century, feminists have criticized the mental health establishment and its treatment of women. Issues include the sexist use of psychoanalytic concepts and psychiatric diagnoses, the misuse of medication, and sexual misconduct in therapy. Feminists have also called attention to psychological problems arising from gender inequality in everyday life. Physical and sexual abuse of women is of special concern. Feminist innovations in therapy include consciousness-raising, sex-role resocialization, and new approaches to psychoanalysis and family therapy. We urge feminists to develop a fuller understanding of gender and power, and to use this knowledge to challenge the established theory and practice of clinical psychology.

Women and mental health: a review of feminist change efforts.

A CENTRAL CONCERN of the womens movement has been the damage done to womens psychological well-being by traditional views of women and femininity. This paper will review some of the negative effects of social factors on womens psychological well-being and will discuss four areas in which feminists are striving to change the mental health system.

Gender and culture in psychology: Theories and practices.

Gender and Culture in Psychology introduces readers to new approaches to the psychological study of gender that bring together feminist psychology, socio-cultural psychology, discursive psychology ...