Changing Women's Self-Perceptions: Impact of a Psychology of Women Course
Broverman, Broverman, Clarkson, Rosenkrantz, and Vogel (1970) found that characteristics associated with the masculine sex role are consistent with those which clinicians expect to observe in a mentally healthy person, as is an internal locus of control (Lefcourt, 1976). Vedovato and Vaughter (1980) report that exposure to women's studies courses results not only in changes toward greater liberalism in students' attitudes about women but in a shift toward an androgynous sex-role orientation. It was hypothesized that upon exposure to a course on the psychology of women, female students in a large Canadian university which does not have a women's studies program would exhibit shifts toward an androgynous sex-role orientation and internality in their perceptions of control. Thirty-two female students enrolled in a psychology of women course participated in rwo testing sessions (age: M = 33.67 yr., SD = 7.03; year of university registration: M = 2.78, SD = .73). Testing took place during the third class and during a class held 8 wk. later as the course neared completion. During each session students completed the Bem Sex-role Inventory (Bem, 1974) and the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Adults (ANS-IE) (Nowicki & Duke, 1974). A t test was computed on the ANSIE scores from Sessions 1 ( M = 8.66. SD = 3.36) and 2 ( M = 6.90, SD = 4.14; ho = 3.67, p < .0005, one-tailed). These results indicate that the students felt more internally controlled as they approached the end of the course. The Bern scores indicated a significant shift toward masculinity from the first session ( M = 93.33, SD = 20.59) to the second session ( M = 98.54, SD = 12.67; $30 = 1.78, p < .05, one-tailed). Although not statistically significant, the subjects' femininity scores were somewhat higher in the first session ( M = 94.78, SD = 9.17) than in the second session ( M = 92.15, SD = 11.34; tao = 1.51, P < . lo, one-tailed ) . The changes expressed by the women in this sample suggest that exposure to women's studies courses may be associated with the development of "healthy" self-perceptions.