Attribution, gender orientation, and adaptability: Reconceptualization, measurement, and research results

Abstract

Within the framework of attribution theory, this study reconceptualized gender orientation and androgyny. The relationships among gender measurement, androgyny, and adaptability were examined with improved measurement procedures. Socially desirable response tendencies were found for self‐attribution of femininity and androgyny but not for adaptability, nor for gender attributions or androgyny of others. A new scoring procedure producing a single continuous androgyny variable was also developed and tested. Meaningful relationships between this androgyny measure, gender orientation, and adaptability were observed. The central hypothesis tested the relationship between perceptions of stable, dispositional factors and behavioral attributions. Findings were consistent with the predictions provided by attribution theory.