Sandra
Lipsitz Bem
Background
Sandra
Bem was born on June 22, 1944 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Her father was a
postal clerk and her mother was a secretary. Her mother constantly stressed to
Sandra that housework and being a “housewife wasn’t any fun” (Bettis). She
married at the age of 20 to Daryl Bem, an Associate Professor at Carnegie Tech
(now Carnegie-Mellon University), where they met as he supervised her
independent study. Not fond of the idea of marriage, Sandra and Daryl drafted a
plan for an egalitarian marriage, in which responsibilities were divided
equally. Bem’s parents did not like the idea of her marriage. Sandra and Daryl
had two children. After Sandra and Daryl moved to accept teaching jobs at
Cornell University, Sandra and Daryl divorced, their egalitarian marriage
failing as much of the principles were lost.
Education
In
1965 Bem attended Carnegie Tech where she earned her Bachelor's in Psychology.
She transferred to a college in Indiana, and then when her grandmother passed
away, Bem moved back to Pennsylvania and went back to Carnegie Tech. She
attended Graduate School at the University of Michigan and studied child
clinical psychology. She earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology. She has
a passion for research and believes that you should not waste time while doing
research.
Career
Bem's
career started at the first college she attended, as an Assistant professor in
Psychology at Carnegie Tech. This is when Bem professionally became interested
in sex and gender roles. She developed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI),
distinguishing masculinity and femininity as two independent dimensions and
that people could exhibit both characteristics. Standford University then
offered Bem a teaching postion, which she accepted, but eventually left due to
not receiving tenure. Bem then accepted a position at Cornell University, where
she was an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Director of Women's Studies.
In 1981 she became a Professor. Bem worked on her Gender Schema Theory up until
the time of her retirement in 2010.
Accomplishments and
Awards
Individual
Awards:
n 1976: At 31 years-old, Bem received the American
Psychological Association
Distinguished Scientific Award for an early career
contribution to psychology.
n In
the book Women In Psychology: A Biographic Sourcebook, Bem was recognized for
the work she accomplished in personalities.
n 1977: Bem received the Distinguied Publication
Award of the Association for Women in Psychology of Women.
n 1985: Awarded and honory Doctor of Science from
Wilson College
Bem's
book Lenses of Gender has won:
n 1993:
Best Book in Psychology from the Association of American Publishers
n 1994: Annual Book Award given by the Organization
for the Study of Communication, Language and Gender
n Distinguished
Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology
n Outstanding
Book by the Gustavus Meyers center for the Study of Human Rights in North
America
Bem
has several published books, which can be viewed here: http://www.psych.cornell.edu/people/Faculty/slb6.html
Relevance to our
Psychology of Women Class
Bem’s
relevance to our class is significant when applying the Gender Schema Theory as
it was mentioned in earlier class readings and is a perspective based on the
development of women. A schema is a cognitive structure that organizes and
guides a person’s perception of the stimuli coming in. It stores readily
available information that we can go to quickly to makes associations. The Gender
Schema Theorystates that we sex-type based on gender-schematic processing. Bem
essentially theorized that we develop schemas of what it is meant to be male
and female from society as children, and we internalize them into what we
should be and apply it to ourselves. This is important to our class Psychology
of Women, as Bem’s theory is a part of Feminist Therapy. Bem’s contribution to
psychology in the form of the Gender Schema Theory expresses how limiting and
labeling gender schemas truly are.
Reference Links
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