Key Terms
Androcentrism: Placing males or the masculine point of view at the center of a theory or narrative.
Androgyny: A combination, a coexistence, a blend of both male and female behavioral characteristics, features, and reflections.
Autotelic Personality: A person who tends to be engaged in activities that are naturally rewarding and not necessarily associated with material goals such as money, fame, or high social status.
Ethnic Disidentification: Detaching an individual’s self from the ethnic group with which he or she has been previously associated or is associated now.
Femininity: Traditionally assigned to women, a general set of features correlated with beauty, emotionality, and nurture.
Feminism: The view that women do not have equal rights and opportunities with men and that global changes are needed to achieve social justice.
Gender: A complex set of behavioral, cultural, or psychological features associated with an individual’s sex.
Gender Identity: An individual’s self-determination (or a complex self-reflection) as being male, female, intersex (between male and female), or neither.
Gender Roles: Prescriptions and expectations assigned to genders on the female–male continuum.
Gender Studies: A multidisciplinary field dedicated to studying gender and a wide range of gender-related issues.
Intersex: A category is based on the features that are between distinctly male and female characteristics.
Locus of Control: The extent to which individuals believe they can control and affect events.
Masculinity: Traditionally assigned to men, a general set of features associated with physical strength, decisiveness, and assertiveness.
National Character: A perceived set of predominant behavioral and psychological features and traits common in most people of a nation.
Natural Dominance of Men: A general assumption about men’s physical and biological superiority over women.
Peak Experiences: Periodic and profound episodes of happiness, optimism, inner harmony, and creativity.
Personality: A stable set of behavioral and experiential characteristics of an individual.
Personality Traits: Distinguishable displays or patterns of behavior and experience.
Religious Identity: The sense of belonging to a religion and the importance of this group membership relevant to the individual’s sense of self.
Self: The representation of one’s identity or the subject of experience.
Self-Esteem: A person’s general subjective evaluation, both emotional and rational, of his or her own worth.
Sex: Anatomical and physiological characteristics or features of males and females, the two typically assigned sexes.
Transgender: The roles that do not fit into the traditionally assigned gender dichotomy.