The effects of role-playing high gender identification on the California Psychological Inventory

This study of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) demonstrates that subjects can alter significantly their CPI profiles through role-playing high gender identification, i.e., males attempt to appear more masculine and women attempt to appear more feminine. The majority of these subjects did so without being detected by the validity scales designed to detect faking good or bad. Thirty-two volunteers, 16 male and 16 female, participated as subjects. A 2 X 2 ANOVA (subject gender by instructions to role-play vs. standard instructions) design was used. A significant main effect (p less than .01) for instructions was found on 14 of 18 scales and a significant interaction effect (p less than .01) on 4 of 18 scales. The profiles from the role-playing subjects indicate that the stereotypes of both genders, as seen by these subjects, are maladaptive. Implications for practical application of these findings are discussed.