Integrating the Study of Transgender Spectrum and Cisgender Experiences of Self-Categorization from a Personality Perspective

Abstract

We advocate for the integration of transgender spectrum experiences alongside cisgender experiences (i.e., having the same current gender identity label as one's birth-assigned gender category) to provide hitherto unrealized insights within the psychology of gender identity development. Specifically, we propose using personality theory to understand gender self-categorization for both profiles of experience because this perspective allows the structure and stability of self-categorization to be explored in a single, extant framework. Moreover, the dominant model of gender identity development in psychology and qualitative studies within sociology and related fields both suggest that self-categorization may in fact be similar between the 2 profiles. The integration also dispels 2 persistent myths about gender self-categorization: (a) that it is binary and (b) that it is an active psychological process for transgender spectrum, but not cisgender, individuals. Finally, we translate these new theoretical insights into testable research hypotheses within the mainstream of personality research.