The scientific effects of the recent changes in perspectives on female role are reviewed, in terms of the rapid rise of research in the area of sex-role development, attribution of sex differences, and the attention paid to the biases consequent upon scientific as well as popular sex-role stereotyping. It is argued that not only more, but new, questions are being asked as a consequence of this change of perspective. A number of studies are examined that indicate the effects on female self-definition and self-evaluation of the cultural stereotypes. Studies of women's movement participants are reviewed that illustrate something of the processes and prerequisites involved in the rejection of sex-role stereotypes and the redefinition of the self. The interaction of political and scientific thought that is particularly manifest in this area of psychological investigation is commented upon.
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