So, what are you then? Psychological processes of gender self-categorisation

<p dir="ltr">Gender self-categorisation comprises the process of choosing a gender label or identity to describe oneself. It is a central component of many theories of gender, providing the anchor for other experiences, behaviours, and cognitions examined across psychological gender research. However, accounts of gender self-categorisation in psychological research have often presumed a cisgender categorisation, that is, the selection of a gender category that corresponds to the sexed bodies normatively associated with the binary groups of men and women. The recent increase in the public visibility and research interest in transgender experiences, that is experiences of gender that are outside of this presumed cisgender categorisation, has drawn attention to the shortcomings of psychological conceptions of gender self-categorisation. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to investigate gender self-categorisation processes and factors to provide a more comprehensive account of gender self-categorisation, thereby filling the inclusivity gap in psychological gender theory.</p><p dir="ltr">The thesis comprises five papers prepared for publication. The first paper draws on qualitative data from transgender participants and suggests that gender self-categorisation is an active process informed by both individual and contextual factors. The second paper then outlines the cisgender assumptions that underpin developmental theories of gender to contextualise the novel conception of gender self-categorisation. Next, in a mixed-methods, multi-study third paper, a dimensional measure of gender self-categorisation is developed. This new measure is deployed in the fourth paper to quantitatively show that gender self-categorisation is only moderately related to gender typicality and gender centrality. The final paper draws on ideas identified across the thesis to theoretically analyse the definition of “transgender” in psychology and consider how this definition is related to theories of gender. Overall, this thesis progresses a dimensional account of gender self-categorisation while attending to the ways that transgender experiences have been pathologised and marginalised in psychology.</p>