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Evaluations and Aggression Directed at a Gay Male Target: The Role of Threat and Antigay Prejudice 1
Author(s) -
Talley Amelia E.,
Bettencourt B. Ann
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00321.x
Subject(s) - prejudice (legal term) , psychology , social psychology , sexual orientation , distancing , homosexuality , masculinity , interpersonal communication , aggression , perception , social distance , social perception , developmental psychology , covid-19 , medicine , disease , pathology , neuroscience , infectious disease (medical specialty) , psychoanalysis
This research was designed to understand heterosexual men's interpersonal reactions toward a gay male individual and to examine how threat and pre‐existing antigay prejudice impact these encounters. In one experiment, we manipulated the ostensible sexual orientation of an assigned work partner and assessed participants' perceptions of threat indirectly, using a measure of psychological distancing. Results revealed that, regardless of antigay prejudice, participants psychologically distanced more from the gay male than from the heterosexual male. In the second experiment, we manipulated threat and the sexual orientation of the work partner to examine aggressive responding toward the work partner. Participants exposed to a threat to their masculinity behaved more aggressively toward the gay work partner, regardless of their level of antigay prejudice.