Switching teams
David Buck et al.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Membership in a valued group can provide an individual with a variety of benefits. As a result, people should be motivated to avoid being misidentified as a member of an outgroup, particularly a stigmatized outgroup. We argue that when group membership is not readily identifiable, concern over potentially being mistaken for a member of the outgroup (i.e., social contagion concerns) can be potent and can lead to avoidance of the outgroup. The current work shows that after controlling for negative attitudes toward homosexuality, social contagion concerns independently predict anxiety and avoidance in response to imagined, anticipated, and actual contact with a lesbian or gay individual. Results from these studies suggest that concern over misclassification of sexual orientation is an important and unique predictor of responses to contact with lesbian and gay people. Implications for intergroup contact and responses to other stigmatized groups are discussed.
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Chad Cotner & Melissa Burkley
Journal of Homosexuality, September 2013, Pages 1336-1348
Abstract:
Stereotype lift is defined as a boost in performance caused by an awareness of a positive ingroup stereotype. This study investigated if gay men experience stereotype lift in the fashion domain. To date, no studies have examined stereotype lift in regards to stereotypes about sexual orientation or in regards to a non-academic task. To address this gap in the literature, gay and straight men completed a test of fashion knowledge under conditions where the relevant gay stereotype was either salient or not by reminding participants of their sexual orientation before or after completing the test. A sample of 66 undergraduate male students (31 heterosexual and 35 homosexual) showed that gay men did outperform straight men on the fashion test, but only when the relevant stereotype was made salient, F(1, 62) = 5.23, p = .03. Implications of stereotype lift in gay men and on non-academic tasks are discussed.
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Interfamily Conflict, Reproductive Success, and the Evolution of Male Homosexuality
Menelaos Apostolou
Review of General Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In a preindustrial context, the mate choices of women are controlled by their parents, who require evidence of wealth and of ability to generate wealth from prospective sons-in-law in order to grant access to their daughters' reproductive capacity. As a consequence, male siblings have to compete among themselves for controlling family resources required for successful reproduction. This competition increases interfamily conflict, decreasing each of the siblings' inclusive fitness. Moreover, the sharing of resources among brothers reduces the chances that each one will be able to gain access to a high-quality female and/or to mate polygynously. It is proposed that male homosexuality has evolved to increase the reproductive success of male siblings and to decrease interfamily conflict. That is, by having a homosexual orientation, a younger male sibling increases his inclusive fitness by reducing competition over resources, whereas his older brothers enjoy higher reproductive success by having more resources available for reproduction. Finally, the reproductive costs of this sexual orientation are kept low by the elevated probability that a homosexual man will find himself in an arranged marriage where he is likely to have children.
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Hyper-affiliation to the Religious In-group Among British Pakistani Muslim Gay Men
Rusi Jaspal & Marco Cinnirella
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article examines how British Muslim gay men may safeguard membership in the religious group, which can be threatened as a result of self-identifying as gay. Twenty British Pakistani Muslim gay men were interviewed. Data were analyze using an interpretative phenomenological analysis through the heuristic lens of identity process theory. The following themes are discussed: (i) ‘gay identity casting doubt upon one's Muslim-ness’; (ii) ‘Ramadan: a symbolic opportunity to be a “true Muslim”’; and (iii) ‘accepting “Muslim views” and religious authenticity’. Data suggest that threatened Muslim identity can lead to hyper-affiliation to the religious in-group, which is achieved through a multitude of substrategies. Practical implications are discussed.
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Does Place of Residence Matter? Rural–Urban Differences and the Wellbeing of Gay Men and Lesbians
Chris Wienke & Gretchen Hill
Journal of Homosexuality, September 2013, Pages 1256-1279
Abstract:
Does place of residence matter for gay men and lesbians? Both conventional wisdom and scholarly literature suggests that it does, and that those living in rural areas are disadvantaged relative to their urban peers. This study explores this issue by comparing gay people's wellbeing in rural and urban areas. Results from a large probability sample show that rural gay people fare no worse than their urban peers. If anything, results suggest living in the largest cities may be detrimental to gay people's wellbeing, although more so for lesbians than for gay men. Results are discussed in light of 4 competing perspectives on rural–urban differences.
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Wu-jing He et al.
Personality and Individual Differences, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study tested the greater male variability hypothesis in creative thinking with a Chinese student sample in Mainland China. The Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) was administered to 627 Chinese adolescent boys (n = 332) and girls (n = 295). Results using the boy/girl variance ratio (VR) generally supported the hypothesis that boys have greater variability than girls in creativity test performance. However, results using the boy/girl ratios from different regions of the creativity score distribution revealed a pattern of male superiority. While boys significantly outnumbered girls in the higher extremes, girls tended to outnumber boys in the central region and the lower extremes. Results from an analysis of the means lent further support to the findings of male superiority. Plausible explanations for greater male variability and male superiority in Mainland China are proposed. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
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Adoptive Gay Father Families: Parent–Child Relationships and Children's Psychological Adjustment
Susan Golombok et al.
Child Development, forthcoming
Abstract:
Findings are presented on a U.K. study of 41 gay father families, 40 lesbian mother families, and 49 heterosexual parent families with an adopted child aged 3–9 years. Standardized interview and observational and questionnaire measures of parental well-being, quality of parent–child relationships, child adjustment, and child sex-typed behavior were administered to parents, children, and teachers. The findings indicated more positive parental well-being and parenting in gay father families compared to heterosexual parent families. Child externalizing problems were greater among children in heterosexual families. Family process variables, particularly parenting stress, rather than family type were found to be predictive of child externalizing problems. The findings contribute to theoretical understanding of the role of parental gender and parental sexual orientation in child development.
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Estradiol Concentrations and Working Memory Performance in Women of Reproductive Age
Elizabeth Hampson & Erin Morley
Psychoneuroendocrinology, forthcoming
Objective: Estrogen has been proposed to exert a regulatory influence on the working memory system via actions in the female prefrontal cortex. Tests of this hypothesis have been limited almost exclusively to postmenopausal women and pharmacological interventions. We explored whether estradiol discernibly influences working memory within the natural range of variation in concentrations characteristic of the menstrual cycle.
Method: The performance of healthy women (n = 39) not using hormonal contraceptives, and a control group of age- and education-matched men (n = 31), was compared on a spatial working memory task. Cognitive testing was done blind to ovarian status. Women were retrospectively classified into low- or high-estradiol groups based on the results of radioimmunoassays of saliva collected immediately before and after the cognitive testing.
Results: Women with higher levels of circulating estradiol made significantly fewer errors on the working memory task than women tested under low estradiol. Pearson's correlations showed that the level of salivary estradiol but not progesterone was correlated inversely with the number of working memory errors produced. Women tested at high levels of circulating estradiol tended to be more accurate than men. Superior performance by the high estradiol group was seen on the working memory task but not on two control tasks, indicating selectivity of the effects.
Conclusions: Consistent with previous studies of postmenopausal women, higher levels of circulating estradiol were associated with better working memory performance. These results add further support to the hypothesis that the working memory system is modulated by estradiol in women, and show that the effects can be observed under non-pharmacological conditions.
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Participant sexual orientation matters: New evidence on the gender bias in face recognition
Melanie Steffens, Sören Landmann & Silvia Mecklenbräuker
Experimental Psychology, Summer 2013, Pages 362-367
Abstract:
Research participants’ sexual orientation is not consistently taken into account in experimental psychological research. We argue that it should be in any research related to participant or target gender. Corroborating this argument, an example study is presented on the gender bias in face recognition, the finding that women correctly recognize more female than male faces. In contrast, findings with male participants have been inconclusive. An online experiment (N = 1,147) was carried out, on purpose over-sampling lesbian and gay participants. Findings demonstrate that the pro-female gender bias in face recognition is modified by male participants’ sexual orientation. Heterosexual women and lesbians as well as heterosexual men showed a pro-female gender bias in face recognition, whereas gay men showed a pro-male gender bias, consistent with the explanation that differences in face expertise develop congruent with interests. These results contribute to the growing evidence that participant sexual orientation can be used to distinguish between alternative theoretical explanations of given gender-correlated patterns of findings.
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Motivational value and salience of images of infants
Nora Charles, Gerianne Alexander & Janet Saenz
Evolution and Human Behavior, September 2013, Pages 373–381
Abstract:
Researchers have typically reported relatively greater preferences for infants among females than among males, though this varies somewhat across samples and age groups. The mechanism by which this sex difference occurs is not well understood and many studies rely on participants' self-reported preferences rather than measuring motivated behavior or patterns of visual attention directly. The present research consists of two independent studies investigating attention to infants. The aim of these studies was to extend research on the characteristics associated with interest in infants by measuring motivation to view infant faces (Study 1) and visual attention to infants in a complex visual scene (Study 2). In Study 1, participants controlled the length of viewing time for different images. Women demonstrated motivation to extend viewing of infants. Men showed the opposite pattern, working to decrease the length of time they viewed infants. In Study 2, participants were shown complex scenes that contained infants. Patterns of visual attention were measured using eye-tracking technology. Infants did not receive a particularly high proportion of fixations from either sex. However, there were relationships between gender-linked traits, such as digit ratio and self-reported interest in infants, and the percentage of fixations on infants. Additionally, participants who reported being in a romantic relationship demonstrated greater interest in infants. This suggests the long-reported sex difference in interest in infants may relate more to current life circumstances and gender linked traits than an overwhelming tendency among all members of a sex.
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Paola Escudero, Rachel Robbins & Scott Johnson
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, October 2013, Pages 367–379
Abstract:
Findings of previous studies demonstrate sex-related preferences for toys in 6-month-old infants; boys prefer nonsocial or mechanical toys such as cars, whereas girls prefer social toys such as dolls. Here, we explored the innate versus learned nature of this sex-related preferences using multiple pictures of doll and real faces (of men and women) as well as pictures of toy and real objects (cars and stoves). In total, 48 4- and 5-month-old infants (24 girls and 24 boys) and 48 young adults (24 women and 24 men) saw six trials of all relevant pairs of faces and objects, with each trial containing a different exemplar of a stimulus type. The infant results showed no sex-related preferences; infants preferred faces of men and women regardless of whether they were real or doll faces. Similarly, adults did not show sex-related preferences for social versus nonsocial stimuli, but unlike infants they preferred faces of the opposite sex over objects. These results challenge claims of an innate basis for sex-related preferences for toy real stimuli and suggest that sex-related preferences result from maturational and social development that continues into adulthood.
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Cerise Glenn & Andrew Spieldenner
Sexuality & Culture, September 2013, Pages 401-416
Abstract:
The controversial phenomenon of “the down low” has created fear and suspicion of male sexual partners among many African American women. Being on the down low refers to men that lead seemingly heterosexual lives, yet secretly have sex with other men. Popular media have portrayed this topic more widely in more recent years and generally focus on African Americans. Two popular television shows, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Girlfriends, have dedicated episodes centering heterosexual African American women partnered with African American men on the down low. The popular television film, Cover, features an African American woman who learns her husband secretly has affairs with other men. Black feminist thought provides an intersectional frame for analyzing the content of these portrayals of Black women in relationships with men on the down low. The analysis demonstrates that the down low associates more affluent African Americans with socially deviant behavior and issues, such as hyper-sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Further, they show newer interpretations of African American women “in love and in trouble” and that African American men often have to disguise and remain silent about their sexuality to garner acceptance into their communities.
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Abbie Goldberg & Katherine Allen
Family Relations, October 2013, Pages 529–544
Abstract:
Research has increasingly focused on intentional or planned lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB)-parent families; however, how young adults in these families navigate the aftermath of parental break-up and subsequent repartnering is unexamined. This qualitative study of 20 young adults who had experienced their LGB parents' relationship dissolution and/or the formation of an LGB stepfamily examined how young adults perceived their parents' relational transitions and their own relationships with stepparents and siblings. Results indicated that (a) nearly all families negotiated relational transitions (e.g., relationship dissolutions) informally and without legal intervention, (b) young adults perceived both advantages and disadvantages in the ambiguity surrounding their family's nonlegal status, (c) relationships with biological mothers were the strongest tie from break-up to repartnering and stepfamily formation, (d) geographic distance from their nonbiological parents created hardships in interpersonal closeness, (e) yet, on the whole, young people perceived their families as strong and competent in handling familial transitions.
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Increased Risks of Needing Long-Term Care Among Older Adults Living With Same-Sex Partners
Bridget Hiedemann & Lisa Brodoff
American Journal of Public Health, August 2013, Pages e27-e33
Objectives: We examined whether older individuals living with same-sex partners face greater risks of needing long-term care than their counterparts living with different-sex partners or spouses.
Methods: With data on older couples (at least 1 individual aged 60 years or older) from the 2009 American Community Survey, we estimated logistic regression models of 2 activity limitations that signal a long-term care need: difficulty dressing or bathing and difficulty doing errands alone.
Results: When we controlled for age, race/ethnicity, and education, older women who lived with female partners were statistically significantly more likely than those who lived with male partners or spouses to have difficulty dressing or bathing. Older men who lived with male partners were statistically significantly more likely than those who lived with female spouses or partners to need assistance with errands.
Conclusions: Older individuals living with same-sex partners face greater risks of needing long-term care than those living with different-sex partners or spouses, but the role of relationship status differs by gender. These findings suggest more broadly that older gay men and lesbians may face greater risks of needing long-term care than their heterosexual counterparts.