Impact Of Gender-Based Stereotype Threat On The Attitudes Of Heterosexual College Students Towards Homosexuality

This study mainly explores the impact of gender-based stereotype threat on the attitudes of heterosexual college students towards homosexuality.In order to improve the accuracy and reliability of the research results,the attitudes of heterosexual college students towards homosexuality were investigated using E-Prime behavioral procedure,single category implicit association test(SC-IAT)and affect misattribution procedure(AMP).Moreover,the homosexuals were divided into gay men and lesbian women.To clarify the public's attitude towards homosexuality,an additional factor —attitude towards heterosexuality — was especially introduced as a control parameter.In this study,the impact of gender-based stereotype threat on the attitudes of heterosexual college students towards homosexuality was further explored by comparing the pre-test and post-test results.The study included three experiments,with a total of 153 recruited college students.A single-factor(gender-based stereotype threat: yes/no)pre-and post-test design was used in all the three experiments.Among them,the dependent variables were heterosexual college students' explicit attitudes towards homosexuality,heterosexual college students' implicit attitudes towards homosexuality,and heterosexual college students' explicit attitudes and implicit attitudes towards homosexuality before and after the gender-based stereotype threat,respectively,in experiment 1,2 and 3.Results:(1)Heterosexual college students presented negative explicit and implicit attitudes towards homosexuality but positive explicit and implicit attitudes towards heterosexuality,without any significant difference based on gender.(2)Compared with the non-gender-based stereotype threat group,the gender-based stereotype threat group showed more negative attitudes towards homosexuality.(3)Male college students in the gender-based stereotype threat group had more negative attitudes towards homosexuality than those in the non-gender-based stereotype threat group.Similarly,female college students in the gender-based stereotype threat group had more negative attitudes towards homosexuality compared with those in the non-gender-based stereotype threat group.(4)Under the three experimental procedures,a significant correlation was found among the results of the same targetpicture in heterosexual college students.The following conclusions were drawn from the three experiments:(1)Regardless of the explicit or implicit attitudes,heterosexual college students' attitudes are negative towards homosexuality but are positive towards heterosexuality.(2)Heterosexual college students' explicit and implicit attitudes towards homosexuality are separated.(3)Gender-based stereotype threats have an impact on both male and female heterosexual college students.Male students have more negative attitudes towards gay man than lesbian women.Similarly,female students present more negative attitudes towards lesbian women than gay man.(4)Under different experimental procedures,the results are consistent.