Perceived Homosexuality

Abstract

Most social psychological research dealing with homosexuality focuses on heterosexuals' general attitudes, as expressed on questionnaires, toward homosexuals. The present study investigated some specific nonverbal and attitudinal reactions of heterosexuals to a perceived homosexual in an ongoing interaction. Perceived homosexuality, sex of subject, and sex of interviewer were varied in a 2x 2 x 2factorial design. Subjects had similar visual interaction patterns with both the homosexual and the heterosexual but spoke faster to the homosexual. Furthermore, they did not alter their publicly expressed attitudes about homosexuality compared with a previous private expression when interacting with the homosexual. However, they espoused more conservative attitudes about sexual behavior in general. When subjects interacted with a heterosexual, they espoused more liberal general sexual attitudes in the public compared with the private situation. The response to the homosexual was interpreted as a "socially acceptable" defensive reaction to a situation where direct denigration of homosexuality would be disruptive. Further, there was a greater avoidance reaction to same as opposed to opposite sex homosexuals.