title: Concern over the misidentification of sexual orientation: social contagion and the avoidance of sexual minorities.
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.
authors: Department of Psychology, Elon University.
authors: David M
authors: DM
authors: Buck
authors: Department of Psychology, Florida State University.
authors: E Ashby
authors: EA
authors: Plant
authors: Department of Psychology, The College at Brockport, State University of New York.
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Ratcliff
authors: Department of Psychology, Florida State University.
authors: Kate
authors: K
authors: Zielaskowski
authors: Department of Psychology, The College at Brockport, State University of New York.
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Boerner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D063509:Homophobia / Q000523:psychology*; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D055815:Young Adult