title: Mating motives and concerns about being misidentified as gay or lesbian: implications for the avoidance and derogation of sexual minorities.
abstract: Recent research has demonstrated that concerns about being misidentified as gay or lesbian lead to the avoidance of gay men and lesbians. Because being misidentified as gay/lesbian can result in the loss of heterosexual people's mating opportunities, we predicted that the activation of mating motives would heighten concerns among some heterosexuals about being misidentified as gay/lesbian. To combat such misidentification, we argued that heterosexuals would express antipathy toward and avoid contact with gay/lesbian people. Consistent with predictions, the activation of mating motives led heterosexuals who were generally concerned about misclassification as gay/lesbian to denigrate (Study 1) and avoid (Study 2) gay/lesbian people. Activating mating motives increased heterosexual participants' concerns about being misclassified, which in turn heightened interest in avoiding gay/lesbian people (Study 3). These findings indicate that, although the motivation to find a romantic partner can have positive implications, it can contribute to negative responses to gay/lesbian people.
authors: 1Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA.
authors: E Ashby
authors: EA
authors: Plant
authors: Kate
authors: K
authors: Zielaskowski
authors: David M
authors: DM
authors: Buck
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D018452:Homosexuality, Female; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups; D011287:Prejudice; D012929:Psychological Distance; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Contagion concerns; intergroup relations; mating motives; sexual prejudice