title: Simple exposure to alcohol cues causally increases negative implicit attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.
abstract: Previous research has shown that acute alcohol consumption is associated with negative responses toward outgroup members such as sexual minorities. However, simple alcohol cue exposure without actually consuming alcohol also influences social behavior. Hence, it was reasoned that priming participants with words related to alcohol (relative to neutral words) would promote prejudiced attitudes toward sexual minorities. In fact, an experiment showed that alcohol cue exposure causally led to more negative implicit attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. In contrast, participants' explicit attitudes were relatively unaffected by the priming manipulation. Moreover, participants' typical alcohol use was not related to their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. In sum, it appears that not only acute alcohol consumption but also the simple exposure of alcohol cues may promote negative views toward lesbians and gay men.
authors.affiliation: a University of Innsbruck.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Greitemeyer
authors.affiliation: a University of Innsbruck.
authors.forename: Carina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nierula
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D063509:Homophobia / Q000523:psychology*; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000072339:Sexual and Gender Minorities / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Alcohol; explicit attitudes; implicit attitudes; prejudice; sexual orientation