engleski

Essentialist beliefs, modern prejudice and affirmative behaviors towards homosexuals

Essentialist beliefs about social groups predict attitudes and discriminatory behaviors towards those same groups, especially when their members are stigmatized based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.In the case of essentialist beliefs about homosexuality, certain beliefs seem to lead to more tolerance, while others are related to more negative views. Those who believe in the immutability and universality of homosexual orientation have more positive attitudes and are less inclined to discriminate against homosexuals, while those who believe in the discreteness and sharp boundaries of homosexuality have more negative attitudes and are more ready to discriminate against gays and lesbians. However, even if they are not willing to discriminate against sexual minorities it does not necessarily mean that people indorse lesbians and gays and their rights, because of a „silent majority“ that tacitly condones current unequal social status of sexual minorities. So it is also important to investigate in which ways essentialist beliefs toward homosexuality are associated with affirmative behaviors towards gays and lesbians such as intentions to participate in actions directed towards the amelioration of gays and lesbians’ status. The same „silent majority“ will probably not be inclined to advertise their negative attitudes, but could nevertheless harbor modern prejudice toward gays and lesbians. So we were also interested in the mediating role of modern prejudice in the relationship between essentialist beliefs and affirmative behaviors. A total of 997 exclusively heterosexual women and men participated in an on-line study. We collected data on essentialist beliefs about homosexuality (Haslam & Levy, 2006), modern prejudice (Morrison & Morrison, 2002) and the propensity to engage in affirmative behaviors aimed to decrease discrimination towards gays and lesbians (developed for the purpose of this study). In accordance with our expectations, beliefs about universality and immutability were associated with less prejudice (r = -.630** ; r = -.612**) and a higher willingness to engage in affirmative behaviors (r = .609** ; r = .596**), and the beliefs about discreteness were associated with less willingness to participate in affirmative social actions (r = -.544**) and more modern prejudice (r = .574**). Modern prejudice against homosexuals mediated around 80% of the relationship between essentialist beliefs about both universality and immutability and affirmative behaviors, and 85% of the relationship between essentialist beliefs about discreteness and affirmative behaviors. Findings have important practical implications, especially with regard to programs teaching tolerance towards gays and lesbians.

essentialist beliefs; homosexuality; modern prejudice; affirmative behaviors

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