Antigay Prejudice Among Heterosexual Males: Right-Wing Authoritarianism as a Stronger Predictor Than Social-Dominance Orientation and Heterosexual Identity

Abstract

In recent years there has been much contested debate around the psychology of prejudice and the extent to which it is essentially an outcome of a variety of personality-related variables or whether the social context with which one identifies plays an equally, if not more, important role. Debate has also focused on the complex interplay of personality and social context. This study, using a combination of survey and experimental methodology, examined the extent to which antigay prejudice among men is predicted by right-wing authoritarianism, social-dominance orientation, and identity as a heterosexual. In phase 1 (N = 112) antigay stereotypes were found to be significantly related to right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, but nevertheless best predicted by right-wing authoritarianism (β = .27, p < .01) and in phase 2 (N = 52), despite males' sexual identity being primed, heterosexual identity was still not significantly related to measures of prejudice. These results are discussed with reference to the nature of authoritarianism and social-dominance orientation, as well as social-identity theory.

Independent benefits of contact and friendship on attitudes toward homosexuals among authoritarians and highly identified heterosexuals

“…More recent conceptual developments such as RWA (Altemeyer, 1996) emphasize social learning over psychopathology, while maintaining key elements of the original construct (e.g., submission to authority, conventionality and norm adherence, aggression against outgroups under perceived legitimacy) and the focus on ethnocentrism (i.e., dislike of multiple outgroups). Research corroborates RWA as a strong predictor of intergroup biases (Altemeyer, 1996(Altemeyer, , 1998Hodson & Costello, 2007;Hodson & Esses, 2005), especially negative attitudes toward homosexuals (Haddock & Zanna, 1998;Stones, 2006;Whitley, 1999). The authoritarian approach to prejudice dates more than 50 years, yet its implications for moderating the impact of intergroup contact and friendship remain largely unexplored.…”

Homophobia in physical education and sport: The role of physical/sporting identity and attributes, authoritarian aggression, and social dominance orientation

“…Like other forms of bias (e.g., racism, weight), homophobia appears to be associated with conservative ideologies and personality traits such as authoritarianism and social dominance orientation (SDO; Pratto, Sidanius, & Levin, 2006). People with authoritarian personalities tend to desire a social and normative structure that guides their social behavior, are submissive to these norms and structures, and are aggressive and discriminatory toward those who are not (Stones, 2006). For example, Herek (1991) found that anti‐gay and anti‐lesbian attitudes were associated with right‐wing authoritarianism, or the belief in strong moral values and the rule of law.…”

“…People with high SDO see their own group as superior to and dominant over other relevant groups. However, a test of the relationship between both SDO and authoritarianism on one hand and anti‐gay prejudice on the other found authoritarianism to be the stronger predictor of prejudice (Stones, 2006).…”

Sexual disorders and right-wing authoritarianism in Indonesian boarding school

“…However, further studies are required on whether individuals with a high level of RWA are the same or synonymous with having a heterosexual identity. Reviewing the results of the study by Stones (2006), titled "Antigay prejudice among heterosexual males: Right-wing authoritarianism as a stronger predictor than social-dominance orientation and heterosexual identity", there are indications that RWA is different from heterosexual identity. The evidence, according to Stones' findings, is that RWA has a correlation with prejudice towards homosexual, whereas heterosexual identity does not so.…”