Media representation matters: The effects of exposure to counter-stereotypical gay male characters on heterosexual men’s expressions of discrimination

IF 4 2区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations Pub Date : 2022-06-27 DOI:10.1177/13684302221102874

Silvia Galdi, Francesca Guizzo, F. Fasoli

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Abstract

Presence of gay men in mainstream media may have a positive impact on viewers’ attitude change. However, gay male characters are often stereotypically portrayed as feminine, and no research has yet explored audiences’ reactions to counter-stereotypical gay characters. Heterosexual Italian men (N = 158) were exposed to a clip portraying (i) a stereotypical feminine gay male character, (ii) a counter-stereotypical masculine gay male character, or (iii) a nature documentary. Compared to the other conditions, exposure to the counter-stereotypical gay character increased discrimination toward gay men, in the form of anti-gay jokes, the higher the level of participants’ prejudice against gay men. Results further demonstrated that this effect was explained by reduced perceived stereotypicality of the character. Findings are in line with the social identity theory prediction that when gay men (outgroup) are perceived as too similar, and potentially threaten the group identity, heterosexual men would attempt to restore ingroup distinctiveness.

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媒体表现很重要:接触反刻板印象的男同性恋角色对异性恋男性表达歧视的影响

主流媒体中男同性恋的出现可能会对观众的态度转变产生积极影响。然而，男同性恋角色通常被刻板地描绘成女性，目前还没有研究探讨观众对反刻板的同性恋角色的反应。异性恋的意大利男性（N=158）接触了一个片段，该片段描绘了（i）一个刻板的女性男同性恋角色，（ii）一个反刻板的男性男同性恋角色或（iii）一部自然纪录片。与其他条件相比，暴露在反刻板印象的同性恋性格中会增加对男同性恋的歧视，表现为反同性恋笑话，参与者对男同性恋者的偏见程度越高。结果进一步表明，这种影响可以通过减少对角色的刻板印象来解释。研究结果与社会认同理论的预测一致，即当男同性恋（群体外）被认为过于相似，并可能威胁到群体认同时，异性恋男性会试图恢复群体内的独特性。

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来源期刊

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL-

CiteScore

8.50

自引率

4.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： Group Processes & Intergroup Relations is a scientific social psychology journal dedicated to research on social psychological processes within and between groups. It provides a forum for and is aimed at researchers and students in social psychology and related disciples (e.g., organizational and management sciences, political science, sociology, language and communication, cross cultural psychology, international relations) that have a scientific interest in the social psychology of human groups. The journal has an extensive editorial team that includes many if not most of the leading scholars in social psychology of group processes and intergroup relations from around the world.