This study explored the relationship between voters' political behavior regarding the issue of gay rights and the underlying psychological needs served by their attitudes on this issue. A telephone survey of 100 randomly selected local voters was conducted, during which Herek's (1987) Attitude Functions Inventory (AFI) was administered. Three of the four attitude function subscales (Experiential- Schematic, Social-Expressive and Ego-Defensive) were confirmed using a LISREL confirmatory factor analysis. The Value-Expressive subscale was not confirmed and showed poor reliability. Pro- and anti-gay rights behavior was measured using a Political Behavior Index (PBI) developed for this study. Regression analyses and MANOVAs were employed to test six hypotheses, all of which received some support. Pro-gay rights behavior was associated with ExperientialSchematic attitudes and a Value-Expressive item regarding civil liberties. Anti-gay rights behavior was associated with Ego-Defensive attitudes and a Value-Expressive item regarding moral beliefs. Men scored higher on the EgoDefensive function than did women. Those who knew more gay people were more likely to exhibit Experiential-Schematic attitudes and were less likely to hold Ego-Defensive attitudes. These findings imply that efforts to change anti-gay rights behavior need to address the underlying motivations of Ego-Defense and Value-Expression regarding the construct of moral beliefs. An additional implication is a potential for increasing support for the legal rights of gay people by increasing association with people one knows to be gay.

The present study investigated the applicability of the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Specifically, the investigation sought to examine individuals' intentions to request or not to request a new, heterosexual roommate given that they have been assigned a gay (or lesbian) roommate. The purpose of the investigation was to test the mediating role of respondents' perceptions of the expectations of important persons in their lives (termed subjective norm) and their attitudes toward the specific behavior of requesting a new roommate (termed attitude toward the act). An alternative to the Ajzen-Fishbein model was tested to determine whether the variables of acquaintance with a member of the target group, sex, and attitude toward the target predict request. Phase One assessed the modal beliefs and the normative beliefs of 98 students in a university population through self-report data gathered in a free response format. Phase Two investigated the relationship between the attitudes and subjective norm of 238 university students and their intention to request a new roommate with a questionnaire format developed from the responses in Phase One. The AjzenFishbein variables mediated the variables of acquaintance with a gay or lesbian, sex of the respondent, and a general attitude toward the target when predicting the request of a heterosexual roommate. / Department of Psychological Science

No description available.

This study was designed to examine psychology graduate students' attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women. It was hypothesized that the following variables would predict participants' attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women: participant gender, amount of client contact with gay men and lesbian women, and gender role attitudes. Additionally, a measure of social desirability was included to investigate the validity of responses. Data were analyzed by conducting an independent t-test, a correlated t-test, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results indicated that gay men were viewed more negatively than were lesbian women. As expected, participants' gender role attitudes significantly predicted their attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women. Contrary to predicted outcomes, results indicated that neither participant gender nor client contact predicted attitudes toward homosexuality. Finally, results suggested that participants were not engaging in socially desirable responding. Implications of this study for research, theory, and practice are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2004. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jan. 13, 2005). Thesis advisor: E. Grady Bogue. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-85).

This study examined the influence of interpersonal and mass communication on heterosexual people's attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. In addition, the study examined the relationship between heterosexual people's tolerance for ambiguity, a personality factor, and their attitude toward homosexuality. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 149 heterosexual respondents at a small private university in the western United States. Three pre-existing instruments were used in the study: the Attitude Toward Homosexuality Scale (ATHS), the Index of Homophobia (IHP ), and the Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale (MSTAT-1). Two original instruments were also used: a set of four questions on contemporary gay issues and a survey assessing individuals' perceived sources of information on homosexuality. Frequency of both interpersonal and mass communication was found to be negatively correlated with support for gay issues. In addition, frequency of interpersonal communication was found to negatively correlate with homophobia (IHP). Tolerance of ambiguity negatively correlated with heterosexism on all measures. No statistically significant differences were found between the perceived credibility of interpersonal and mass communication sources. The results of a stepwise regression suggest that attitudes toward homosexuals can be most parsimoniously predicted by the number of acquaintances an individual has who are openly gay or lesbian and gender. Men were found to be considerably more heterosexist than women, except in the case of attitudes toward lesbians for which men's heterosexism was substantially reduced. Although a weak relationship exists between tolerance for ambiguity and attitudes toward homosexuality, tolerance of ambiguity does not appear to be a strong predictor of heterosexism. Interpersonal and mass communication sources exhibited no statistically significant residual effect on attitudes toward homosexuality after stronger predictors (number of gay acquaintances, gender, and tolerance of ambiguity) were entered into the stepwise regression. These results suggest that "coming out" may be the best means of reducing heterosexism in society.