Empathy, Perspective-Taking and the Mere Exposure Effect: Understanding Adolescent Attitudes About Sexual Minorities and Reducing Prejudice Against Sexual Minority Youth

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) youth face considerable discrimination and peer victimization, which has been associated with a number of negative health and educational outcomes. Few studies have been conducted to understand peer attitudes and how they vary based on demographic characteristics, including sex, race and religion, and no research has been conducted examining differences in attitudes between immigrant and native-born populations. This present study analyzes the attitudes about homosexuality and gender nonconformity held by high school students (N = 957) at a racially and ethnically diverse high school in the northeast, as measured by a brief survey. The author examines how tolerance of homosexuality differs based on sex, race, immigrant identity, religious affiliation and intergroup contact with LGB people. Analyses of the results indicate that there are large differences in attitudes among demographic subgroups of students. Following examination of these baseline attitudes, the author conducted an experiment assessing the impact of two interventions intended to increase tolerance of homosexuality and gender nonconformity. The first intervention consisted of an offer to participate in a one-on-one discussion about LGB people, including questions intended to increase empathy and engage students in perspective-taking as a means of prejudice reduction. The second intervention was based upon the mere exposure effect: the phenomenon that repeated exposures to a stimulus may enhance preference for that stimulus. This intervention consisted of multiple exposures over the course of an academic year to a questionnaire assessing students’ attitudes about homosexuality and gender nonconformity. Analyses of the results of both experiments indicate that neither intervention had statistically significant impacts on prejudice reduction: the views of students who were initially accepting of LGBQ people remained positive at the conclusion of the study, while those students with pre-existing anti-LGBQ bias did not become more tolerant as a result of participation in the study, and in fact, less tolerant students appeared to experience a slight increase in prejudice. Further inquiry is needed to understand the reasons why these interventions had the opposite of the desired effect for intolerant students, in order to craft more appropriate prejudice-reduction strategies for students with pre-existing anti-LGBQ bias.