Second, stereotypes – even innocuous ones – are troublesome for a number of reasons: They lead us to think narrowly about people before we get to know them, they can justify discrimination and oppression, and, for members of stereotyped groups, they can even lead to depression and other mental health problems. In other words, stereotyping can give people opportunities to express prejudices without fear of reprisal. But if others accused participants of prejudice in the second condition, it could be plausibly denied (“I didn’t think he was gay!”). If they had shocked the first man, people could accuse them of prejudice (“You shocked him because he was gay!”). We can identify these people with some well-established questionnaire measures, and we know that they express prejudice only when they’re able to get away with it.Īs we predicted, these covertly prejudiced people tended to refrain from shocking the man who was confirmed as gay, but delivered extremely high levels of shocks to the man who liked shopping. These conditions are especially important for a subset of people who are covertly prejudiced: They’re aware that they’re prejudiced and ok with it, but don’t want others to know. In one condition, therefore, the participants knew that the man was gay and in the other they might have privately inferred that he was gay though it wasn’t confirmed, but that wasn’t known to anyone else (who might have accused them of being prejudiced). Participants learned only one thing about this other person, either that he was gay or simply liked shopping (people tend to assume men who like shopping are gay). In a study on prejudice-based aggression, we had participants play a game that involved administering electric shocks to a subject in the other room. Using gaydar as a way to talk innocuously or jokingly about stereotyping – “Oh, that guy sets off my gaydar” – trivializes stereotyping and makes it seem like no big deal.īut we know that stereotypes have many negative consequences, so we shouldn’t be encouraging it on any level.įirst, stereotyping can facilitate prejudice. But the very fact that it seems harmless may actually be responsible for its most pernicious effects. In some ways, the idea of gaydar – even if it’s just stereotyping – seems useful at best and harmless at worst. These patterns provided strong support for the idea that belief in gaydar encourages stereotyping by simply disguising it under a different label. Those who were told gaydar is real stereotyped much more than the control group, and participants stereotyped much less when they had been told that gaydar is just another term for stereotyping. This design allowed us to assess how often people jumped to the conclusion that men were gay based on stereotypically gay interests.
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Others had interests related to straight stereotypes, like sports, hunting or cars, or “neutral” interests unrelated to stereotypes, like reading or movies. Some of the men had interests (or “likes”) that related to gay stereotypes, like fashion, shopping or theater. Participants then judged whether men were gay or straight based on information ostensibly taken from social media profiles. We told some participants that scientific evidence says gaydar was a real ability, led others to believe that gaydar is just another term for stereotyping and said nothing about gaydar to a third group (the control). To test this idea, we conducted an experiment. My colleagues and I suspected that even people who would normally try to refrain from stereotyping might be more likely to use gay stereotypes if they are led to believe they have gaydar. We’ve also identified a mathematical flaw in some previous gaydar research, calling into question the results.
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In some recent work, my colleagues and I have been able to demonstrate how the perpetuation of the gaydar myth has unintended negative consequences.