Posted on 06/08/2002 3:48:34 PM PDT by Clara Lou
NEW ORLEANS -- Homophobia is not an actual phobia, according to three University of Arkansas psychologists. In a recent study, these researchers showed that homophobia originates not out of fear or anxiety -- as true phobias do -- but from feelings of disgust.
The UA researchers also found close associations between homophobic tendencies and concerns about contamination as well as conservative views about sexuality in general. Their findings suggest a social, attitudinal basis for homophobia rather than a psychopathological one, as the term itself implies.
"If you can identify the underlying emotions of certain attitudes and behaviors, you can better understand how those attitudes formed," explained Bunmi Olatunji, a UA doctoral student and lead author of the study. "That has implications for treatment, but it also enables you to consider a condition in the proper context. In this case, homophobia shouldn't be pathologized."
With the help of various graduate students, Jeffrey Lohr, a professor of psychology at the university, has spent the past several years attempting to identify the emotional mediators behind a variety of phobias, including fears about blood injection or injury and spider or insect phobias.
The study on homophobia -- conducted by Olatunji and Suzanne Meunier, a doctoral student -- represents the latest chapter in that program of research. On Sunday, Olatunji will present the findings of their study at a convention of the American Psychological Society in New Orleans.
To assess the emotional constructs behind homophobia, the UA researchers asked 138 participants to complete a series of surveys. These included the Index of Attitudes toward homosexuals, the Sexual Attitude Scale, the Disgust Emotion Scale, the Padua Inventory -- which assesses contamination obsessions -- and three questionnaires that measured levels of fear and anxiety.
Statistical analysis of the results showed a negative correlation between attitudes about homosexuals and measures of fear or anxiety. However, results from the Index of Attitudes toward homosexuals were positively correlated with results from the Sexual Attitude Scale, the Disgust Emotion Scale and the Padua Inventory. In other words, subjects who showed homophobic tendencies on the Index also displayed conservative sexual attitudes, elevated levels of disgust and dread of contamination.
"We included the Padua Inventory because fear of contamination clarifies the type of disgust that people are feeling. Without information about contamination fears, you could assume that homophobic people were just disgusted by the abnormality of the homosexual lifestyle," Olatunji said. "But this tells us there's a perception of contagion that feeds into homophobia."
The purpose of identifying such specific emotional components is not just to quibble with use of the term "homophobia" but to understand the origin and nature of the condition. For example, fear and disgust tend to arise out of different circumstances or contexts, and they manifest in very different ways.
Fear causes immediate physiological arousal, leading to elevated respiration and heart rate, and it inspires a flight reaction. Disgust, however, triggers a bi-phasic physiological reaction, with heart rate and respiration initially rising but plummeting shortly thereafter. While fear causes a "get me away from that" reaction, disgust manifests as "get that away from me." These different emotional reactions can lead to very different behaviors, according to Lohr.
"The same emotions that mediate attitude can mediate behavior," he said. "If fear mediates avoidance, other emotions may mediate attack. That distinction becomes very important when what a person intends to avoid or attack is not an animal or an inanimate object, but another human being."
Additionally, different emotional constructs require different approaches to treatment. Clinical psychologists often treat true phobias by forcing patients to confront their fears. Flooding -- or prolonged, repeated exposure to the feared stimulus -- can weaken the fear response and allow people to practice controlling their reactions. But such a procedure may not be effective in eliminating disgust and, furthermore, would be inappropriate if the object of that disgust is another person.
Lohr suspects that the type of disgust associated with homophobia arises from social conditions rather than psychological ones -- that it represents a prejudicial attitude more akin to racism than to phobia. If that's the case, any attempt to treat or reduce homophobia would have to be conducted through a process of attitude reformation, which could occur in a social context such as homes or schools rather than in a clinical setting.
"If contempt and disgust drive homophobia, then it seems more of a moral or social problem than a psychopathological one," Lohr said. "If we start to consider negative attitudes pathological -- implying that there's something medically wrong with prejudiced people, that they're somehow sick with their own attitudes -- that seems to me misguided."
As Sabretooth said, evolution and genetics would have WIPED out any "Gay Gene," long ago.
Sex for anything other then reproduction is the result of personal experience IMHO. Not to get to weird but I find the following example to be useful when trying to describe genetics...
Lets say Aliens visited the Earth(I know, I KNOW!), if they were attractive human looking folk then I will bet several groups of humanity would LOVE to have sex with them. That would definately happen if the circumstances were right. Also, some would be wary of the aliens and others would have sex with them. Is THAT genetic? How can it be? There have never BEEN any thing other then humans on the planet. How about bestiality, is THAT genetic? Why? It makes no scientific sense.
Some people like blondes, some dont. IS THAT genetic? IN maximum security prisons for hard timers, homoism exists among virtually entire prison populations. Is THAT genetic?
It seems to me that the Homosexual Lobby feels so guilty unconsciously that they want to MAKE the world approve. Even more ironic is the fact that they are so insecure as to forego personal responsibilty for thier homosexuality. If I were a fag, I would not shrink under the label "Nature made me do it!" The Homosexual movement itself has factions which question the value of calling it genetic.
I think Liberal Straight folks have done more to advance the FORCED acceptance of Homosexuality then the Homosexuals themselves.
PHEW!
We consider male homosexual sex to be disgusting. We don't fear homos, we are disgusted by their filthy disease ridden perverted behavior.
A handy thing to carry around with you these days. Imagine how useful it would be at Madonna concerts and Jesse Jackson rallies. Order now and receive our leakproof, reusable barf bag, for those times when the disgust is "off the scale."
But they should.
I love these people and their ability to reveal the obvious SHEEZE what Marooooons
I can say without fear of contradiction that I no more hate Christians than Christians hate we Atheists.
I can say without fear of contradiction that I "love" Christians just as much as they "love" we Athiets.
Yeah, I'm merry! Out of curiosity, why are you asking?
Yes. And that's why the Modern Language Association and university departments of English have been at the subversive forefront of the Political Correctness blitz. A turd isn't nearly as offensive if you call it feces, manure a waste product or some other euphemistic name. Orwell saw it all coming and wrote a book about it. Sadly, even most of the people who read it really didn't really understand what Newspeak was all about and didn't recognize it when it began to dominate their lives. Most of them don't recognize the implications even now. The totalitarians know how to boil frogs.
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