PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Earl Paz Navalta

Industrial/Organizational
August 1995

“Modern Homophobia”: The Effects of Homophobia, Sexual Preference and Decision Context on Simulated Hiring Decisions

    The purpose of this study was to investigate whether decision context is related to inconsistent ratings of homosexual job candidates by homophobic people, but is not related to ratings for non-homophobic people.  The dependent variable investigated was the rating of the job candidates.  The independent variables were sexual preference, homophobia and decision context.  The subjects were 101 introductory psychology students.
    A 3-way analysis of variance was performed to see if the ratings would vary as a function of homophobia, decision context and sexual preference.  A significant 3-way interaction as well as a 2-way interaction between the variables decision context and sexual preference was found.  The impact of these results on the relationship between homophobia and negative attitudes toward people with AIDS was also discussed.  Future research should look specifically at the two variables of decision context and sexual preference and determine how strong people’s response behavior is in different situations.

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