Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: I-sharing after a gender status threat and its implications for attitudes toward gay men.

The article below may contain offensive and/or incorrect content.

Following threats to their gender status, heterosexual men often respond defensively by, for example, expressing more negativity toward gay men. In contrast, I-sharing–instances when people feel as though they have the same in-the-moment experience with another individual (e.g., they both cry or laugh at the same stimulus)–improves heterosexual men's attitudes toward gay men. Here, we integrate two literatures to ask whether I-sharing with a gay partner mitigates heterosexual men's defensive, antigay reactions following a gender status threat. Study 1 established that heterosexual men like a heterosexual partner better than a gay partner (d = 0.46), and that men respond defensively to a gender status threat (d = 0.66). Studies 2 and 3 asked whether I-sharing mitigates these effects. In both studies, heterosexual men either experienced or did not experience a gender threat before interacting with a computerized partner with whom they did or did not I-share. In Study 2, we manipulated the sexual orientation of the partner, such that he was either gay or heterosexual. Participants preferred the I-sharer over the non-I-sharer (d = 0.58), and neither the gender threat nor the sexual orientation of their partner moderated this effect. Study 3 findings replicated those of Study 2 and also revealed that I-sharing with a gay partner decreased heterosexual men's defensiveness about gender threatening feedback (d = 0.40). Together, the results point to the promise that I-sharing offers for promoting more positive attitudes toward gay men, particularly among those heterosexual men doubting their own masculinity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)