Examining Minority Groups' Perspectives: Upward Contempt and Stereotypes about Dominant Outgroups.

Abstract

Social psychological research on the relations between heterosexual people and sexual minorities generally falls within two bodies of literature: 1) research conducted to elucidate heterosexual people’s biases and 2) research used to identify predictors of coping and stress among sexual minorities. In contrast, relatively fewer efforts in social psychology seek to understand how minority groups perceive dominant groups. In this dissertation, I address intergroup dynamics from the standpoint of sexual minorities (LGBQ people; lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer) in a scale development study and two experimental studies. In Study 1, I evaluate the psychometric properties of a newly created measure of a construct that has not yet been empirically tested: upward contempt (i.e., a low status group’s contempt for and disapproval of a higher status group). Specifically, I examine LGBQ people’s upward contempt for heterosexual people. Consistent with my predictions, to the extent that LGBQ participants acknowledge status discrepancies between heterosexual and LGBQ people, they feel upward contempt for heterosexual people. The Upward Contempt Scale (16 items; e.g., “Heterosexual people aren’t as great as they think they are”) can be used as a stand-alone tool or in conjunction with other instruments to investigate minority groups’ perceptions of dominant groups. In Studies 2 and 3, I build upon Matsick and Conley (2016a) to examine the function of minority groups’ stereotypes about dominant groups. In particular, I test how stereotypes about a dominant outgroup (i.e., heterosexual people) influence sexual minorities’ psychological well-being. I find that LGBQ participants who are exposed to stereotypes about heterosexuals feel more positive psychological outcomes related to their identities (e.g., feeling affirmed, proud, and happy with being LGBQ) than those not exposed to heterosexual stereotypes. This pattern of results suggests that LGBQ people’s views of heterosexual people affect LGBQ health and well-being— a predictor of minority stress that remains untested in previous research. Drawing on feminist methodological frameworks (i.e., feminist standpoint theory), I elucidate nuances of studying minority groups’ perspectives within social psychological theories and I identify features of minority groups’ perspectives that can inform members of dominant groups about strategies to improve intergroup relations.