Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–4Cite as

Social Hypotheses of Homophobia

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 203 Accesses

Synonyms

Homonegativity; Sexual prejudice

Definition

An umbrella term for a negative (attitudinal, affective, or behavioral) response towards homosexuality and homosexuals

Introduction

Following societal change in thinking about the status of homosexuality and its politically motivated removal from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1974, research on the origin of homosexuality declined and was replaced by studies on homophobia. The term homophobia, defined as “the dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals – and in the case of homosexuals themselves, self-loathing” (Weinberg 1972, p. 4), has been repeatedly criticized for its inherent evaluation of the response as (fundamentally) fear-based, pathological, irrational, and even unscientific (e.g., O'Donohue and Caselles 1993). As a consequence, a variety of broad and narrow re-definitions of the term as well as alternative terms, among others, homonegativity, homosexism, and sexual prejudice, (Herek and...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altemeyer, B., & Hunsberger, B. (1992). Authoritarianism, religious fundamentalism, quest, and prejudice. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 2, 113–133. doi:10.1207/s15327582ijpr0202_5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, J., & Koc, Y. (2015). Exploring patterns of explicit and implicit anti-gay attitudes in Muslims and Atheists. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45, 687–701. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bosson, J. K., & Vandello, J. A. (2011). Precarious manhood and its links to action and aggression. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 82–86. doi:10.1177/0963721411402669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herek, G. M., & Capitanio, J. P. (1996). “Some of my best friends”: Intergroup contact, concealable stigma, and heterosexuals’ attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 412–424. doi:10.1177/0146167296224007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herek, G. M., & McLemore, K. A. (2013). Sexual prejudice. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 309–333. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143826.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hunsberger, B., & Jackson, L. M. (2005). Religion, meaning, and prejudice. Journal of Social Issues, 61, 807–826. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00433.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, M. K., Rowatt, W. C., Barnard-Brak, L. M., Patock-Peckham, J. A., LaBouff, J. P., & Carlisle, R. D. (2011). A mediational analysis of the role of right-wing authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism in the religiosity–prejudice link. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 851–856. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.01.010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nagoshi, J. L., Adams, K. A., Terrell, H. K., Hill, E. D., Brzuzy, S., & Nagoshi, C. T. (2008). Gender differences in correlates of homophobia and transphobia. Sex Roles, 59, 521–531. doi:10.1007/s11199-008-9458-7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Donohue, W., & Caselles, C. E. (1993). Homophobia: Conceptual, definitional, and value issues. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 15, 177–195. doi:10.1007/BF01371377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parrott, D. J. (2009). Aggression toward gay men as gender role enforcement: Effects of male role norms, sexual prejudice, and masculine gender role stress. Journal of Personality, 77, 1137–1166. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00577.x.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberg, G. (1972). Society and the healthy homosexual. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

The authors received support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft KA 4088/2-1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology and Sports Science, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Alexandra Zapko-Willmes

  2. Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Christian Kandler

Authors
  1. Alexandra Zapko-Willmes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christian Kandler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra Zapko-Willmes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Zapko-Willmes, A., Kandler, C. (2016). Social Hypotheses of Homophobia. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3379-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3379-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation