Rothman,
Brian (1/10) Defense, affect, and heterosexism: A test of the defensive
projection hypothesis (Lisa Samstag, Ph.D.; Nicholas Papouchis, Ph.D.; Barry
Ritzler, Ph.D.)
Empirical studies of defensive
projection--the idea that people see in others the qualities that they wish to
deny in themselves--have been historically inconclusive, and have been limited
by crude experimental methodologies, limited conceptual focus, and minimal
attention to the defense's social functions. Of the few studies that have
actually examined projection in the context of social bias, most are concerned
with its underlying cognitive mechanisms, and have deemphasized the role that
defense may play in the expression of specific, real-world instances of
prejudice. For example, empirical work has not yet shown how defensive
projection may operate in male heterosexism, a bias understood by many
psychodynamic writers as the externalization of (feared) feminine
self-experience. While many social-cognitive psychologists have conceptualized
heterosexism in terms of personality variables, learning, gender-role belief
systems, and demographics, psychodynarnic theorists have argued that antigay
bias among men reflects the disavowal of primitive, feminine identifications
that must be externalized and derogated in the other in order to preserve
masculine identity in the self Because this way of understanding heterosexist
attitudes has incorporated both defensive and affective motivations specific to
men, it has been able to account for the observed gender disparities in the expression
and severity of the bias. This study was designed to add to the social
psychology literature by offering an empirical study of male heterosexism that
was driven by the defensive projection hypothesis. Accordingly, it was
predicted that experimentally induced feminine identification among male
participants would lead to an increase in prejudiced attitudes toward a
fictional, gay male target figure, and that this opportunity to project an
unwanted self-experience would also lead to a decrease in subjective anxiety
for participants. 116 male participants (aged 18-32) were asked to recall
events in their lives associated with either hegemonic (i.e., ideal)
masculinity or with negative, stereotypical femininity, and were then asked to
assign gender-stereotyped personality traits to characters of varying gender
and sexuality. Global, affective evaluations of the targets characters were
also assessed. Results demonstrated that while the gay male character was
assigned the lowest global evaluations ( p < .01) and the most
cross-gendered, negative personality traits (p < .01) out of all the
characters, experimental condition was not a significant predictor of
prejudiced reactions. Moreover, because participants in both the
masculine-affirmation and masculine-anxiety condition experienced a decrease in
anxiety following target judgment, defensive projection's role as an affect
regulator was not supported. While the data corroborated previous research on
gay male stereotype content, this study did not specifically advance the
projection hypothesis or its applicability to antigay bias. Likewise,
psychodynamic theories of heterosexism that have described developmental,
affective motivations for the prejudice were not supported. Explanations for
the current findings in the context of the literature, limitations of the
present study, and directions for future research are discussed.
