Role of appearance and nonverbal behaviors in the perception of sexual orientation among lesbians and gay men.

Full Abstract

According to the zero-acquaintance paradigm gay men and lesbians possess the ability to identify other homosexuals accurately after only very brief interpersonal contact. Given the vulnerability gay men and lesbians face in terms of antigay violence and prejudice, perceptual accuracy provides self-protection. In an exploratory study, 123 respondents were classified as low, moderate, and high perceivers on the basis of their responses to a recognition index designed by the authors. Next, respondents rated on a series of 5-point Likert scales the helpfulness of several characteristics for identifying gay men and lesbians. Analysis supported the importance of eye contact for lesbians and gay men in identifying one another. For both lesbian and gay male participants, several other variables emerged as significantly helpful in identifying gay men:
clothing style and fit, jewelry, facial expressions, posture, body type, walk or gait, and both the types and frequencies of gestures.

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Author information

Author/s: Carroll, Lynne (L); Gilroy, Paula J (PJ);

Affiliation: Counselor Education Program, University of North Florida, Jacksonville 32224-2676, USA. lcarroll@unf.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Psychological reports (Psychol Rep), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Aug; vol 91 (issue 1) : pp 115-22

Dates: Created 2002/09/30; Completed 2002/10/18; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12353769, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Female
Homosexuality, Female - psychology
Homosexuality, Male - psychology
Humans
Male

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