Prospects of implicit measures in assessment of defensive function of explicit homophobia in heterosexuals

Abstract

Some authors state that one of the functions of explicit homophobia is defensive, and that it has roots in latent attraction towards same sex. Large body of evidence suggests that implicit techniques enable assessment of those cognitions hidden from conscious awareness. Sample of 277 heterosexuals completed several implicit (Implicit Association Test-IAT and Affective Priming-AP) and explicit measures of attitude (Test of homophobia and Connotative differential). Multi-group SEM analysis was done to investigate cross-sample stability of the model postulating influence of IAT and AP factors on latent explicit factor. Analyses suggest that both in males and females IAT latent factor predicts negative explicit attitude. Results revealed that explicit homophobia is related to implicit, negative attitude toward homosexuals and not to implicit attraction towards same sex.