Eye Movement Study Sheds Light on Homophobia
Can homophobes - people who have negative feelings about gays and lesbians - actually be attracted to members of the same sex without realizing it?
It's possible, according to new research published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
A team of researchers worked with 38 men with an average age of 22 years. After assessing the men's levels of homophobia, the team asked the men to view 20 images on a computer screen. Half of the photos showed heterosexual couples. The rest showed homosexual men.
The participants were asked to rate the pictures based on how pleasant those pictures were. At the same time, the researchers measured each man's eye movements to determine how long he looked at each photo.
They found that homophobic men tended to look longer at the photos of homosexuals, but only if they had an impulsive same-sex attraction.
Click here to learn more about this study.
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