Effects of Sexual Orientation, Disability, and Gender Identity on Others’ Prosocial Behavior

Abstract

The theory of intersectionality posits that people possess multiple identities varying in the level of privilege and oppression. The current study assesses participants’ prosocial behavior toward a target possessing sexual, disability, and gender minority identities. Prosociality was measured using the validated and reliable dictator game. The authors predicted that targets with increased minority identities would receive less prosocial behavior from their partner than targets with fewer intersecting identities. Contrary to our hypothesis, it was found that participants were significantly more prosocial toward targets with a disability, than toward targets without. Consistent with our hypothesis, these researchers found that participants were significantly less likely to be prosocial toward targets who were gay than straight. These results have implications for rehabilitation counselors working with clients with intersecting marginalized identities. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to experimentally explore observed prosocial behavior toward individuals with intersecting gender, disability, and sexual minority identities.