The Effect of Imagined Intergroup Contact and Need for Closure on Attitudes Toward Bisexuality

Abstract

Bisexual individuals face more negative mental health outcomes than members of both homosexual and heterosexual populations. However, there is little experimental research concerned with the reduction of binegativity. 136 participants were assigned to one of two experimental conditions or two control conditions. The experimental groups read a vignette that depicted a positive interaction with a bisexual individual, while the control groups received a similar vignette where the sexuality of the individual was not made salient. Each group completed a questionnaire regarding attitudes toward bisexuality, need for closure, and a demographic survey. A significant main effect of condition on both the tolerance and stability subscales of the ARBS-FM (F(1,114)=10.796, p<.001), (F(1,114)=3.963, p<.049) was found. The effect sizes for tolerance and stability were r2=.147 and r2=.107, respectively. Need for closure did not correlate with either subscales. Implications of these results are discussed.