The Effects of Social Contact with a Lesbian Person on the Attitude Change Toward Homosexuality in Turkey

Abstract

The study examined whether we could observe an attitude change in heterosexual participants introduced to a lesbian person. Eighty-nine undergraduate students from Middle East Technical University (METU) received a Turkish version of Hudson and Ricketts' scale about “Attitudes toward Homosexuals” during a pre-testing session. Fifty-four students who didn't have any social contact with homosexuals were chosen for the present study. Forty-five days after the pre-testing, heterosexual participants were randomly assigned either to experimental (social contact with a lesbian person) or to control (no contact with a lesbian) conditions. Participants in the experimental condition were introduced to a lesbian in a classroom situation. The lesbian person gave information about herself and answered the questions of heterosexual students. After that, participants in both experimental and control conditions received Hudson and Ricketts' scale again. Results demonstrated that there was a significant difference between the means of pre-test and of post-test in the experimental condition.