Threatened Masculinity: Gender-Related Collective Narcissism Predicts Prejudice Toward Gay and Lesbian People among Heterosexual Men in Poland

Abstract

ABSTRACT We examined the relationships between different types of in-group positivity and prejudice toward gay and lesbian people among heterosexual men. We assumed that prejudice toward gay and lesbian people among heterosexual men should be predicted by gender-related collective narcissism (i.e., an unrealistic belief about in-group’s greatness which is contingent on external validation and extremely sensitive to any signs of threats) and not secure gender in-group identification (i.e., a confidently held in-group evaluation which is independent of the recognition of the group by others and serves as a buffer against threats). Across two studies (final Ns = 212 and 180) we found that gender-related collective narcissism (but not secure gender in-group identification or gender self-esteem) is positively related to prejudice toward gay and lesbian people among heterosexual men. The results of Study 2 demonstrated that this relationship was largely accounted for by the perceived out-group threat.