Fabio Fasoli
Biographic Data
| ID | 114681 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fabio Fasoli |
| GIVEN NAMES | Fabio |
| FAMILY NAME | Fasoli |
| SIGNATURE | FASOLI F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Surrey |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8043-1630 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 42 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 213 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 42 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Does voice signal sexual orientation? Testing the gaydar accuracy, masculinity and femininity of Portuguese and Brazilian men based on vocal stimuli / ¿La voz indica la orientación sexual? Prueba de l…
This project examined the categorizations of individuals based on their voices. Specifically, we recorded the voices of 24 men belonging to the intersecting social categories of nationality (i.e., Portuguese and Brazilian) and sexual orientation (i.e., straight or gay). In Study 1, Portuguese and Brazilian listeners ( n = 75) evaluated speakers on the strength of their perceived nationality and sexual orientation. Results indicated participants w…
Multimodal Cues to Change Your Mind: The Intertwining of Faces, Voices, and Behaviors in Impression Updating
Impressions of others are formed from multiple cues, including facial features, vocal tone, and behavioral descriptions, and may be subject to multimodal updating. Four experiments ( N = 803) examined the influence of a target’s face or voice on impression updating. Experiments 1a-1b examined whether behavior-based impressions are susceptible to updating by incongruent information conveyed by the target’s face, voice, or behavior (within-particip…
Can Speaking English Negatively Impact Non-Native Speakers? Investigating the Vocal Cross-Categorizations and Evaluations of Majority and Minority Members Across Language and Accent in a Non-English-S…
Individuals are quickly categorized as members of a group (e.g., national, migrants) based on their standard or nonstandard accent. However, this has usually been studied in the context of the native language, and less is known about accent-based categorization when individuals speak a second language. In this research, we tested whether speaking in Portuguese or English would influence Portuguese participants’ evaluations and recall of Portugues…
Thank You for Sharing: Body-Positive and Humour Parody Images Increase Women’s Body Satisfaction and Predict Collective Action Intentions Via Gratitude
Does body positivity work for men as it does for women? The impact of idealized body and body positive imagery on body satisfaction, drive for thinness, and drive for muscularity
Exposure to body-positive imagery plays a positive role in women's body image. However, literature has not examined if this is the case for men too. In this study (N = 207), we examined the impact of idealized body and body-positive imagery on both men's and women's body satisfaction and body image concerns. Participants were asked to report their positive and negative mood, body satisfaction, drive for thinness, and drive for muscularity before …
Understanding auditory gaydar experiences of lesbian women and gay men
Voice-based categorisation of others’ sexual orientations, known as auditory gaydar judgments, can represent stressful and stigmatising events for targets. This mixed-methods study examined sense-making about others’ auditory gaydar judgements. Sixty-seven lesbian women and 77 gay men described negative episodes in which they thought that their sexual orientation was inferred from their voices. Those reporting such experiences also rated their em…
Sounds Like There was No Sexual Orientation Discrimination? Attributions to Discrimination on the Basis of Auditory Gaydar
Auditory gaydar happens when people's heterosexuality is called into question by their vocal characteristics. Auditory gaydar has been shown to prompt discrimination against both women and men interviewing for leadership positions. Two experiments tested whether attributional ambiguity makes auditory gaydar discrimination difficult to detect in such contexts. Either heterosexual participants (Study 1, n = 161) or heterosexual and sexual minority …
The Use and Perception of Reclaimed Group Labels for Lesbian Women and Gay Men
This research tests whether self-labelling with a derogatory or reclaimed label is perceived as an act of reclamation. A pilot study ( N = 102) identified English terms used to label lesbian women and gay men. The main study ( N = 276) used a between-groups vignette design in which participants read about a woman/man self-labelling with a descriptive (lesbian/gay), reclaimed (queer), or derogatory group (dyke/fag) label. We assessed perceptions o…
Induced gratitude and hope, and experienced fear, but not experienced disgust, facilitate Covid-19 prevention
Hope, gratitude, fear, and disgust may all be key to encouraging preventative action in the context of COVID-19. We pre-registered a longitudinal experiment, which involved monthly data collections from September 2020 to September 2021 and a six-month follow-up. We predicted that a hope recall task would reduce negative emotions and elicit higher intentions to engage in COVID-19 preventative behaviours. At the first time point, participants were …
Body Positivity or Humorous Parody? The Impact of Instagram Imagery on Body Image Concerns
Research has shown that Instagram imagery can affect women's body image. However, it remains unclear how Instagram images are perceived, and which type of images can have a positive impact on body image. In this study (N = 170), we examined whether exposure to body positive and humorous parody (vs. body ideal) imagery would be perceived as critiques of thin body ideals, would elicit photo-based activity in the form of “likes”, and would positivel…
When is Self-Labeling Seen as Reclaiming? The Role of User and Observer's Sexual Orientation in Processing Homophobic and Category Labels’ use
Reclaiming involves self-labeling with derogatory labels. This behavior can be processed differently depending on contextual factors: Type of label, user, and observer. Sexual minority and heterosexual participants saw a vignette depicting either a gay or a heterosexual man who self-labeled with a derogatory or a category label. Sexual minority participants perceived the act of self-labeling with a derogatory label by a gay man as less offensive …
Who Does Discriminate Against gay-Sounding Speakers? The Role of Prejudice on Voice-Based Hiring Decisions in Brazil
Vocal cues are used to categorize speakers’ sexual orientation. Hearing a gay-sounding speaker can elicit discrimination. This study investigated whether gay-sounding speakers were discriminated against when applying for a job in Brazil and whether prejudice moderated such an effect. Heterosexual participants listened to a gay- or heterosexual-sounding applicant, rating him in terms of personality traits and employability. The results showed that…
SexyBodyPositive: When Sexualization Does Not Undermine Young Women’s Body Image
Research suggests that exposure to social networking sites portraying a thin and often sexualized beauty ideal reduces young women's body satisfaction, while exposure to body-positive content improves it. However, it is unclear whether sexualization could impair the beneficial effects of body-positivity messages. Young Italian women were exposed to one of three experimental conditions showing sexualized beauty ideals, sexualized body positivity, …
How voice transition and gender identity disclosure shape perceptions of trans men in the hiring process
Trans men often face discrimination in the hiring process. However, it remains unclear whether the disclosure of gender identity and perceived masculinity during transition play a role in first impressions and perceived job suitability of trans male applicants. Across two studies ( N = 332), we examined how cisgender heterosexual participants perceived a transgender male candidate in terms of his masculinity and whether they judged him suitable f…
Migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees: Different labels for immigrants influence attitudes through perceived benefits in nine countries
The world is witnessing the highest level of displacement of people on record. Public discourse often uses labels to describe people on the move such as ‘migrants’, ‘asylum seekers’, or ‘refugees’ interchangeably. A preregistered study in nine countries (Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; N = 2844) tested experimentally the effect of these three labels on attitudes towards…
When faces and voices come together: Face width‐to‐height ratio and voice pitch contribute independently to social perception
Prior research has shown that the face's width‐to‐height ratio (fWHR) and the voice's pitch influence social perception. Yet, the relative contribution of either cue has been largely unexplored. We examined the simultaneous effects of fWHR and pitch on social evaluations. Experiment 1 ( N = 102) tested how such cues shaped global impressions. Experiment 2 ( N = 121) tested fWHR and pitch's effect on behavioural affiliative intentions, framing soc…
From self to ingroup reclaiming of homophobic epithets: A replication and extension of Galinsky et al.'s (2013) model of reappropriation
Reappropration of derogatory group labels by minority members is a coping strategy against stigmatisation. The aim of this research is twofold. First, we intend to replicate Galinsky et al.'s findings (2013), suggesting that self-labelling (i.e., the self-referential use of a derogatory group label), compared to outgroup-labelling (i.e., the use of a derogatory group label by an outgroup member), enhances self-power and positively reframes the la…
Voice matters: Social categorization and stereotyping of speakers based on sexual orientation and nationality categories
Who Has a Better Auditory Gaydar? Sexual Orientation Categorization by Heterosexual and Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People
Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people are supposed to be better at gaydar than heterosexual. Across two studies we examined auditory gaydar performed by LGB and heterosexual listeners. In Study 1 participants (n = 127) listened to male and female speakers (n = 10) and judged their sexual orientation on a binary choice (gay/lesbian vs. heterosexual). In Study 2, participants (n = 192) judged speakers' (n = 31) sexual orientation on a Kinsey-like …
When Fluency Matters: The Interplay between Categorization Fluency and Gender Atypicality on Gaydar Judgments
Perceiving a male speaker as gender atypical increases the chances of categorizing him as gay. The perception of how fluent the categorization process is can also play a role. Listeners categorized gay and straight speakers’ sexual orientation, reported their perceived categorization fluency, and rated speakers’ gender atypicality. When categorization fluency was high, gay speakers perceived as gender atypical were more likely categorized as gay.…
Media representation matters: The effects of exposure to counter-stereotypical gay male characters on heterosexual men’s expressions of discrimination
Presence of gay men in mainstream media may have a positive impact on viewers’ attitude change. However, gay male characters are often stereotypically portrayed as feminine, and no research has yet explored audiences’ reactions to counter-stereotypical gay characters. Heterosexual Italian men ( N = 158) were exposed to a clip portraying (i) a stereotypical feminine gay male character, (ii) a counter-stereotypical masculine gay male character, or …
The relationship between humor and women’s body image concerns and eating behaviors
Humor is considered a coping strategy that is associated with well-being and positive self-esteem. The role of humor in relation to body image and eating behaviors has rarely been investigated. This cross-sectional study ( n = 216) examined the relationship between general coping humor and humor styles targeting the self, namely self-enhancing and self-defeating humor, and body image and eating behaviors. Results showed that adaptive self-enhanci…
From laughter to action: An investigation into the effects of affiliative comedy
Research on humour and prejudice has predominantly focused on the use of negative, or disparaging humour and its prejudice enhancing effects. This study investigated whether a positive ‘affiliative’ humour, could elicit a reduction in prejudice as measured by attitudes, system justification beliefs and engagement in collective action in favour of transgender individuals. Participants (N=85) were randomly assigned to the humour or control conditio…
Toward a Century of Language Attitudes Research: Looking Back and Moving Forward
The study of language attitudes is concerned with the social meanings people assign to language and its users. With roots in social psychology nearly a century ago, language attitudes research spans several academic disciplines and draws on diverse methodological approaches. In an attempt to integrate this work and traverse disciplinary boundaries and methodological proclivities, we propose that language attitudes—as a unified field—can be organi…
“You Cannot Get into My Taxi!” Perceptions of a Covid-19-based Rejection Episode Reported in the Newspapers
COVID-19-related incidents of xenophobia have hit the headlines. We asked participants to read about a rejection episode targeting a foreigner and we manipulated whether the rejection was motivated by COVID-19 fears or by no specific reasons. In the COVID-19 condition, the perpetrator was perceived as moral but as experiencing shame and guilt, while the target was seen as experiencing social pain. Helping intentions were predicted by either the p…
Masculine self-presentation and distancing from femininity in gay men: An experimental examination of the role of masculinity threat
There is evidence that discrimination directed toward gay men from some heterosexual men is partially driven by heterosexual men attempting to distance themselves from gay men’s perceived femininity. There is also evidence that many gay men wish they were more masculine than they currently are and will distance themselves from other gay men perceived as being feminine. This persisting stereotype that gay men are insufficiently masculine was theor…
Not “just words”: Exposure to homophobic epithets leads to dehumanizing and physical distancing from gay men
We examined whether homophobic epithets (e.g., faggot ) function as labels of deviance for homosexuals that contribute to their dehumanization and physical distance. Across two studies, participants were supraliminally (Study 1) and subliminally (Study 2) exposed to a homophobic epithet, a category label, or a generic insult. Participants were then asked to associate human‐related and animal‐related words to homosexuals and heterosexuals. Results…
Shades of Sexualization: When Sexualization Becomes Sexual Objectification
The role of threat, emotions, and prejudice in promoting collective action against immigrant groups
In two studies we assessed the role of distinctiveness threat, group‐based emotions (angst, fear, and anger), and prejudice on people's willingness to engage in collective action against immigrant groups. In Study 1 ( N = 222) White British participants were either informed that in the next 40 years the proportion of immigrants in the UK is unlikely to change (control condition) or that there will be more immigrants than White British people livi…
Which Partners Are More Human? Monogamy Matters More than Sexual Orientation for Dehumanization in Three European Countries
A Leader Doesn’t Sound Lesbian: The Impact of Sexual Orientation Vocal Cues on Heterosexual Persons’ First Impression and Hiring Decision
In three studies ( N = 340), we tested whether vocal cues to a person’s sexual orientation prompted sexual orientation discrimination in heterosexual individuals when hiring leaders. Our results inform how gender and sexual orientation intersect to produce discriminatory effects in the hiring context. Heterosexual participants listened to short clips of voices that sounded like job candidate was a lesbian or heterosexual woman, or a gay or hetero…
Gay- and Lesbian-Sounding Auditory Cues Elicit Stereotyping and Discrimination
The growing body of literature on the recognition of sexual orientation from voice ("auditory gaydar") is silent on the cognitive and social consequences of having a gay-/lesbian- versus heterosexual-sounding voice. We investigated this issue in four studies (overall N = 276), conducted in Italian language, in which heterosexual listeners were exposed to single-sentence voice samples of gay/lesbian and heterosexual speakers. In all four studies, …
No country for old gay men: Age and sexuality category intersection renders older gay men invisible
Four studies analyzed how sexual orientation (heterosexual vs. gay) and age categories (young vs. elderly) referring to men are cognitively combined. In Study 1, young gay men were judged as more prototypical of gay men than adult or elderly gay men, while young, adult, and elderly heterosexual men were perceived as equally prototypical of heterosexual men. In Study 2, gay men were stereotyped more by young rather than elderly stereotypical trait…
The Impact of Homophobic Labels on the Internalized Homophobia and Body Image of Gay Men: The Moderation Role of Coming-Out
This study investigates whether homophobic labels and category-neutral terms are differently appraised as a function of levels of coming-out. After reporting their coming-out status, participants were exposed to either homophobic or category labels and reported their semantic associations, level of internalized homophobia, and body perceptions. Results show that labels were more positively evaluated as participants' coming-out increased. High-com…
Media representation matters: The effects of exposure to counter-stereotypical gay male characters on heterosexual men’s expressions of discrimination
Presence of gay men in mainstream media may have a positive impact on viewers’ attitude change. However, gay male characters are often stereotypically portrayed as feminine, and no research has yet explored audiences’ reactions to counter-stereotypical gay characters. Heterosexual Italian men ( N = 158) were exposed to a clip portraying (i) a stereotypical feminine gay male character, (ii) a counter-stereotypical masculine gay male character, or …
Migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees: Different labels for immigrants influence attitudes through perceived benefits in nine countries
The world is witnessing the highest level of displacement of people on record. Public discourse often uses labels to describe people on the move such as ‘migrants’, ‘asylum seekers’, or ‘refugees’ interchangeably. A preregistered study in nine countries (Australia, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; N = 2844) tested experimentally the effect of these three labels on attitudes towards…
Auditory Gaydar: Perception of Sexual Orientation Based on Female Voice
We investigated auditory gaydar (i.e., the ability to recognize sexual orientation) in female speakers, addressing three related issues: whether auditory gaydar is (1) accurate, (2) language-dependent (i.e., occurs only in some languages, but not in others), and (3) ingroup-specific (i.e., occurs only when listeners judge speakers of their own language, but not when they judge foreign language speakers). In three experiments, we asked Italian, Po…
"Sounding Gay, Speaking as a "Fag: Auditory Gaydar and the Perception of Reclaimed Homophobic Language
Reclaiming implies that homophobic labels used by gay individuals are perceived as less offensive and their use as empowering speakers. We examined whether listeners in Italy and Britain perceived homophobic labels as "reclaimed" when men's voices implied their homosexuality. Gay and straight male speakers used neutral or homophobic labels referring to themselves or another. Homophobic labels were offensive when used by straight speakers and when…
Stereotypical Disease Inferences From Gay/Lesbian Versus Heterosexual Voices
Voice is a cue used to categorize speakers as members of social groups, including sexual orientation. We investigate the consequences of such voice-based categorization, showing that people infer stereotype-congruent disease likelihood on the basis of vocal information and without explicit information about the speaker's sexual orientation. Study 1 and Study 2 reveal that participants attribute diseases to gay/lesbian and heterosexual men and wom…
From self to ingroup reclaiming of homophobic epithets: A replication and extension of Galinsky et al.'s (2013) model of reappropriation
Reappropration of derogatory group labels by minority members is a coping strategy against stigmatisation. The aim of this research is twofold. First, we intend to replicate Galinsky et al.'s findings (2013), suggesting that self-labelling (i.e., the self-referential use of a derogatory group label), compared to outgroup-labelling (i.e., the use of a derogatory group label by an outgroup member), enhances self-power and positively reframes the la…
Social acceptability of sexist derogatory and sexist objectifying slurs across contexts
Sounds Like There was No Sexual Orientation Discrimination? Attributions to Discrimination on the Basis of Auditory Gaydar
Auditory gaydar happens when people's heterosexuality is called into question by their vocal characteristics. Auditory gaydar has been shown to prompt discrimination against both women and men interviewing for leadership positions. Two experiments tested whether attributional ambiguity makes auditory gaydar discrimination difficult to detect in such contexts. Either heterosexual participants (Study 1, n = 161) or heterosexual and sexual minority …
Voice matters: Social categorization and stereotyping of speakers based on sexual orientation and nationality categories
Who Has a Better Auditory Gaydar? Sexual Orientation Categorization by Heterosexual and Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People
Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people are supposed to be better at gaydar than heterosexual. Across two studies we examined auditory gaydar performed by LGB and heterosexual listeners. In Study 1 participants (n = 127) listened to male and female speakers (n = 10) and judged their sexual orientation on a binary choice (gay/lesbian vs. heterosexual). In Study 2, participants (n = 192) judged speakers' (n = 31) sexual orientation on a Kinsey-like …
Gay Voice: Stable Marker of Sexual Orientation or Flexible Communication Device
How voice transition and gender identity disclosure shape perceptions of trans men in the hiring process
Trans men often face discrimination in the hiring process. However, it remains unclear whether the disclosure of gender identity and perceived masculinity during transition play a role in first impressions and perceived job suitability of trans male applicants. Across two studies ( N = 332), we examined how cisgender heterosexual participants perceived a transgender male candidate in terms of his masculinity and whether they judged him suitable f…
The Social Costs of Sounding Gay: Voice-Based Impressions of Adoption Applicants
In three studies (total N = 239) we examined the unexplored question of whether voice conveying sexual orientation elicits stigma and discrimination in the context of adoption. Studies 1 and 2 were conducted in Italy where same-sex adoption is illegal and controversial. Study 3 was conducted in the United Kingdom where same-sex adoption is legal and generally more accepted. The three studies show that listeners draw strong inferences from voice w…
The Use and Perception of Reclaimed Group Labels for Lesbian Women and Gay Men
This research tests whether self-labelling with a derogatory or reclaimed label is perceived as an act of reclamation. A pilot study ( N = 102) identified English terms used to label lesbian women and gay men. The main study ( N = 276) used a between-groups vignette design in which participants read about a woman/man self-labelling with a descriptive (lesbian/gay), reclaimed (queer), or derogatory group (dyke/fag) label. We assessed perceptions o…
Voice Changes Meaning: The Role of Gay- Versus Straight-Sounding Voices in Sentence Interpretation
Utterances reveal not only semantic information but also information about the speaker's social category membership, including sexual orientation. In four studies ( N = 345), we investigated how the meaning of what is being said changes as a function of the speaker's voice. In Studies 1a/1b, gay- and straight-sounding voices uttered the same sentences. Listeners indicated the likelihood that the speaker was referring to one among two target objec…
Masculine self-presentation and distancing from femininity in gay men: An experimental examination of the role of masculinity threat
There is evidence that discrimination directed toward gay men from some heterosexual men is partially driven by heterosexual men attempting to distance themselves from gay men’s perceived femininity. There is also evidence that many gay men wish they were more masculine than they currently are and will distance themselves from other gay men perceived as being feminine. This persisting stereotype that gay men are insufficiently masculine was theor…
Social acceptability of sexist derogatory and sexist objectifying slurs across contexts
Not “just words”: Exposure to homophobic epithets leads to dehumanizing and physical distancing from gay men
We examined whether homophobic epithets (e.g., faggot ) function as labels of deviance for homosexuals that contribute to their dehumanization and physical distance. Across two studies, participants were supraliminally (Study 1) and subliminally (Study 2) exposed to a homophobic epithet, a category label, or a generic insult. Participants were then asked to associate human‐related and animal‐related words to homosexuals and heterosexuals. Results…
Which Partners Are More Human? Monogamy Matters More than Sexual Orientation for Dehumanization in Three European Countries
Shades of Sexualization: When Sexualization Becomes Sexual Objectification
Gay- and Lesbian-Sounding Auditory Cues Elicit Stereotyping and Discrimination
The growing body of literature on the recognition of sexual orientation from voice ("auditory gaydar") is silent on the cognitive and social consequences of having a gay-/lesbian- versus heterosexual-sounding voice. We investigated this issue in four studies (overall N = 276), conducted in Italian language, in which heterosexual listeners were exposed to single-sentence voice samples of gay/lesbian and heterosexual speakers. In all four studies, …
The Impact of Homophobic Labels on the Internalized Homophobia and Body Image of Gay Men: The Moderation Role of Coming-Out
This study investigates whether homophobic labels and category-neutral terms are differently appraised as a function of levels of coming-out. After reporting their coming-out status, participants were exposed to either homophobic or category labels and reported their semantic associations, level of internalized homophobia, and body perceptions. Results show that labels were more positively evaluated as participants' coming-out increased. High-com…
The role of threat, emotions, and prejudice in promoting collective action against immigrant groups
In two studies we assessed the role of distinctiveness threat, group‐based emotions (angst, fear, and anger), and prejudice on people's willingness to engage in collective action against immigrant groups. In Study 1 ( N = 222) White British participants were either informed that in the next 40 years the proportion of immigrants in the UK is unlikely to change (control condition) or that there will be more immigrants than White British people livi…
Stereotypical Disease Inferences From Gay/Lesbian Versus Heterosexual Voices
Voice is a cue used to categorize speakers as members of social groups, including sexual orientation. We investigate the consequences of such voice-based categorization, showing that people infer stereotype-congruent disease likelihood on the basis of vocal information and without explicit information about the speaker's sexual orientation. Study 1 and Study 2 reveal that participants attribute diseases to gay/lesbian and heterosexual men and wom…
A Leader Doesn’t Sound Lesbian: The Impact of Sexual Orientation Vocal Cues on Heterosexual Persons’ First Impression and Hiring Decision
In three studies ( N = 340), we tested whether vocal cues to a person’s sexual orientation prompted sexual orientation discrimination in heterosexual individuals when hiring leaders. Our results inform how gender and sexual orientation intersect to produce discriminatory effects in the hiring context. Heterosexual participants listened to short clips of voices that sounded like job candidate was a lesbian or heterosexual woman, or a gay or hetero…
"Sounding Gay, Speaking as a "Fag: Auditory Gaydar and the Perception of Reclaimed Homophobic Language
Reclaiming implies that homophobic labels used by gay individuals are perceived as less offensive and their use as empowering speakers. We examined whether listeners in Italy and Britain perceived homophobic labels as "reclaimed" when men's voices implied their homosexuality. Gay and straight male speakers used neutral or homophobic labels referring to themselves or another. Homophobic labels were offensive when used by straight speakers and when…
Auditory Gaydar: Perception of Sexual Orientation Based on Female Voice
We investigated auditory gaydar (i.e., the ability to recognize sexual orientation) in female speakers, addressing three related issues: whether auditory gaydar is (1) accurate, (2) language-dependent (i.e., occurs only in some languages, but not in others), and (3) ingroup-specific (i.e., occurs only when listeners judge speakers of their own language, but not when they judge foreign language speakers). In three experiments, we asked Italian, Po…
Gay Voice: Stable Marker of Sexual Orientation or Flexible Communication Device
Voice Changes Meaning: The Role of Gay- Versus Straight-Sounding Voices in Sentence Interpretation
Utterances reveal not only semantic information but also information about the speaker's social category membership, including sexual orientation. In four studies ( N = 345), we investigated how the meaning of what is being said changes as a function of the speaker's voice. In Studies 1a/1b, gay- and straight-sounding voices uttered the same sentences. Listeners indicated the likelihood that the speaker was referring to one among two target objec…
The Social Costs of Sounding Gay: Voice-Based Impressions of Adoption Applicants
In three studies (total N = 239) we examined the unexplored question of whether voice conveying sexual orientation elicits stigma and discrimination in the context of adoption. Studies 1 and 2 were conducted in Italy where same-sex adoption is illegal and controversial. Study 3 was conducted in the United Kingdom where same-sex adoption is legal and generally more accepted. The three studies show that listeners draw strong inferences from voice w…
From laughter to action: An investigation into the effects of affiliative comedy
Research on humour and prejudice has predominantly focused on the use of negative, or disparaging humour and its prejudice enhancing effects. This study investigated whether a positive ‘affiliative’ humour, could elicit a reduction in prejudice as measured by attitudes, system justification beliefs and engagement in collective action in favour of transgender individuals. Participants (N=85) were randomly assigned to the humour or control conditio…
Toward a Century of Language Attitudes Research: Looking Back and Moving Forward
The study of language attitudes is concerned with the social meanings people assign to language and its users. With roots in social psychology nearly a century ago, language attitudes research spans several academic disciplines and draws on diverse methodological approaches. In an attempt to integrate this work and traverse disciplinary boundaries and methodological proclivities, we propose that language attitudes—as a unified field—can be organi…
“You Cannot Get into My Taxi!” Perceptions of a Covid-19-based Rejection Episode Reported in the Newspapers
COVID-19-related incidents of xenophobia have hit the headlines. We asked participants to read about a rejection episode targeting a foreigner and we manipulated whether the rejection was motivated by COVID-19 fears or by no specific reasons. In the COVID-19 condition, the perpetrator was perceived as moral but as experiencing shame and guilt, while the target was seen as experiencing social pain. Helping intentions were predicted by either the p…
Loneliness in sexual minority and heterosexual individuals: A comparative meta-analysis
Introduction Despite the importance of better understanding how loneliness is associated with physical and mental health symptoms and disorders, and who is at greatest risk, demographic information pertaining to sexuality is often not collected. Although some studies evidence prevalence rates of loneliness amongst sexual minority individuals to be higher when compared to heterosexual individuals, no systematic approaches to examine and compare th…
No country for old gay men: Age and sexuality category intersection renders older gay men invisible
Four studies analyzed how sexual orientation (heterosexual vs. gay) and age categories (young vs. elderly) referring to men are cognitively combined. In Study 1, young gay men were judged as more prototypical of gay men than adult or elderly gay men, while young, adult, and elderly heterosexual men were perceived as equally prototypical of heterosexual men. In Study 2, gay men were stereotyped more by young rather than elderly stereotypical trait…
When Fluency Matters: The Interplay between Categorization Fluency and Gender Atypicality on Gaydar Judgments
Perceiving a male speaker as gender atypical increases the chances of categorizing him as gay. The perception of how fluent the categorization process is can also play a role. Listeners categorized gay and straight speakers’ sexual orientation, reported their perceived categorization fluency, and rated speakers’ gender atypicality. When categorization fluency was high, gay speakers perceived as gender atypical were more likely categorized as gay.…
Media representation matters: The effects of exposure to counter-stereotypical gay male characters on heterosexual men’s expressions of discrimination
Presence of gay men in mainstream media may have a positive impact on viewers’ attitude change. However, gay male characters are often stereotypically portrayed as feminine, and no research has yet explored audiences’ reactions to counter-stereotypical gay characters. Heterosexual Italian men ( N = 158) were exposed to a clip portraying (i) a stereotypical feminine gay male character, (ii) a counter-stereotypical masculine gay male character, or …
The relationship between humor and women’s body image concerns and eating behaviors
Humor is considered a coping strategy that is associated with well-being and positive self-esteem. The role of humor in relation to body image and eating behaviors has rarely been investigated. This cross-sectional study ( n = 216) examined the relationship between general coping humor and humor styles targeting the self, namely self-enhancing and self-defeating humor, and body image and eating behaviors. Results showed that adaptive self-enhanci…
Induced gratitude and hope, and experienced fear, but not experienced disgust, facilitate Covid-19 prevention
Hope, gratitude, fear, and disgust may all be key to encouraging preventative action in the context of COVID-19. We pre-registered a longitudinal experiment, which involved monthly data collections from September 2020 to September 2021 and a six-month follow-up. We predicted that a hope recall task would reduce negative emotions and elicit higher intentions to engage in COVID-19 preventative behaviours. At the first time point, participants were …
Body Positivity or Humorous Parody? The Impact of Instagram Imagery on Body Image Concerns
Research has shown that Instagram imagery can affect women's body image. However, it remains unclear how Instagram images are perceived, and which type of images can have a positive impact on body image. In this study (N = 170), we examined whether exposure to body positive and humorous parody (vs. body ideal) imagery would be perceived as critiques of thin body ideals, would elicit photo-based activity in the form of “likes”, and would positivel…
Psychology (40 works) · Social Psychology (38 works) · Sexual orientation (19 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (19 works) · Developmental psychology (17 works) · Social Psychology (16 works) · Perception (14 works) · Homosexuality (13 works) · Linguistics (13 works) · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy (11 works)