Daragh T. McDermott

The Impact of Threat Appeals on Fear Arousal and Driver Behavior: A Meta-Analysis of Experimental Research 1990–2011

The existing empirical research exploring the impact of threat appeals on driver behavior has reported inconsistent findings. In an effort to provide an up-to-date synthesis of the experimental findings, meta-analytic techniques were employed to examine the impact of threat-based messages on fear arousal and on lab-based indices of driving behavior. Experimental studies (k = 13, N = 3044), conducted between 1990 and 2011, were included in the analyses. The aims of the current analysis were (a) to examine whether or not the experimental manipulations had a significant impact on evoked fear, (b) to examine the impact of threat appeals on three distinct indices of driving, and (c) to identify moderators and mediators of the relationship between fear and driving outcomes. Large effects emerged for the level of fear evoked, with experimental groups reporting increased fear arousal in comparison to control groups (r = .64, n = 619, p<.01). The effect of threat appeals on driving outcomes, however, was not significant (r = .03, p = .17). This analysis of the experimental literature indicates that threat appeals can lead to increased fear arousal, but do not appear to have the desired impact on driving behavior. We discuss these findings in the context of threat-based road safety campaigns and future directions for experimental research in this area.

‘What's it like on your side of the pond?’: a cross-cultural comparison of modern and old-fashioned homonegativity between North American and European samples

The aim of the current study is to conduct a simultaneous cross-cultural assessment of modern and old-fashioned prejudice towards gay men and lesbian women. Data collected in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States were compared to assess whether any notable differences in prejudice occurred and whether specific predictors of homonegativity (i.e. age of participants, gender, level of self-reported religiosity, level of education and contact with either a gay man or a lesbian woman) demonstrate the same predictive utility across all samples. The findings obtained by the current study highlight specific discrepancies in the prevalence of old-fashioned and modern homonegativity and suggest that the demographic variables assessed failed to account for comparable levels of variance across all samples. Implications of these findings, limitations of the current study and directions for future research are explored.

Bi Now, Gay Later: Implicit and Explicit Binegativity Among Irish University Students

To date, no assessment of explicit attitudes toward bisexual men and women has occurred in the Republic of Ireland. Further, there are no published studies examining implicit attitudes toward this group. The current research addressed these omissions by investigating bi-negativity, at explicit and implicit levels, within an Irish context. Various pen-and-paper measures were administered to 208 undergraduate students (170 females) enrolled in 2nd- and 3rd-year psychology courses at a large university in Western Ireland. Among the most pertinent findings: explicit binegativity was somewhat prevalent within the sample, overall implicit attitudes reflected a bias toward heterosexuals and against bisexuals, men evidenced greater levels of explicit bi-negativity than women and no support was obtained for a model of cognitive consistency, which aims to articulate the various conditions in which implicit and explicit attitudes are intercorrelated. Limitations of the current study and directions for future research are discussed.

Experience of sexual self-esteem among men living with HIV

Much of the focus on sexual health for people living with HIV has been on promoting safe sex behaviours. However, also important for sexual health is a positive sexual self-esteem. This article reports on an interpretative phenomenological analysis of interviews with seven men about the impact that having HIV has had on their sense of sexual self. Five overarching themes were identified: the ‘destruction’ of a sexual self; feeling sexually hazardous; sexual inhibition; reclaiming a sexual self and finding a place through sero-sorting. With HIV now being a chronic illness, interventions are required to support people to lead sexually satisfying lives.

Psychometric Properties of the Support for Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Scale

The authors examined the psychometric properties of the Support for Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Scale (SLGHRS; S. J. Ellis, C. Kitzinger, & S. Wilkinson, 2002) by distributing copies of that instrument and several validation measures (e.g., religious fundamentalism) to 267 female students attending modules in psychology at a large Irish university. Output from an exploratory factor analysis did not support the tripartite structure that Ellis et al. noted. Instead, a 2-factor solution appeared to be most reasonable, with the 1st factor assessing global support for the human rights of sexual minorities (Global, 14 items) and the 2nd factor focusing more narrowly on the legality of homosexuality (Legal, 4 items). Scale score reliability coefficients for the 2 factors were .86 and .61, respectively. Scores on the Global subscale correlated significantly with all validation measures; however, the present authors obtained mixed results for the Legal subscale. The authors outline potential uses of the modified SLGHRS.

Ameliorating transnegativity: assessing the immediate and extended efficacy of a pedagogic prejudice reduction intervention

ABSTRACT We demonstrate that pedagogic interventions utilising mediated contact and the parasocial contact hypothesis provide an effective means of instantiating both an immediate and long-term reduction in prejudice towards transgender people. Through application of the parasocial contact hypothesis, our quasi-experiment demonstrates that exposure to the combined intervention of a panel presentation and a trans-themed film resulted in a significant reduction of self-reported prejudice immediately after exposure and this effect persisted up to 6 weeks later in a sample of 66 female university students. In addition to testing this effect, we also assess the relationship between prejudice towards transgender people and other forms of prejudice, including old-fashioned and modern prejudice towards gay men and lesbian women. In doing so we demonstrate that prejudice towards trans people appears to be conceptually related to prejudice towards gay men and not lesbian women. Limitations and directions for future research are explored.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender psychology: an international conversation among researchers

This article reports on a conversation between 12 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) psychologists at the first international LGBT Psychology Summer Institute at the University of Michigan in August 2009. Participants discuss how their work in LGBT psychology is affected by national policy, funding and academic contexts and the transnational influence of the US-based stigma model of LGBT psychology. The challenges and possibilities posed by internationalism are discussed with reference to the dominance of the United States, the cultural limits of terms such as ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender’, intergenerational communication between researchers and the role of events such as the Summer Institute in creating an international community of LGBT psychologists.

The priming function of in-car audio instruction:

Studies to date have focused on the priming power of visual road signs, but not the priming potential of audio road scene instruction. Here, the relative priming power of visual, audio, and multisensory road scene instructions was assessed. In a lab-based study, participants responded to target road scene turns following visual, audio, or multisensory road turn primes which were congruent or incongruent to the primes in direction, or control primes. All types of instruction (visual, audio, and multisensory) were successful in priming responses to a road scene. Responses to multisensory-primed targets (both audio and visual) were faster than responses to either audio or visual primes alone. Incongruent audio primes did not affect performance negatively in the manner of incongruent visual or multisensory primes. Results suggest that audio instructions have the potential to prime drivers to respond quickly and safely to their road environment. Peak performance will be observed if audio and visual road instruction primes can be timed to co-occur.

“I Want to Feel Like a Full Man”: Conceptualizing Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Men’s Sexual Difficulties

Current understandings of sexual difficulties originate from a model that is based on the study of heterosexual men and women. Most research has focused on sexual difficulties experienced by heterosexual men incapable of engaging in vaginal penetration. To better understand men’s perceptions and experiences of sexual difficulties, seven focus groups and 29 individual interviews were conducted with gay (n = 22), bisexual (n = 5), and heterosexual (n = 25) men. In addition, the extent to which difficulties reported by gay and bisexual men differ from heterosexual men was explored. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis applying an inductive approach. Two intercorrelated conceptualizations were identified: penis function (themes: medicalization, masculine identity, psychological consequences, coping mechanisms) and pain (themes: penile pain, pain during receptive anal sex). For the most part, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual men reported similar sexual difficulties; differences were evident regarding alternative masculinity, penis size competition, and pain during receptive anal sex. The results of this study demonstrate the complexity of men’s sexual difficulties and the important role of sociocultural, interpersonal, and psychological factors. Limitations and suggested directions for future research are outlined.