The Consequences of Prototypicality: Testing the Prejudice Distribution Account of Bias Toward Gay Men

Public Significance Statement People view highly prototypical gay men to be more identified and involved with the gay community compared to low prototypical gay men. Additionally, perceivers treated highly prototypical gay men with more prejudice than low prototypical gay men. Perceived group identification and negative stereotype attribution were found to mediate the relationship between prototypicality and discrimination. The current study assessed how the extent to which a gay man resembled a prototypical gay man influenced the judgements others made about them. We hypothesized that highly prototypical gay men would be perceived to be more identified with the gay community, possess more negative stereotypes of gay men, engage in more activities within the gay community, viewed less positively by others, and receive more discrimination. Additionally, perceived group identification and negative stereotypes attributed to the gay man were expected to serially mediate the relationship between prototypicality and perceived engagement in gay activities, positive attitudes, and discrimination from others. Participants (N = 364) were randomly assigned to view stimuli depicting either a low or high prototypical gay man. High prototypical gay men were perceived to be more identified with the gay community, possess more negative stereotypes, and engage in more stereotypical immoral activities, than low prototypical gay men. Moreover, perceived group identification and negative stereotype attribution serially mediated the relationship between prototypicality and perceived engagement in gay activities, attitudes toward target, and discrimination. Implications for the Prejudice Distribution Account are discussed.