Development and Psychometric Properties of the Hate-Motivated Behavior Checklist (HMBC)

Hate-motivated behavior (HMB) in criminal and noncriminal forms is a public health dilemma. This study is an advanced measurement of the perpetration of HMB through development of the Hate-Motivated Behavior Checklist (HMBC). Through a cross-sectional online-administered survey of adults ( N = 289), we examined: (a) factor structure and internal consistency of HMBC behaviors, (b) descriptive patterns of targeted groups and motivations for HMB, and (c) correlates of HMBC behaviors. Findings support a single-factor HMBC behaviors score with high internal consistency. HMB based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and sex were the most commonly endorsed. The most highly endorsed motivations for HMB were perceived intrusion and perceived threat. Antigay prejudice, antilesbian prejudice, positive views of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and Nazis were among significant correlates of HMB perpetration. The HMBC represents a preliminary research measurement tool for the assessment of HMB in need of further psychometric study.

Religion and Prejudice Across Cultures: A Test of the Threat-Constraint Model

The present set of studies investigated the role of being religious in the prediction of various forms of prejudice. Following the threat-constraint model, we predicted that contexts characterized by high threat attenuate—or constrain—the relationship between individual differences in being religious on the one hand and antigay prejudice and sexism on the other. A worldwide investigation of these regional constraints was conducted in the Americas Barometer (125,984 individuals nested in 20 countries; Study 1), the World Values Survey (69,798 individuals nested in 45 countries; Study 2), and the European Social Survey (44,386 individuals nested in 274 Nomenclature des Unités Territoriales Statistiques regions; Study 3). Results identify a key moderating role of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, revealing strong associations between religion and prejudice in regions low in power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and collectivism, whereas the religion–prejudice association is constrained (i.e., weaker and often absent) in regions high on those cultural dimensions.

‘One can hardly call them homophobic’: Denials of antigay prejudice within the same-sex marriage debate

The United Kingdom’s Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act (2013) was framed by the Government as an equality measure and, as such, those who opposed the legislation were likely to be sensitive to possible accusations of prejudice. This article examines opposition to marriage equality within the British press and explores how denials of homophobia were made. Opponents to same-sex marriage attended to commonsense notions of ‘homophobes’, either by aligning their views with categories of persons not typically considered homophobic or by distancing their views from a homophobic other. Opponents also offered a counter-accusation that it was liberal supporters of same-sex marriage who were intolerant. Parallels are drawn with discursive literature on racist discourse and it appears that despite social scientists’ attempts to expand the concept of antigay prejudice, homophobia is commonly referred to in terms of irrational bigoted individuals.

Multilevel Intergroup Contact and Antigay Prejudice (Explicit and Implicit)

Intergroup contact at the individual level is robustly associated with lower prejudice, but intergroup contact occurs within a greater regional context. Multilevel examinations thus far have focused on interethnic contact, where both individual- and contextual-level contact are associated with lower explicit prejudice. Given that ethnicity is visible, two lingering questions concern whether (a) contextual contact effects only apply to visible outgroups and (b) contextual contact effects predict implicit prejudice in addition to explicit prejudice. In two studies, we tested these questions in the domain of sexual orientation. Individual- and contextual-level contact were simultaneously (uniquely) associated with lower implicit and explicit prejudice: Individuals having more contact with gay men/lesbians were less prejudiced toward gay men and lesbians, and individuals living in areas with greater contact with gay men/lesbians were less prejudiced toward gay men/lesbians. It seems that people need not directly witness intergroup contact in their region for contextual contact effects to occur.