CENTENNIAL HONORS COLLEGE
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2015
Poster Presentation
Reactions Toward Heterosexual and Homosexual Public Displays of Intimacy
Jana Berryman
Faculty Mentor: Colin Harbke
Psychology
The purpose of this research was to discover how people feel about viewing displays of public intimacy
by others. Previous research has shown that feelings of disgust or profound disapproval are significantly
present when gay men are seen kissing in public. Research has also shown that lesbians experience
higher levels of approval or acceptance in the general population. When rated by women, however, this is
not the case. 389 participants (304 female) rated 10 photos on a scale from 1 to 11, where higher mean
ratings indicated more acceptance of the couples in the photographs. The 10 photographs depicted a
variety of couples (e.g, lesbian) at varying degrees of intimacy (e.g., kissing). The pictures of gay men
kissing (M = 7.81, SD = 2.61) had a lower mean than most of the other picture categories, including
middle aged heterosexuals cuddling (M = 8.86, SD = 1.85), young heterosexuals cuddling (M = 8.80, SD
= 1.94), and old heterosexuals cuddling (M = 8.48, SD = 2.15). Contrary to our hypothesis, the picture of
lesbians kissing (M = 6.94, SD = 2.63) had a lower acceptance rate than gay men. Comparison of the
ratings made between male and female participants, suggest that the lowest overall rating for the lesbian
couple can be attributed to having an abundance of women (78.15%) in the sample. Although differences
were noted between men and women, the general pattern of results suggests greater acceptance of public
displays of intimacy toward heterosexual couples than toward homosexual couples.