I see at least two problems with this case study.
First, what sort of sampling bias is introduced by studying only men who are willing to view such materials? It seems highly implausible to me that this effect is zero.
Second, if true, this theory should generalize to other cases of people who express an exceptionally strong opposition towards some low-status/disreputable behavior that can be practiced covertly, or some low-status beliefs that can be held in secret. Yet it’s hard for me to think of any analogous examples that would be the subject of either folk theories or scientific studies.
In fact, this generalization would lead to the conclusion that respectable high-status activists who crusade against various behaviors and attitudes that are nowadays considered disreputable, evil, dangerous, etc., should be suspected that they do it because they themselves engage in such behaviors (or hold such attitudes) covertly. The funny thing is, in places and social circles where homophobia is considered disreputable, this should clearly apply to campaigners against homophobia!
Second, if true, this theory should generalize to other cases of people who express an exceptionally strong opposition towards some low-status/disreputable behavior that can be practiced covertly, or some low-status beliefs that can be held in secret. Yet it’s hard for me to think of any analogous examples that would be the subject of either folk theories or scientific studies.
There are a few other scientific results of this type: search the literature under “reaction formation”. For example:
Morokoff (1985): Women high in self-reported “sex guilt” have lower self-reported reaction to erotic stimuli but higher physiological arousal.
Dutton & Lake (1976): Whites with no history of prejudice and self-reported egalitarian beliefs were given bogus feedback during a task intended to convince them they were subconsciously prejudiced (falsely told that they had high skin response ratings of fear/anger when shown slides of interracial couples). After they had left the building, they were approached by either a black or white beggar. Whites who had received the false racism feedback gave more to the black beggar (though not to the white beggar) than whites who had not.
Sherman and Garkin (1980): Subjects were asked to solve a difficult riddle in which the trick answer involved sex-roles, such that after failing they felt “implicitly accused of sexism” (couldn’t find the exact riddle, but I imagine something like this). Afterwards they were asked to evaluate a sex-discrimination case. People who had previously had to solve the riddle gave harsher verdicts against a man accused of sexual discrimination than those who had not.
I’ve heard anecdotal theories of a few similar effects—for example, that the loudest and most argumentative religious believers are the ones who secretly doubt their own faith.
Overall I probably shouldn’t have included the case study because I don’t think Trivers’ theory stands or falls on this one point, and it’s probably not much more than tangential to the whole idea of a conscious/unconscious divide.
I’ve heard that any emotional response which causes an increase in blood pressure (including anxiety, anger, or disgust) will tend to increase penile circumference (which is what was measured in the homophobia study). This was discussed recently on Reddit (e.g., this comment).
The results of these tests have a much simpler explanation. Let’s say we played a prank on all of humanity. We slipped each person a jar of caustic bitter quinine under the guise of delicious squash caviar. A week later, we conduct a mass social survey: “How much do such pranks irritate you?” It is natural to expect that the people who tend to eat any food quickly, without immediately paying attention to its smell and taste, will show the strongest hatred for such things. This will not mean that they are quinine lovers. But it will mean that they mistakenly managed to eat some quinine before their body detected the substitution. Therefore, they became especially angry and became “quininephobes”.
First, what sort of sampling bias is introduced by studying only men who are willing to view such materials? It seems highly implausible to me that this effect is zero.
Would this have an effect on the difference between homophobes and non-homophobes? Intuitively, it should have a uniform effect across the board so that the comparison of differences is still valid (though what Unnamed mentions in response to the parent undermines this), though this is hard to know without checking.
I see at least two problems with this case study.
First, what sort of sampling bias is introduced by studying only men who are willing to view such materials? It seems highly implausible to me that this effect is zero.
Second, if true, this theory should generalize to other cases of people who express an exceptionally strong opposition towards some low-status/disreputable behavior that can be practiced covertly, or some low-status beliefs that can be held in secret. Yet it’s hard for me to think of any analogous examples that would be the subject of either folk theories or scientific studies.
In fact, this generalization would lead to the conclusion that respectable high-status activists who crusade against various behaviors and attitudes that are nowadays considered disreputable, evil, dangerous, etc., should be suspected that they do it because they themselves engage in such behaviors (or hold such attitudes) covertly. The funny thing is, in places and social circles where homophobia is considered disreputable, this should clearly apply to campaigners against homophobia!
There are a few other scientific results of this type: search the literature under “reaction formation”. For example:
Morokoff (1985): Women high in self-reported “sex guilt” have lower self-reported reaction to erotic stimuli but higher physiological arousal.
Dutton & Lake (1976): Whites with no history of prejudice and self-reported egalitarian beliefs were given bogus feedback during a task intended to convince them they were subconsciously prejudiced (falsely told that they had high skin response ratings of fear/anger when shown slides of interracial couples). After they had left the building, they were approached by either a black or white beggar. Whites who had received the false racism feedback gave more to the black beggar (though not to the white beggar) than whites who had not.
Sherman and Garkin (1980): Subjects were asked to solve a difficult riddle in which the trick answer involved sex-roles, such that after failing they felt “implicitly accused of sexism” (couldn’t find the exact riddle, but I imagine something like this). Afterwards they were asked to evaluate a sex-discrimination case. People who had previously had to solve the riddle gave harsher verdicts against a man accused of sexual discrimination than those who had not.
I’ve heard anecdotal theories of a few similar effects—for example, that the loudest and most argumentative religious believers are the ones who secretly doubt their own faith.
Overall I probably shouldn’t have included the case study because I don’t think Trivers’ theory stands or falls on this one point, and it’s probably not much more than tangential to the whole idea of a conscious/unconscious divide.
That’s extremely interesting—thanks for the references!
I’ve heard that any emotional response which causes an increase in blood pressure (including anxiety, anger, or disgust) will tend to increase penile circumference (which is what was measured in the homophobia study). This was discussed recently on Reddit (e.g., this comment).
The results of these tests have a much simpler explanation. Let’s say we played a prank on all of humanity. We slipped each person a jar of caustic bitter quinine under the guise of delicious squash caviar. A week later, we conduct a mass social survey: “How much do such pranks irritate you?” It is natural to expect that the people who tend to eat any food quickly, without immediately paying attention to its smell and taste, will show the strongest hatred for such things. This will not mean that they are quinine lovers. But it will mean that they mistakenly managed to eat some quinine before their body detected the substitution. Therefore, they became especially angry and became “quininephobes”.
Would this have an effect on the difference between homophobes and non-homophobes? Intuitively, it should have a uniform effect across the board so that the comparison of differences is still valid (though what Unnamed mentions in response to the parent undermines this), though this is hard to know without checking.