Sexual identity and same sex attraction

Psychology - Sexual Orientation

THE DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY of HOMOSEXUALITY

The purpose of this brief study was to determine the accuracy of the proposition that absolute heterosexuality is a comparatively rare phenomenon and that most individuals maintain a certain capacity toward homosexual attraction. The results indicated that the proposition is not true but reflects the psychological phenomenon of projection and a specific logically flawed conclusion based on false assumptions in connection with anecdotal experiences of homosexual and bisexual individuals. Introduction:

Gay rights activists have frequently suggested that exclusive heterosexuality is not the natural state of human psychosexual identity. According to this view, human psychosexual identity and capacity for homosexual attraction exists on a wide spectrum between absolute heterosexuality on one polar end and absolute homosexuality on the opposite polar end, with the vast majority of individuals represented much closer to the middle than either end (Progressiveu 2008).

Likewise, proponents of this position maintain that the apparent predominance of heterosexual identity in society is primarily a function of the socialization process rather than innate tendencies. Specifically, they point out that social norms strongly encourage heterosexual orientation and simultaneously promote anti-homosexual sentiments (Poole, et al. 2007), thereby discouraging any deviation from the heterosexual social norm and associating it with shame and embarrassment (Progressiveu 2008). Finally, many gay rights activists have suggested that the large apparent prevalence of heterosexuality in comparison to homosexual orientation evident in society is simply a function of the degree to which genuine sexual identity is shaped by subconscious sexual repression as a result of social pressure to conform to the heterosexual norm (Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005).

This brief study attempts to discover whether individuals who consider themselves absolutely heterosexual using data collected from questionnaires designed to distinguish inherent heterosexual identity tendencies from heterosexual identity that is a function of socialization and the psychological repression of naturally bisexual or homosexual inherent tendencies. Literature Review:

Progressiveu.org is a gay activist website that promotes the belief that heterosexuality is not as strong a natural human norm as suggested by generally accepted statistics; rather, it is largely attributable to socialization and social pressures. The Story of Human Development is a comprehensive college-level textbook on developmental human psychology. Psychology and Life is a comprehensive college-level textbook on developmental human psychology. The Kinsey Institute is an organization founded in 1947 dedicated to understanding human sexuality in relation sex, gender, and reproduction and to the famous earlier series of related studies first published by Alfred Kinsey in1948.

Hypothesis:

The experimental hypothesis was that human sexual identity does exist on a wide spectrum in-between the opposites of absolute heterosexual orientation and absolute homosexual orientation, but the fact that most individuals are heterosexual is more reflective of a natural inherent tendency in that direction rather than to socialization and repression.

Method:

Participants in this brief study initially consisted of 300 college student ranging in age from 17 to 24 from whom a smaller test group of 100 participants was selected for the study. The group of 100 comprised 50 individuals who identified themselves as heterosexual and 50 individuals who identified themselves as bisexual or homosexual within the larger group of 300 individuals of undisclosed sexual preference.

Materials used for this study consisted of a series of questionnaires: Series 1 was distributed to 300 individuals and included the question identifying sexual preference; Series 2 was designed to gauge the degree to which study participants considered themselves able to disclose potentially embarrassing information in an anonymous study; Series 3 consisted of specific questions designed to reveal any perceptions or disclosures on the part of participants consistent with the hypothesis.

The procedure employed by this study consisted of distributing Series 1 questionnaires to college students on two campuses with an effort made to include homosexual and bisexual individuals by soliciting responses from members of acknowledged gay associations as well as from the general student population. The experimenters then used Series 2 questions to narrow the original field of 300 participants to a smaller field of 100 to identify those individuals who expressed confidence in their willingness to discuss the issue of homosexuality openly in their answers to Series 3 questions. Series 3 questions are discussed in further detail in the Discussion section below.

Discussion:

The results of the study consisted of the responses to the following questions in the Series 3 Questionnaire: (1) Have you ever experienced doubt that you are completely heterosexual/homosexual/bisexual? (2) if yes, please describe any changes in your self-perception of sexual orientation between your first sexual thoughts and your present sexual orientation; (3) Please describe any doubts, confusions, or concerns you have ever experienced about your sexual orientation.