Too much too soon? Testing explicit self-disclosure on attitudes toward gay men

• Main Authors: Chong, Amelia Yu-Wen, Bart, Hugo-Morgan, Sarah Marlena Malik, Tan, Sharon Wei Ping
• Other Authors: Benjamin Hill Detenber
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Communication::Communication theories and models
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/63398
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Intergroup contact research has employed the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954) to examine ways of reducing sexual prejudice between homosexuals and heterosexuals. However, they have yet to treat self-disclosure strategies over computer-mediated contact as a focal point of investigation. This is despite the potential of computer-mediated communication (CMC) in helping the contact process by circumventing some of its conditions. This study’s main aim is to determine if direct self-disclosure is, “too much, too soon” and if it could present a negative effect on attitudes toward gay men (ATG) due to its highly-intimate nature. The present study examines type of self-disclosure (i.e., direct or indirect self-disclosures of homosexual orientation) and social harmony values, and its effects on ATG in the bicultural context of Singapore. Two additional dependent variables will be measured: i) attitudes toward self-disclosure (ATSD) and ii) relational intimacy (RI). 227 students from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore participated in a cooperative contact experiment online and completed pretest and posttest measures. During the experiment, research confederates adopted a constructed identity and were paired with participants to discuss six tips on improving university campus life. Confederates declared their character’s homosexual orientation either directly or indirectly midway through the online interaction. No significant main effects were found for type of self-disclosure or social harmony values on ATG, ATSD and RI. Interaction effects were also found to be nonsignificant. Follow-up focus group sessions were conducted to understand their online interaction experience. Possible explanations to our null findings and future directions for research are also discussed.