Indirectly assessing attitudes toward gender nonconformity using prototypes

Abstract

The present research was designed to indirectly measure attitudes toward physical and psychological gender nonconformity in others using prototyping. The types of descriptive attributes provided as well as the negative or positive valence of the attributes were used to determine participant attitudes toward gender nonconformity. A frequency distribution and associations rule analysis revealed the most commonly used attributes and the most important association rules for each prototype. Non-parametric tests revealed that there were significantly more negative attributes provided for all four prototypes than positive attributes, p < .0001. Additionally, chi square analyses revealed that across prototype type, there were significantly more negative attributes provided for the physical prototypes than for the positive prototypes , X2 = .760, p < .0001; there was no significant difference in number of negative or positive attributes provided across prototype gender. Factors of prototype similarity and prototype evaluation were considered and were correlated with the direct Attitudes toward Gender Nonconformity Scale (ATGN) developed by Krum and Galupo (2010). Demographic factors were explored and implications for the field, including a theoretical development of our understanding of these attitudes and implications for effected communities such as the LGBT community were discussed.