Outgroup homogeneity effects 2
Predicting Outgroup Homogeneity Effects: Factors Contributing to Perceived Similarities
in Attitudes toward People with AIDS and by Gender and Sexual Orientation
Perceived similarities between ingroups and outgroups have been studied by
numerous researchers (e.g., Bartsch & Judd, 1993; Simon & Brown, 1987; Simon &
Mummendey, 1990). Factors that are predictors of perceived similarities between groups
vary depending on whether the subjects belong to a minority or a majority group (Simon,
1992). People often associate AIDS with homosexuals and injection drug users (e.g.,
Gray & Saracino, 1989; Pryor, Reeder, & Landau, 1999). These “different” categories of
people (i.e., people with AIDS or homosexuals) are often grouped together under one
umbrella and may also be regarded as interchangeable. The consequences of such
perceived similarities between different people are stigma, non-disclosure, and loss of
social support (Herek & Glunt, 1988; Kimberly, Serovich, & Greene, 1995).
The outgroup homogeneity effect is often used to explain intergroup
discrimination and bias (Quattrone & Jones, 1980; Wilder, 1986). According to Leary
and Schreindorfer (1998) stigma manifests socially as “interpersonal disassociation”,
meaning that people start disassociating from (that is, avoiding, excluding, ostracizing, or
otherwise minimizing interaction with) individuals who are perceived to have certain
characteristics. People with AIDS are often perceived as members of an outgroup
(Devine, Plant, & Harrison, 1999), and stigma can lead to negative health consequences
through loss of social support (see e.g., Derlega et al., 2002; Greene, Derlega, Yep, &
Petronio, in press). People are motivated to protect their social identity by perceiving
themselves as members of a non-deviant ingroup, and this may lead to greater drawing of
boundaries between people with AIDS and other people. The degree of homophobia is
Convention