What do two men kissing and a bucket of maggots have in common? Heterosexual men’s indistinguishable salivary !-amylase responses to photos of two men kissing and disgusting images

The current study sought to examine how Utah men’s physiological reactions to viewing same-sex public displays of affection (PDA), measured through salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), differ as a function of sexual prejudice, as assessed using the Attitudes Towards Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG) and the Modern Homonegativity Scale. In examining physiological responses to same-sex PDA, the present study hoped to assist in explaining current levels of anti-gay hate crimes despite growing positive public opinion for the LGBTQ community. Participants in the current study viewed six different slide shows depicting same-sex PDA, mixed-sex PDA, everyday items, and disgusting images, while providing saliva samples in the lab. A series of paired-samples t-tests was performed and found that sAA responses to images of same-sex kissing (t(98) = 3.124, p = .002) and universally disgusting images (t(98) = 2.128, p = .036) were significantly greater than sAA responses to the slide show depicting everyday items. This result held across the full sample, regardless of individual levels of prejudice. The results of the current study suggest that all individuals, not just highly sexually prejudiced individuals, may experience a physiological response indicative of stress when witnessing a male same-sex couple kissing. The possibility of a socialised disgust response to same-sex PDA is discussed.