Going beyond a binary system of categorization? Social dominance orientation and conservatism predict negative evaluations of bisexual people and (especially) nonbinary and transgender people

Abstract

Past research has found need for closure (NFC; a preference for cognitive simplicity) to be an especially relevant predictor of negative evaluations of bisexual people. We extended this work in two survey-based, correlational studies by examining NFC, social dominance orientation (SDO), and conservatism as predictors of negative judgments of bisexual and nonbinary people, two groups that may be perceived as “complicating” identity categorization. Study 1 (N = 498) showed that NFC was not an especially strong predictor of negative judgments of nonbinary and bisexual targets. Rather, SDO and conservatism were more strongly associated with negative judgments of nonbinary people compared to sexual minority targets. Study 2 (N = 536) replicated these findings and yielded similar effects for negative judgments of transgender targets compared to sexual minority targets. Our findings suggest that ideological differences are currently pertinent to understanding judgments of nonbinary and transgender people.