Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Substantial research has been devoted in recent years to the development of a new and\nalternative test methodology to the standard explicit questionnaire (De Houwer, 2006). This\ncurrent research was concerned with the laboratory development of one alternative\nmethodology known as the Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST; O'Reilly, Roche, Ruiz,\nTyndall, & Gavin, 2012), into a functionally understood assessment of homonegativity, or\nanti-gay bias. In brief, the FAST was built around the idea that the stronger a pre-existing\nrelation is between two classes of stimuli (e.g., Gay-Bad), the more resistance will be\nencountered when learning to form a new functional response class that is in opposition to it\n(e.g., Gay-Good).\nThis current research programme has focused primarily on establishing the optimal\nstimulus set for a Homonegativity FAST. Specifically, Experiments 1 and 2 utilised a knowngroups\napproach to compare and contrast the relative effectiveness of semantically\nrepresentative verbal and pictorial exemplars in a "single-phase" Gay-Good FAST.\nExperiments 3a and 3b investigated the suitability of more emotive pictorial stimuli high in\naffective valence in a "two phase" FAST, assessing the resistance to the formation of a Gay-\nGood class relative to neutral or contrasting functional stimulus classes.\nTogether, the findings from this research suggest that affective pictorial stimuli are the\nmost suitable exemplars in a FAST for homonegative prejudice. Additionally, this research\nhighlighted the enhanced stability of a "two-phase" FAST examining Gay-Good and Gay-\nBad verbal histories simultaneously for providing a more accurate and conceptually valid\nassessment of homonegativity. Thus, over the course of this research, the FAST has been\nrefined and developed into a functionally understood prototype for the assessment of\nhomonegativity. More specifically, this research has identified an effective and representative\nstimulus set, in addition to establishing a valid and stable tw0-phase FAST format capable of ascertaining an individual's homonegative verbal histories.
Author: Aoife Cartwright
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W875981301