Judging a book by its cover: gay men's use of perceptible characteristics to infer antibody status. NLM AIDSLINE Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

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Judging a book by its cover: gay men's use of perceptible characteristics to infer antibody status.

Int J STD AIDS. 1996 Jan-Feb;7(1):39-43. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE MED/96228424
Gold RS; Skinner MJ; School of Psychology, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract: This study investigated gay men's use of perceptible characteristics to infer antibody status. Participants (n = 66) read brief descriptions of men they did not know and estimated the likelihood that they were HIV-infected. Each description highlighted one of 6 characteristics: physical attractiveness, intelligence/education level, healthy appearance and lifestyle, personality, a combination of the preceding, and wealth. Three versions of each sketch were used; they depicted the man in positive, neutral, and negative terms respectively. There were significant differences in the ratings for the 3 versions in the case of every characteristic except wealth. In general, the negative version elicited higher ratings (corresponding to a greater likelihood that the man was HIV-positive) than either the positive or neutral versions; in the case of physical attractiveness, the positive version elicited higher ratings than the neutral version. Results are discussed in relation to earlier findings regarding gay men's inferences during sexual encounters, of antibody status from perceptible characteristic; to possible differences between AIDS-related thinking during sexual encounters and in the cold light of day; and to educational techniques that might be used to counter inferences of this type.
Keywords: Adolescence Adult Analysis of Variance *Attitude to Health Body Image Choice Behavior Factor Analysis, Statistical Homosexuality, Male/*PSYCHOLOGY Human HIV Seropositivity/*PSYCHOLOGY Intelligence Male Middle Age Personality Questionnaires Retrospective Studies *Stereotyping JOURNAL ARTICLEKWDadolescenceadultanalysisofvarianceKWDattitudetohealthbodyimagechoicebehaviorfactoranalysis,statisticalhomosexuality,male/KWDpsychologyhumanhivseropositivity/KWDpsychologyintelligencemalemiddleagepersonalityquestionnairesretrospectivestudiesKWDstereotypingjournalarticle
961030
M96A1436

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