A Sociofunctional Approach To Understanding Transphobia

Despite widespread evidence of anti-transgender prejudice and discrimination, research has yet to determine the nature of prejudice against transgender people. This study used the sociofunctional threat approach (Cottrell & Neuberg, 2005) to examine threat perceptions (contamination threats, obstacle threats, physical safety threats, and threats to reciprocity relations) and emotional reactions (disgust, anger, fear, pity) to transgender (transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary people) and cisgender (cisgender women, cisgender men, and bisexual people) targets. Results from an online survey suggest that transgender targets evoke higher threat perceptions and negative emotions than cisgender targets; additionally, this tended to be the case for male participants more often than female participants. These results provide more details on the negative associations that underlie transphobia, providing stepping stones for focusing future interventions