Individuals who can be classified as homophobic respond to homosexual stimuli with the development of anxiety. This anxiety can cause biological reactions and emotional response that can be considered heterosexist. .
Psychoanalyst and scientist Gregory M. Herek has conducted studies and surveys to investigate what circumstances under which a person can be classified as suffering from homophobia. With the results of his research, Herek has compiled the following list of characteristics of a true homophobic individual. He states that a homophobe is :.
1. likely to have less contact with homosexuals.
2. less likely to report having engaged in homosexual behavior or to identify as a homosexual.
3. more likely to perceive their peers as manifesting negative attitudes.
4. more likely to have been raised in environment fostering negative attitudes toward homosexuals.
5. likely to be older and less well-educated.
6. more likely to be religious and subscribe to a conservative religious ideology .
7. more likely to express traditional restrictive attitudes about sex roles.
8. manifest guilt and negativity about sexuality.
9. manifest high levels of authoritarianism and related personality characteristics.
Although this is not an all-inclusive profile by which to categorize people, it is a guiding tool in assessing the intensity of someone's fear and its affect on his life. Likewise, there is no concrete explanation for the phobia. Many psychologists, however, have devoted attention to the issue and propose several contributing factors to the fear. Within each division of psychology exists a proposed explanation for the fear.
Psychoanalysis, the theory or treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology. Sigmund Freud, perhaps the most famous psychologist in this field, suggests that an exclusive heterosexual orientation is a result of biological causes, social prohibitions on homoeroticism, and early experiences with parents .
