UCLA

In this dissertation, I find that men's motivation to maintain manhood status explains why working with an openly gay opponent can increase performance. Study 1 finds that the prospect of competing against a gay male opponent causes men to be more implicitly aware of their masculinity. Study 2 demonstrates that men's motivation to reaffirm their manhood status actually increase performance on a masculine-typed task when the opponent is openly gay rather than openly straight. Finally, Study 3 finds that when the task is feminine-typed and thus performing better than a gay opponent would be threatening, men who compete against an openly gay opponent perform worse than men who compete against an openly straight opponent. Thus, it is men's concern about maintaining manhood status that influences performance when competing against an openly gay opponent.