The impact of cues of stigma and support on self-perceived sexual orientation among heterosexually identified men and women

Sexual orientation can be thought of as encompassing both actual sexual experience (e.g., behavior, attraction, fantasy) and beliefs about those experiences. We refer to those beliefs as self-perceived sexual orientation. We report the first experimental evidence that manipulating situational cues directly impacts self-perceived sexual orientation among heterosexually identified men and women. Across three studies that used distinct manipulations (both explicit and implicit), measured different outcomes, and sampled different ages, we found that cues of support for same-sex sexuality lead to self-perceived sexual orientation containing more same-sex sexuality than did cues of stigma against same-sex sexuality. We discuss the implications for understanding the role of factors outside of actual sexual experience in the development and maintenance of sexual orientation.