'Gaydar' exists, US study shows

17 May 2012, 1:14 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Volunteers asked to distinguish between photos of 'straight' and 'gay' faces were able to do so in just 50 milliseconds - a third of the time of an eyeblink.

Volunteers asked to distinguish between photos of 'straight' and 'gay' faces were able to do so in just 50 milliseconds - a third of the time of an eyeblink.

People can pick a stranger's sexual orientation with a fair degree of accuracy within a fraction of a second, American research has found.

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Most people possess an automatic 'gaydar' that assesses sexual orientation in less than a blink of an eye, research has shown.

In tests, scientists found that gaydar works on an unconscious level and is more accurate when directed at women.

Volunteers asked to distinguish between photos of "straight" and "gay" faces were able to do so in just 50 milliseconds - a third of the time of an eyeblink.

Their accuracy remained greater than chance even when the photos were upside-down.

For women's faces, participants were 65 per cent accurate in guessing sexual orientation when the photos were briefly flashed on a computer screen.

Differentiating between gay and straight men turned out to be harder. In this case, gaydar got the answer right only 57 per cent of the time.

The research, published in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE, involved 129 college students.

They were each shown 96 photos of young men and women who identified themselves as gay or straight.

US psychologist Joshua Tabak, who led the study at the University of Washington, said: "It may be similar to how we don't have to think about whether someone is a man or a woman or black or white.

"This information confronts us in everyday life."

Only photos of people without "give-away" clues such as facial hair, make-up or piercings were used in the experiment.

The photos were also cropped so that only faces, not hairstyles, were visible.

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Your Comments

flawed science

Taj - from Sydney, 12 months ago

This is seriously flawed, they've only used photos of people who openly identified as gay or straight... what about bisexuals and asexuals? What about people who are unsure or still in the 'closet'? Surely including people who identify as something other then gay/straight in the test photos would be a better test of the accuracy of "gaydar"? Human sexuality isn't one or the other, it is various shades of grey.

not Wondering now

dwayne - from geelong, 12 months ago

129 participants: 57% = 74 got it right = 55 got it wrong. Sounds slightly better than chance but re picking the woman, there is definitely something to it. More interesting is why are the women easier to pick than men. Not surprised about Batman though. Rich bachelor lives alone with butler and no woman in sight.. just boy robin in leather. Just please dont tell me my lusting for Wonder Woman was all in vain

give science a chance

ophu - from abbeville USA, 1 year

fifty seven percent is statistically significant and indicates there is more than chance involved--give science a chance in this--not everything has to be about belief

Silly

James - from Melbourne, 1 year

What dribble. How can you know if someone is gay or not. Someone may seem gay to you but they just may be more feminine than the average guy, but of course people label that as gay. If your into fashion and art suddenly your gay, if you look after your appearance, you gay. This articles just silly.

statistical significance?

Science - from Melbourne, 1 year

50mS? that seems to be at the limit of reaction time, or in fact faster What is the confidence level on this result? 57% is little better than random chance. Incomplete reporting is incomplete.

???

Anthony - from Townsville, 1 year

Exactly what facial hair, make-up or piercings are supposed to say "I'm gay"???What a load of rot!

Also

Alex - from Brisbane, 1 year

How can other people know someone is gay when many gays have a hard enough time working out they are gay in the first place? There are huge varying degrees of gayness and what about Bi sexuals. That would really stuff my gaydar up!

Wrong

Alex - from Brisbane, 1 year

This is a poor interpretation of results. These results indicate there IS NO gaydar. Chance is 50 / 50 and thats when doing something completely blind. These people were shown pictures which stimulated stereotypical snap judgements of people. Because there is some truth to all stereotypes this increases their chance of guessing correcting, likely by the margin which is present in the stats. @Annie, there is value to research like this. These researchers are never going to be the ones to cure SID

dr

annie - from sydney, 1 year

what rubbish and who cares research like this is a waste of time find a cure for sid instead people are people dont judge by the outside or people could end up very wrong

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