Honeymoon Vacation: Sexual-Orientation Prejudice and Inconsistent Behavioral Responses Dawn M. Howerton, Andrea L. Meltzer, and Michael A. Olson University of Tennessee, Knoxville Majority group members often hold inconsistent attitudes and behave inconsistently toward minority group members (LaPiere, 1934). We conceptually replicated LaPiere (1934) to examine discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in two studies. As predicted, randomly selected bed-and-breakfasts were more likely to discriminate against gay male individuals when impersonally contacted (Study 1) than when person- ally contacted (Study 2), suggesting an attitude–behavior discrepancy. We reason that establishments were more likely to discriminate when they did not have the motivation to appear nonprejudicial, and we discuss the results in terms of the MODE model of attitude–behavioral processes. Individuals’ negative attitudes toward gay men and lesbians often lead to discrimination in both overt and subtle ways (Jost, Banaji, & Nosek, 2004; Sullivan & Wodarski, 2002; Waldo, 1998). In most of the United States, for example, same-sex marriage is prohibited (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2010), and same-sex couples often face more challenges than het- erosexual couples when adopting children (Clifford, Hertz, & Doskow, 2010). In addition, gay men who live together earn 23% less, on average, than similar married men (Elmslie & Tebaldi, 2007), and gay men and les- bians are less likely to receive hotel accommodations than heterosexual individuals (Jones, 1996). But gay men and lesbians also receive differential treatment and are the targets of discrimination in more subtle ways. For example, when confederates telephoned part- icipants and asked them to help relay messages to their romantic partners, fewer messages were relayed on behalf of gay male and lesbian confederates than hetero- sexual confederates (Ellis & Fox, 2001; Gabriel & Banse, 2006). Despite prevalent prejudice toward gay men and les- bians, studies indicate such negative attitudes do not always predict negative behavior toward these indivi- duals (Conley, Evett, & Devine, 2007; Hebl, Foster, Mannix, & Dovidio, 2002; Zitek & Hebl, 2006). For example, Zitek and Hebl (2006) found that when a con- federate presented nonprejudicial cues, participants responded in a more positive manner to gay men and lesbians than when they were not faced with nonprejudi- cial cues. Likewise, Conley and colleagues (2007) found that participants who had imagined they would behave in a negative manner when interacting with a gay man did not actually behave negatively when in a face-to-face interaction with a gay man, and sexual minorities are no less likely to receive a job interview than heterosexual individuals (Hebl et al., 2002). Fazio’s (1990) Motivation and Opportunity as Deter- minants (MODE) model of attitude–behavior relations provides one theoretical explanation for these inconsis- tencies (see also Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Lord & Lepper, 1999; McGuire, 1985; Wallace, Paulson, Lord, & Bond, 2005; Zanna & Rempel, 1988). Briefly, the model argues that whether attitudes predict behavior depends on (a) the accessibility of the relevant attitude, (b) the opport- unity to consider information alternative to one’s atti- tude, and (c) the motivation to do something other than what the attitude might imply. Generally, attitudes are less likely to predict behaviors when individuals have both the motivation and opportunity to consider alter- natives. Accordingly, individuals who are prejudiced toward gay men and lesbians but have both the motiv- ation and opportunity to treat them positively will Correspondence should be sent to Dawn M. Howerton, Depart- ment of Psychology, University of Tennessee, Austin Peay Building, Knoxville, TN 37996. E-mail: dhowert1@utk.edu BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 34:146–151, 2012 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0197-3533 print=1532-4834 online DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2012.655638 Downloaded by [University of Tennessee, Knoxville] at 06:30 02 November 2012