The Psychology of Transphobia

Why are people transphobic? What is the psychology of transphobia?

0:00 Intro
1:08 The Explanations You Expected
4:44 Over-Sensitivity to Disgust
7:33 Self-Hatred
9:07 Intelligence...or lack thereof...
15:03 Authoritarianism
15:47 Other Factors
16:53 Is "Transphobia" Even the Right Word?
18:21 Concluding Thoughts

Sources:
--Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford (1950) – The authoritarian personality
--Ahn, Kishida, Gu, Lohrenz, Harvey, Alford, Smith, Yaffe, Hibbing, Dayan, & Montague (2014) – Nonpolitical Images Evoke Neural Predictors of Political Ideology
--Block & Block (2006) – Nursery school personality and political orientation two decades later
--Buck (2014) – Emotional attachment security as the origin of liberal-conservative differences in vigilance to negative features of the environment
--Deary, Batty, & Gale (2008) – Bright Children Become Enlightened Adults
--Dennis, Amodio, & O’Toole (2015) – Associations between parental ideology and neural sensitivity to cognitive conflict in children
--Eidelman, Crandall, Goodman, & Blanchar (2012) – Low-Effort Thought Promotes Political Conservatism
--Hibbing, Smith, & Alford (2014) – Differences in negativity bias underlie variations in political ideology
--Hodson (2014) – Is it impolite to discuss cognitive differences between liberals and conservatives?
--Hodson & Busseri (2012) – Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes: Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice Through Right-Wing Ideology and Low Intergroup Contact
--Inbar, Pizarro, & Bloom (2009) – Conservatives are more easily disgusted than Liberals
--Inbar, Pizarro, Knobe, & Bloom (2009) – Disgust Sensitivity Predicts Intuitive Disapproval of Gays
--Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway (2003) – Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition
--Kanai, Feilden, Firth, & Rees (2011) – Political Orientations Are Correlated with Brain Structure in Young Adults
--Leone & Chirumbolo (2008) – Conservatism as motivated avoidance of affect: Need for affect scales predict conservative measures
--Luguri, Napier, & Dovidio (2012) – Reconstruing Intolerance: Abstract Thinking Reduces Conservatives’ Prejudice Against Nonnormative Groups
--Nicol & Rounding (2013) – Alienation and empathy as mediators of the relation between Social Dominance Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism and expressions of racism and sexism
--Norton & Herek (2012) – Heterosexuals’ Attitudes Toward Transgender People: Findings from a National Probability Sample of U.S. Adults
--Onraet, van Hiel, Dhont, Hodson, Schittekatte, & de Pauw (2015) – The association of cognitive ability with right-wing ideological attitudes and prejudice: A meta-analytic review
--Sayilan, Türkoğlu, & Cingöz-Ulu (2019) – Keeping my distance: prejudice towards transwomen and its socio-political and moral predictors
--Schreiber, Fonzo, Simmons, Dawes, Flagan, Fowler, & Paulus (2013) – Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans
--Sidanius, Kteily, Sheehy-Skeffington, Ho, Sibley, & Duriez (2013) – You’re Inferior and Not Worth Our Concern: The Interface Between Empathy and Social Dominance Orientation
--Stevens, Hurley, & Taber (2011) – Anterior Cingulate Cortex: Unique Role in Cognition and Emotion
--Swart, Hewstone, Christ, & Voci (2011) – Affective Mediators of Intergroup Contact: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study in South Africa
--Terrizzi, Shook, & McDaniel (2012) – The behavioral immune system and social conservatism: a meta-analysis
--Terrizzi, Shook, & Ventis (2010) – Disgust: A predictor of social conservatism and prejudicial attitudes toward homosexuals
--Tybur, Merriman, Hooper, McDonald, & Navarrete – Extending the Behavioral Immune System to Political Psychology: Are Political Conservatism and Disgust Sensitivity Really Related?
--Van Hiel, de Keersmaecker, Onraet, Haesevoets, Roets, & Fontaine (2018) – The Relationship Between Emotional Abilities and Right-Wing Prejudiced Attitudes
--Vanaman & Chapman (2020) – Disgust and disgust-driven moral concerns predict support for restrictions on transgender bathroom access

[gablade]

Awesome vid, dude. The studies are pretty incredible, but not surprising. Fear, fear, fear….the mind killer.

[michaelgriggs]

This comment is being made to assist in engagement.

[QCaoimheLouise]

Thank you for making this and explaining the psychology. It's fascinating and something I have pondered for sooo many years on why conservatives seem so hateful and religious compared to most other political dogmas

[trentmitchell]

The transition to the Outside-Dimension while insane to go to, in retrospect makes sense as the only appropriate place to have this discussion, as we need to take these conversations out of the closet. Very thoughtful and not just a funny gag, well done

[aikod]

You need a standing ovation for this video 🤣 bravo 👏

I am ND, below average IQ, my cognitive function isn’t the best and I 100% agree it’s a brain and cognitive/change problem.
I grew up in a right wing family, lived in a rural small town ( right winged and religious ). I myself was conservative when I was younger ( at the time I didn’t understand politics etc ).
And I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older I’ve become more left leaning.
I was so ignorant, anxious and mad about change.. or the ideas of something else. I feared it.

Years have gone by and I’m blown away by how these types of folks even get by or live. The amount of anger I had in myself was unbelievable to even imagine. Even my intelligence was bad 🤣 I know I shouldn’t laugh but I didn’t understand anything yet I thought I knew everything.. and this is EXACTLY how these folks think. It’s sad and I pity them but since growing up and changing myself I like to have healthy discussions or try to with them in hopes I can maybe change a few or push them into the right direction.

I’ve always wondered what type of effects that much hate/anger/sadness does to a person mind and body.

[fenoglios]

These videos are so good. You should have a much bigger following

[mattvm]

Recently found your content on tik tok. I really like your more in depth perspective in your content.

[Kayla_Atreides]

Love it! I'm glad I found your channel.

[limemason]

7:33 You're drawing conclusions here that your data doesn't necessarily show. There are plenty of politically red areas in that map that are blue.
As for the top 20, it makes complete sense that in states where there are less transgender individuals that people who are attracted to them would consume more trans porn. If you're into trans people and there are lots of actual trans people in your town, you don't need to rely on porn as much.

[humanperson]

ok so, my initial thoughts on why ppl are transphobic is 1. they fear what they don't understand 2. they're christians and 3. other transphobes scared or shamed them into being transphobic

[godzillaeyes]

I wonder if the Openness trait (like in the OCEAN/Big 5 model) correlates to being more left leaning. It seems like having higher openness makes it easier to explore and understand new ideas like the concept of being trans or nonbinary. Or even other economic models than f'ing capitalism. It really seems like a lot of conservatives won't even entertain the possibility of a new idea being real or ok *unless* it affects them personally (their child comes out as gay/trans or their daughter needs an abortion etc), and even then only sometimes, of course.

[ILGOBLINO]

The hubris of man, trying to achieve natural perfection.

[limemason]

The trend of amygdala size corresponding to right/left leaning people is often interpreted by the left as the right being irrationally afraid of their beliefs. This stems from a deep-rooted progressive belief that our biology is in some way flawed or not properly evolved to operate correctly in modern society.
Another interpretation is that a smaller amygdala is actually underdeveloped, and that the left has a faulty/lesser fear response that allows them to adopt ideologically suicidal beliefs. For example, Gays for Palestine is a direct result of a smaller, underdeveloped amygdala in left leaning people.

[sssaturn_return]

My guess is internalized homophobia as in they are closeted.

[tacosux]

Just found your content on tiktok and I’m all in. And you used red letter media piano song. Amazing