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Findings

Quick: Straight or Gay?

Snap judgments about people are more often right than wrong, according to a study by a Tufts psychology graduate student, Nicholas Rule, in the July issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology. Case in point: “gaydar.” Rule and psychology professor Nalini Ambady found that in 60 percent of cases, test subjects could tell whether a man was straight or gay in one-twentieth of a second just by looking at his photograph—even if it showed only his eyes or mouth or hair. Accuracy didn’t improve with more time. “People were just as good with one-twentieth of a second as they were with ten seconds,” says Rule. That could be because much of their thinking occurred below the level of awareness. “Subtle cues that leak through in the eyes and mouth are processed unconsciously,” Rule says.