Gaydar application to female actors: A cross-sectional study of the accuracy of judgments of sexual orientation

This study looked at the accuracy in sexual orientation judgment in college-age students from Arizona State University’s West Campus while viewing female actors. One actor was straight and the other bisexual. Participants viewed a 3-minute-long video with audio and visual of a mock forensic interview between Taylor Addams (played by one of the actors) and Officer Carter (played by Kiersten Carter), and were not told this was a test of their gaydar. It was found that though each group was biased toward straight responses, the straight actor group scored significantly higher on the straightness measure than the bisexual actor group. There was also no significant difference between the two groups in their confidence in their answers.