Overachieving and sexual orientation
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Date
2013
Authors
Mallard, Ryan W.
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Psychology, c2013
Abstract
The Best Little Boy in the World hypothesis holds that homosexual males are
overachievers because they seek to deflect attention away from their stigmatize sexual
orientations and over-compensate for feelings of inferiority and shame. Implicit in this
reasoning is the assumption that homosexual males experience apprehension during
social situations in which their self-worth is under evaluation and, as such, they
overachieve in an attempt obtain validation from others. However, results here suggest
that homosexual males do not differ from their heterosexual male counterparts on
psychological tendencies thought to underpin overachieving. These psychological
tendencies include validation seeking, insecure striving, and fear of negative evaluation.
Further, there is no evidence that male sexual orientation differences exist for measures
of growth seeking behavior. Finally, homosexual females do not differ from their
heterosexual female counterparts for these same measures, which limits the
generalizability of the hypothesis to other groups with minority sexual orientation.
Description
viii, 121 leaves ; 29 cm
Keywords
Overachievement , Gay men -- Psychology , Lesbians -- Psychology , Self-evaluation , Social comparison , Dissertations, Academic