Abstract
Prior studies suggest that scientific knowledge may improve attitudes towards sexual minorities such as gays and lesbians. But in what context does this ring true? The present study aims to test whether scientific literacy can predict attitudes towards gays and lesbians when considering the variables pathogen avoidance and religious fundamentalism in a moderated moderation model. A total of 1,398 participants (female = 74.9%, Mage = 25.15, SD = 5.84) completed our online survey. We found that an increase in scientific literacy can indeed predict an improvement in attitudes towards sexual minorities, specifically gays and lesbians. However, this effect was weakened in the condition of high pathogen avoidance, specifically for one of the dimensions of pathogen avoidance—germ aversion. When considering the value of religious fundamentalism in a three-way interaction, we found that scientific literacy can remain effective in predicting attitudes towards sexual minorities only within the condition of low germ aversion. Thus, threat avoidance such as germ aversion, contrary to religious fundamentalism, may diminish the benefits of scientific literacy in improving attitudes towards sexual minorities. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article’s Community and Social Impact Statement.