Three’s a crowd: public awareness and (mis)perceptions of polyamory

TLDR

The authors conducted two studies to examine public awareness and perceptions of polyamory, identifying individual differences that predict attitudes and testing prejudice‑reduction manipulations to foster more positive views. The studies surveyed participants on attitudes toward polyamory, measured individual differences and prior exposure, and experimentally manipulated information or monogamy reflections to assess changes in attitudes. The studies found that political conservatism and religiosity were associated with negative attitudes, prior familiarity with polyamory predicted more positive attitudes, and both informational and value‑self‑confrontation manipulations produced more favorable views, highlighting ways to reduce stigma.

Abstract

In order to extend the literature on consensual nonmonogamy, we conducted two studies that examined public awareness and perceptions of polyamory. Specifically, we identified individual differences that predict people's attitudes towards polyamory and also explored whether manipulations grounded in prejudice-reduction theory might lead to more positive perceptions. In both studies, individuals reporting more traditional traits (e.g. political conservatism and religiosity) had more negative attitudes towards polyamory. In addition, participants' prior exposure to polyamory (i.e. familiarity with the term polyamory or knowing someone polyamorous) was positively related to attitudes towards polyamory, consistent with Allport's contact hypothesis. Finally, an experimental manipulation revealed that participants who either received additional information about polyamory (consistent with the notion that increased knowledge about outgroups can reduce prejudice; Pettigrew & Tropp) or were asked to consider the advantages and limitations of monogamy (consistent with value self-confrontation theory; Rokeach) exhibited more positive attitudes towards polyamory than did participants who only received a standard definition of polyamory. As our results represent some of the first empirical findings on perceptions of polyamory, implications for addressing the stigmatisation of this relationship style are discussed.