In the early 1950s, a researcher named Evelyn Hooker (1907-1996) undertook a study on male homosexuality. Hooker compared two groups of men, one gay and the other straight, who were matched for age, education, and IQ levels. She collected information about their life histories, personality profiles, and psychological evaluations and asked professionals to try to distinguish between the two groups on the basis of their profiles and evaluations. They could not, demonstrating that there was little fundamental psychological difference between gay and straight men. Hooker’s research helped challenge the widely held view that homosexuality was a mental illness. Today, many studies have shown that there is no psychological difference between heterosexual and homosexual men and women.
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ReviewQuestion Differentiate between Alfred Kinsey’s work and Masters and Johnson’s. What did these researchers contribute to our understanding of human sexuality? |
