“Changing Hearts and Minds”: The Effects of Self-affirmation and Mediated Intergroup Contact on Transgender Prejudice among Lebanese Cisgender Individuals

Transgender people across the world experience widespread prejudice, discrimination and violence because of the way in which they express their gender identity (James et al., 2016; FRA, 2014, 2020; Wang et al., 2020). In Lebanon, transgender women report substantial discrimination and exclusion across multiple sectors of life such as education, employment, housing, and healthcare (HRW, 2019). Despite the severity of transgender prejudice and its harmful impact on transwomen’s lives, no research thus far has examined interventions targeting this type of prejudice in Lebanon. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of five interventions informed by “intergroup contact” (Allport, 1954) and “self-affirmation” (Steele, 1988) theories to reduce prejudice toward transgender women in Lebanon. The study employed an experimental 3 x 2 between-subjects factorial design with three self-affirmation manipulations (values-affirmation vs. mastery recall affirmation vs. no affirmation) and two mediated contact manipulations (mediated contact vs. no contact). The experiment was administered online via Qualtrics with a sample of 219 heterosexual cisgender Lebanese men and women. Results indicated that mediated intergroup contact had a significant main effect on behavioral tendencies and to a lesser extent, perceived threat. Values-affirmation had a significant main effect on behavioral tendencies. Mastery recall affirmation had a significant main effect on behavioral tendencies, and to a lesser extent outgroup feelings. There was no clear interaction effect between self-affirmation and mediated contact. The present study was the first to experimentally assess a number of interventions targeting transgender prejudice in Lebanon, if not the Middle East region. By assessing the efficacy of theory-based interventions to reduce prejudice against transgender women, it addresses some of the existing gaps in transgender prejudice research literature. Moreover, the findings may potentially help design better programs to combat transgender prejudice across various societal domains, such as healthcare, employment, and education.