Participants rated their sexual orientation on a 10-point scale,
ranging from gay to straight. Then they took a computer-
administered test designed to measure their implicit sexual
orientation. In the test, the participants were shown images and
words indicative of hetero- and homosexuality (pictures of same-
sex and straight couples, words like “homosexual” and “gay”) and
were asked to sort them into the appropriate category, gay or
straight, as quickly as possible. The computer measured their
reaction times. The twist was that before each word and image
appeared, the word “me” or “other” was flashed on the screen for
35 milliseconds — long enough for participants to subliminally
process the word but short enough that they could not
consciously see it. The theory here, known as semantic
association, is that when “me” precedes words or images that
reflect your sexual orientation (for example, heterosexual
images for a straight person), you will sort these images into
the correct category faster than when “me”