Negative attitudes and stigmatization toward sexual minorities is a cause of minority stress of non-heterosexual persons on an individual level and has a negative impact on democratic coexistence in postmodern, plural society on a societal level. Derived from clinical research, we developed a short metacognitive training (MCT) intended to induce doubt toward inaccurate beliefs about LGBTIQ+ persons. We expected this MCT to reduce homonegativity, threat perceptions of LGBTIQ+ persons, and to foster extended outgroup tolerance compared to an education and a no-treatment control condition. We tested this hypothesis in U.S. Republican leaners who represent a social group that is likely to hold homonegative attitudes. We randomly assigned 490 U.S. Republican leaners to an MCT condition comprising 16 questions and respective answers (n = 166) vs. an education control condition (n = 164) vs. a no-treatment control condition (n = 160). We found that Republican leaners after receiving MCT (1) had a significant reduction of homonegativity (ds ≥ 0.28), (2) significantly perceived LGBTIQ+ persons as less threatening (ds ≥ 0.30), and (3) were significantly more tolerant of various outgroups such as LGBTIQ+ persons, feminists, liberals, and climate activists (ds ≥ 0.23) relative to both control conditions. The small effects of this short intervention and the possibility of systematically applying MCT in social discourse to reduce homonegativity with its potential significance for LGBTIQ+ individuals’ mental health are discussed. Furthermore, we highlight this pilot study’s significance toward intervention possibilities regarding political division and polarization in postmodern, democratic societies.

对性少数群体的消极态度和污名化是在个人层面上对非异性恋者产生少数压力的一个原因，在社会层面上对后现代、多元社会的民主共存产生了负面影响。根据临床研究，我们开发了一种简短的元认知训练 (MCT)，旨在引发人们对 LGBTIQ+ 人群的不准确信念的怀疑。我们预计，与教育和不治疗的对照条件相比，这种 MCT 能够减少同性消极性、LGBTIQ+ 人群的威胁认知，并促进外群体容忍度的扩大。我们在美国共和党倾向者中测试了这一假设，他们代表了一个可能持有同性恋态度的社会群体。我们将 490 名美国共和党倾向者随机分配到包含 16 个问题和相应答案的 MCT 条件 ( n  = 166)、教育控制条件 ( n  = 164) 和无治疗控制条件 ( n  = 160)。我们发现，共和党倾向者在接受 MCT 后 (1) 同性消极性显着降低 ( d s ≥ 0.28)，(2) 明显认为 LGBTIQ+ 人士的威胁性较小 ( d s ≥ 0.30)，(3) 对同性恋者的容忍度显着提高相对于两种控制条件，不同的外群体，如 LGBTIQ+ 人士、女权主义者、自由主义者和气候活动家 ( d s ≥ 0.23)。讨论了这种短期干预的微小影响，以及在社会话语中系统应用 MCT 来减少同性负面性的可能性及其对 LGBTIQ+ 个体心理健康的潜在意义。此外，我们强调这项试点研究对于干预后现代民主社会中政治分裂和两极分化的可能性具有重要意义。