Bisexual people experience lower levels of belonging in the LGBTQ+ community than gay and lesbian people. We investigated one of the factors that may reduce bisexual individuals’ feelings of belonging in and identification with the LGBTQ+ community: Sexual orientation essentialism. Across two online studies with participants recruited through Prolific, we tested whether bisexual people endorsed sexual orientation essentialism less than lesbian and gay individuals and, in turn, feel lower levels of identification and belonging with the LGBTQ+ community. Essentialism separated into three dimensions in Study 1 (N = 375): Entitativity, naturalness, and discreteness. Relative to lesbian and gay individuals, bisexual individuals viewed sexual orientation as less natural, in turn reporting lower levels of belonging and identification. They also viewed sexual orientation groups as less discrete, which instead translated to higher levels of belonging and identification. Sexual orientation groups did not differ in their endorsement of entitativity beliefs. In Study 2 (N = 390), we focused on naturalness and replicated findings from Study 1. In addition, lower naturalness beliefs were associated with the belief that one’s own views were different from those held by the LGBTQ+ community, which also contributed to lower levels of belonging and identification. Together, these studies contribute to understanding the role of essentialism in intragroup processes and paint a nuanced picture of essentialism in different sexual minority groups.

双性恋者在 LGBTQ+ 社区中的归属感低于男同性恋者和女同性恋者。我们调查了可能会降低双性恋者对 LGBTQ+ 社区的归属感和认同感的因素之一：性取向本质主义。在通过 Prolific 招募参与者的两项在线研究中，我们测试了双性恋者是否比男女同性恋者更不认同性取向本质主义，进而对 LGBTQ+ 社区的认同感和归属感较低。本质主义在研究 1 中分为三个维度（N = 375)：实体性、自然性和离散性。相对于女同性恋和男同性恋者，双性恋者认为性取向不太自然，进而报告的归属感和认同感较低。他们还认为性取向群体不那么离散，而是转化为更高水平的归属感和认同感。性取向群体对实体性信念的认可没有差异。在研究 2 ( N = 390)，我们专注于自然性并复制了研究 1 的发现。此外，较低的自然性信念与认为自己的观点与 LGBTQ+ 社区所持观点不同的信念有关，这也有助于降低归属感和认同感. 总之，这些研究有助于理解本质主义在群体内部过程中的作用，并描绘出不同性少数群体中本质主义的细微差别。