Social judgments of sexual behavior and use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis

Bio-medical HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can drastically decrease the transmission of HIV between sexual partners. However, peer evaluations may worry men who have sex with men (MSM) that are considering or taking PrEP. We used a trait transference paradigm to characterize attitudes towards PrEP users, their sexual behavior, and transference effects on their social network. We recruited 339 men across nine U.S. cities from advertisements on a phone dating application. They judged vignettes about MSM and associated friends on their trustworthiness and responsibility, with the main character described as having frequently changing partners (FCP) or monogamous, and taking PrEP or not. We found PrEP praise within our U.S. sample, especially when evaluating responsibility, while FCP behavior was negatively evaluated. Minimal transference effects suggested judgments about sex-related actions anchor to the actor. These insights identify contextual boundaries of associative cognition and can inform interventions hoping to improve PrEP acceptance and uptake.