Certain kinds of personal contact with gay men and lesbians can engender favorable attitudes toward them among heterosexuals, shows a new UC Davis study to be published next year in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. More favorable attitudes are produced when heterosexuals know two or more gay people, if those people are close friends or immediate family members, and if there has been open discussion about the friend or relative's sexual orientation, according to Gregory Herek and John Capitanio, UC Davis research psychologists, who conducted the national telephone survey of 538 adults between 1990 and 1992. "Direct disclosure of one's homosexuality -- talking about it openly -- appears to play an important role in changing attitudes," Herek said. The design of the study does not permit, however, a definite conclusion that knowing gays causes heterosexuals to change their attitudes, Herek cautions. The study also found that heterosexuals are twice as likely to know gay men as they are to know lesbians, and that most heterosexuals reporting contact know two or more gay people, with the most common form of contact being an acquaintance or casual friend.