Sexual arousal and interpersonal evaluations

In an attempt to reconcile conflicting results concerning the effects of sexual arousal on interpersonal evaluations, hypotheses based on adaptation level, arousal-need gratification, and labeling of arousal explanations were tested. The variables of sexual arousal, technique of stimulus material presentation, physical attractiveness of the original stimulus female, and physical attractiveness of the final target person being judged were manipulated in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design. A significant three-way interaction (Arousal × Stimulus Attractiveness × Target Attractiveness) obtained on all measures of interpersonal evaluation was interpreted as supporting a labeling of arousal explanation. It is suggested that subjects first interpret their arousal as being caused by their attraction toward the stimulus person. The characteristics of the stimulus person then become a factor used by subjects when they subsequently make judgments of target females. The adaptation-level and arousal-need gratification hypotheses were not supported.     

Sexual arousal patterns of bisexual men

There has long been controversy about whether bisexual men are substantially sexually aroused by both sexes. We investigated genital and self-reported sexual arousal to male and female sexual stimuli in 30 heterosexual, 33 bisexual, and 38 homosexual men. In general, bisexual men did not have strong genital arousal to both male and female sexual stimuli. Rather, most bisexual men appeared homosexual with respect to genital arousal, although some appeared heterosexual. In contrast, their subjective sexual arousal did conform to a bisexual pattern. Male bisexuality appears primarily to represent a style of interpreting or reporting sexual arousal rather than a distinct pattern of genital sexual arousal.     

Sexual submissiveness in women: costs for sexual autonomy and arousal

Women are bombarded with images of women's sexual submission and subservience to male partners. The authors argue that women internalize this submissive role, namely, they associate sex implicitly with submission. The authors propose that this association leads to submissive sexual behavior, thereby reducing sexual autonomy and arousal. Study 1 found that women implicitly associated sex with submission. Study 2 showed that women's implicit association of sex with submission predicted greater personal adoption of a submissive sexual role. Study 3 found that men did not implicitly associate sex with submission. Study 4 demonstrated that women's adoption of a submissive sexual role predicted lower reported arousal and greater reported difficulty becoming sexually aroused; sexual autonomy mediated these effects.     

Sexual arousal,situational restrictiveness,and aggressive behavior

Eighty male college freshmen participated in an experiment designed to investigate the hypotheses that enhanced arousal will facilitate subsequent aggressive behavior and that an increase in aggressive behavior will be more likely to occur in a setting of situational permissiveness rather than situational restrictiveness. Subjects were either angered or not angered by a same-sex confederate, then told to imagine either a sexually arousing or a nonarousing situation during relaxation, and finally provided with an opportunity to aggress against this person by means of electric shocks. For half of the subjects, a setting of permissiveness was created, while for the other half the setting was one of situational restrictiveness. The results indicated that, even in a permissive setting, sexual arousal may inhibit aggressive behavior mediated by self-consciousness or anxiety. For nonaroused men, however, situational permissiveness tended to facilitate subsequent aggression. The investigation was considered a replication and an extension of the Baron (1974) study on the aggression-inhibiting influence of heightened sexual arousal.     

Sexual arousal and the pursuit of attractive mating opportunities

From an evolutionary perspective, sexual arousal may function, in part, to motivate the pursuit of attractive mating opportunities. We designed a study to test three aspects of this hypothesis. Several hundred heterosexual men and women completed a short survey about sexual arousal in response to a casual sex mating opportunity. We replicated previous research documenting that men report greater sexual arousal than women in response to a short-term mating opportunity. We argue that it is unlikely that a “downplaying of alternatives” psychology evolved, whereby mated individuals rate opposite-sex targets as less attractive than do unmated individuals, but instead that men and women have a relationship-seeking psychology, motivating them to pursue attractive mating opportunities. The results supported this relationship-seeking psychology rather than a downplaying alternatives psychology. Discussion addresses directions for future research on the motivational properties of sexual arousal.     

Sexual desire,not hypersexuality,predicts self-regulation of sexual arousal

A person's ability to control their own sexual arousal is important both to reduce the risks associated with some sexual behaviours and to respond sexually with intimate partners. A lack of control over sexual urges is a proposed feature of “hypersexual disorder”, though some evidence suggests that sexual desire predicts the self-regulation of sexual arousal better than hypersexuality. In the current study, a sample (N = 116) of men and women recruited from community ads viewed a series of 20-second neutral and sexual films. Before each sexual film, participants were instructed to increase their sexual arousal, decrease their sexual arousal or respond as usual. Higher levels of desire for sex with a partner consistently predicted failures to downregulate sexual arousal. Hypersexuality was unrelated. These findings replicate Winters et al.'s study and extend their findings by including upregulation, women, a new measure of hypersexuality and a higher-trial design.     

Sexual arousal in response to aggression: ideological, aggressive, and sexual correlates

In two experiments we assessed the impact of aggression on nonrapists' sexual arousal. In the first, both male subjects (n = 37) and female subjects (n = 43) reported more sexual arousal in response to nonaggressive than to aggressive depictions when the portrayals were sexually explicit, but the opposite occurred when the portrayals were nonsexual. Only male subjects (N = 359) participated in the second experiment. On the basis of their self-reported sexual arousal to the use of force, they were classified into the no arousal, moderate arousal or high arousal from force groups. To evaluate the veridicality of this classification, we assessed some subjects' (n = 118) penile tumescence in response to various depictions. The findings generally replicated those of the first experiment and confirmed the accuracy of the arousal-from-force classification. The no arousal and the moderate arousal from force subjects were less sexually aroused by aggressive than by nonaggressive portrayals, but the opposite was found for the high arousal from force group. Using the entire sample (N = 359), we also assessed differences on various factors among these three groups. We found strong differences on ideological factors, including acceptance of violence against and dominance over women. We also found differences in acceptance of nonsexual aggression and in subjects' beliefs that they might actually use force against women. In contrast, differences were not found on sexuality factors. The data's implications for theories on the causes of rape are discussed.     

Self-directed desensitization for acrophobia

Acrophobic outpatients received therapist- or self-directed (tape-recorded) desensitization in a study of (a) treatment effectiveness with diminished therapist contact ; (b) subject characteristics ‘predicting’ outcome; and (c) generalization of change. At Post-test, treated Ss (N=16) had improved significantly more than Waiting List Ss (N=13) on self-report measures of acrophobia and general anxiety, while the treatment methods were equally effective. An 8-month follow-up found that self-directed Ss had attempted more specific behavioral situations than therapist-directed Ss, and showed additional gains on self-report measures while therapist-directed Ss maintained post-test levels. Results suggested: (a) desensitization provides effective treatment even with reduced therapist contact; (b) some subject characteristics relate to outcome and (c) treatment effects generalize to other anxiety indices.     

Misattribution of arousal and attraction: Effects of salience of explanations for arousal

Based on previous research demonstrating that salience of a plausible cause increases the likelihood of causal attribution (S. E. Taylor & S. T. Fiske, in J. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 11), New York: Academic Press, 1978) it was predicted that salience of plausible causes of arousal would affect romantic attraction. Male subjects were differentially aroused by running in place. Aroused subjects were particularly likely to be attracted to an attractive female confederate if they expected to meet her (high salience of confederate) and if cues associated with the running in place were minimized (low salience of exercise). Though results are consistent with a misatribution of arousal hypothesis, it is suggested that emotion schemata are a potentially more useful explanation.