Perceptions of Postdrinking Female Sexuality: Effects of Gender,Beverage Choice,and Drink Payment1

To examine the postulate that the drinking woman is viewed differently than her nondrinking counterpart, two experiments were conducted. In Study 1, 174 subjects completed an alcohol expectancy questionnaire that was modified to assess expected alcohol effects on another person: young man or young woman. The woman was perceived as being more sexual after drinking than was the man. These perceptions were also influenced by expected alcohol dosage, subjects' gender, and drinking experience. In Study 2, 176 subjects read a vignette depicting a woman having drinks with a man. To manipulate the stimulus woman's consumption and the drink payment arrangement, 8 versions of the vignette were employed: The woman was described as drinking cola or alcohol (beer, wine or whiskey) and as paying for her own drinks or allowing the man to “pick up the tab”. Subjects rated the drinking woman as significantly more aggressive, impaired, sexually available, and as significantly more likely to engage in foreplay and intercourse. Perceptions of her sexual disinhibition and likelihood of sex play were significantly enhanced if the man bought the drinks. Compared to their own perceptions of her, subjects estimated that her date would see her as significantly more disinhibited and socially skilled and as less impaired. The alcohol-drinking woman was also seen as less attractive than her cola-drinking counterpart. Practical implications regarding stereotypes about cross-gender drinking situations and theoretical implications regarding alcohol expectancy research are discussed.     

The Influence of Observed Alcohol Consumption on Perceptions of Initiation of Sexual Activity in a College Dating Situation

Corcoran and Bell (1990) found differences between men and women's expectancies for the likelihood of sexual intercourse on a first date depending on how much the other had to drink. The present study examined the subjects' perceptions of likelihood of male and female initiation of sexual intercourse in a story in which the drinking of male or female characters was varied. Subjects read a story of a first date in which one character. either the male or female, consumed a couple of cocktails. The other character either "also had a couple of cocktails.""drank soft drinks," or "became slightly intoxicated." A manipulation check showed that the subjects were responding to story variables in their ratings of characters intoxication. Men were perceived to be more likely than women to initiate intercourse across all drinking conditions, although results indicate that all subjects believed that sexual activity was more likely to be initiated when story characters consumed alcohol rather than soft drinks. These results further demonstrated that this expectancy for initiation of sex appears to be triggered by the presence of alcohol and did not significantly increase for a higher dose of alcohol. More research is necessary to clarify the role of alcohol in sexuality among adolescents and young adults.     

Effects of performance expectancy and self-focused attention on social interaction

We investigated the impact of performance expectancies and self-focused attention on social performance in a mixed-sex dyad. A group of 48 undergraduate men with self-reported moderate social anxiety were divided into two groups on the basis of their high or low performance expectancies. Subjects were asked to respond to several self-report questionnaires before and after making a 4-5-min phone call to a female confederate for the purpose of getting acquainted. Half of the subjects in each expectancy group performed in the presence of a self-focusing stimulus (video camera). When anxiety level was controlled for, focus of attention alone had a very limited effect on performance. Expectancy had a significant influence on social performance, but only if subjects were self-focused. Thus confident subjects were rated by judges as more socially skilled than were doubtful subjects, but only when the camera was present. The interaction between these variables parallels previous research and supports the self-regulation model of Carver and Scheier.     

The Differentially Discriminating Properties of Alcohol Expectancies for Female and Male Drinkers

Alcohol expectancies are the anticipated outcomes of consuming alcohol. In this study, a variety of alcohol expectancies were found to discriminate between problem- and non-problem-drinking college students. In addition, the author discovered that the expectancy profile that distinguished female problem drinkers from female nonproblem drinkers was relatively distinct from the profile that separated these types of drinkers among men. The alcohol expectancy with the strongest discriminating value among the women was “arousal and power,” whereas for the men it was “physical and social pleasure.” The author discusses the implications of these findings for counseling problem-drinking women and men.     

Alcohol Consumption, Outcome Expectancies, and Victimization Status Among Female College Students

The present study examined differences in the extent of alcohol consumption and endorsement of alcohol-related outcome expectancies between victims of alcohol- or drug-related sexual assault, victims of non-alcohol- or non-drug-related sexual assault, and nonvictim controls. The alcohol consumption patterns alcohol outcome expectancies and victimization status of 176 female college students were assessed. Results indicated that relative to nonvictims and victims of non-alcohol- or non-drug-related sexual assault, victims of alcohol- or drug-related sexual assault reported more frequent and greater alcohol consumption and a greater extent of endorsement of alcohol outcome expectancies. Furthermore. extent of alcohol consumption was associated with different alcohol expectancy outcomes for each group. Implications for the prevention of sexual assault and directions for future research are discussed.     

The influence of alcohol expectancy priming and mood manipulation on subsequent alcohol consumption

Studies showing that verbal priming can implicitly affect alcohol consumption have been used to support cognitive models of expectancies. However, because expectancy words reflect affective states as well as drinking outcomes, mediation through an affective pathway remains theoretically plausible (i.e., such words inadvertently may affect mood, which in turn influences drinking). The primary pathway was identified (and expectancy theory was tested) by comparing memory priming (using alcohol expectancy or neutral words) with mood induction (using positive or neutral music); an unrelated experiment paradigm allowed the priming manipulation to implicitly affect drinking. Men in the alcohol priming group drank significantly more than men in each of the other conditions, and, consistent with theory, men with histories of heavier drinking drank the most when primed with alcohol expectancies, indicating that expectancies can function as automatic memory processes.     

Postdrinking Sexual Inferences: Evidence for Linear Rather Than Curvilinear Dosage Effects1

Observers infer more sexual availability and willingness from a drinking dater. We hypothesized that, as dosage rises, these sexual inferences follow a linear pattern. College participants rated a woman (Study 1) and man (Study 2) exhibiting a sober, moderate, or high level of intoxication while with a light-drinking companion. Alcohol was perceived as having linear effects on sexual availability; and, except for male participants in Study 2, alcohol was perceived as having linear effects on willingness. Thus, with rising intoxication and diminished capacity for arousal, drinkers are perceived as more available and willing. Findings are discussed relative to expectancy models of sexuality. Reasons for desynchrony between alcohol's actual supression of sexual arousal and its perceived enhancement of willingness are presented.     

Personality moderators of interpersonal expectancy effects: Replication of Harris and Rosenthal (1986)

Personality moderators of interpersonal expectancy effects were examined in a replication and extension of the findings of Harris and Rosenthal (1986). Twenty-eight undergraduates, assigned the role of “interviewer,” interacted with 89 undergraduates during several 15-min getting acquainted sessions. Interviewers had been led to believe that the subjects they were interviewing were extremely high, average, or extremely low with respect to shyness. Prior to the sessions, all subjects completed a battery of personality measures. Analyses suggested mixed support for an interviewer expectancy effect, with stronger bias effects being found for interviewers given Shy vs Average expectancies than for those given Not Shy vs Average expectancies. Greater bias effects were found for interviewers who scored higher on PRF Achievement, Order, self-rated expressiveness and lower on self-rated shyness. Interviewees who scored higher on Achievement, Dogmatism, Endurance, and Cognitive Structure showed significantly lower bias effects. These findings are interpreted as indicating the importance of the rigidity of cognitive schemas in determing whether or not an expectancy effect will occur.     

WOMEN'S APPRAISALS OF SEXUAL-ASSAULT RISK IN DATING SITUATIONS

This study investigated how 165 female college students appraised their sexual-assault risk in a hypothetical dating situation. A 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experiment investigating the effects of male-dating-partner characteristics, story character beverage consumption, and perspective on women's risk appraisals was conducted. Multivariate analyses of variance were performed to test hypotheses regarding the feelings of the dating woman and the occurrence of sexual behaviors. Although the dating woman was rated as feeling more vulnerable on dates when alcohol was consumed, alcohol consumption did not influence ratings regarding the dating man committing nonconsensual sexual acts. Nonconsensual sexual behaviors were rated as more probable when the man had rape-congruent characteristics and when the participants were judging another woman rather than themselves. These findings suggest that women are partially accurate in making sexual-assault risk appraisals and thus may benefit from rape prevention education that specifically targets their inaccuracies.     

An Attributional (Causal Dimensional) Analysis of Perceptions of Sexual Harassment1

Female and male subjects read one of three scenarios depicting a social-sexual interaction between a man and a woman. The scenarios varied in severity of the stimulus male's behavior according to whether sexual harassment had occurred. Subjects then rated the offensiveness of his behavior and whether it constituted sexual harassment. Subjects also rated the stimulus male's behavior on Weiner's (1986) three basic dimensions of causality: locus of causality, or the perceived cause of the behavior as internal or external; stability, or the likelihood of its recurrence; and controllability, or the amount of volitional influence he exercised during the interaction. Additionally, subjects reported their anger at the target male and sympathy for the target female. Findings generally indicated that for both women and men, as the scenarios increased in severity, these ratings were elevated. Gender comparisons also showed elevations in these ratings for female but not for male subjects, and only in the scenarios of lesser severity. Regression analyses revealed attribution variables—control, stability, and anger—as reliable predictors of perceived offensiveness and harassment in the most severe scenario, whereas affects were the most reliable predictors in scenarios of lesser severity. The implications of these findings for perception of sexual harassment are discussed.     

Acceptance of male rape myths among college men and women

College students (157 men and 158 women; predominantly white middle class) from psychology courses at a midwestern university rated their agreement with statements reflecting myths that male rape cannot happen, involves victim blame, and is not traumatic to men. Statements varied by whether the rape perpetrator was a man or woman. Results showed that a majority of subjects disagreed with all myth statements, but most strongly with trauma myths. Percentages of disagreement with myths for subject groups ranged from 51% to 98%. Women were significantly more rejecting of rape myths than were men. Subjects were more likely to accept myths in which the rape perpetrator was female rather than male. Subjects' past victim experience with sexual coercion was not related to rape myth acceptance. Results are discussed in terms of societal attitudes toward rape and sex role stereotypes.     

Nonverbal Behaviors and Perceptions of Sexual Intentions: Effects of Sexual Connotativeness,Verbal response,and Rape Outcome

Through the exchange of nonverbal and verbal behaviors, a man and a woman on a date negotiate situated identities. However, a woman's nonverbal and verbal behaviors may reflect an identity discrepant from the one she intended to project, leading to miscommunication between men and women regarding the woman's desire for sexual activity. In Experiment 1, subjects read scenarios in which a woman, Mary, engaged in behaviors that were low, moderate, or high in the degree to which they connotated a desire for sex. In addition, they learned that Mary responded to her date's sexual advances either by saying "no," or by slapping him, or they received no information regarding Mary's verbal response. Subjects were also informed that Mary's date either did or did not force her to have sexual intercourse. Subjects perceived Mary more sexually as her behaviors increased in sexual connotation. In addition, they perceived that Mary desired sex more when no information about her verbal response was provided than when she resisted her date's sexual advances. Subjects also rated the woman more negatively when her nonverbal behaviors were incongruent with her responses to her dale's sexual advances. Contrary to previous research, little evidence of victim derogation was obtained. Results from Experiment 2 showed that men and women agreed in their perceptions of a woman whose behaviors connoted a high interest in sex, but that men perceived behaviors low in sexual connotation ore sexually than women. Implications of the data for understanding sexual miscommunication between men and women as well as reactions to rape victims are examined.     

The effects of alcohol consumption and expectancies in an experimental date rape analogue

This study examined the impact of perceived token resistance and the psychological and pharmacological effects of alcohol consumption on men's discrimination of when a female wants her partner to stop his sexual advances. In a 2 (alcohol vs. no alcohol) × 2 (expectancy vs. no expectancy) × 2 (perceived token resistance vs. no resistance) randomized factorial design, male college students were exposed to an audiotape of a date rape. Before listening, participants were told that on the previous date the woman did not resist sexual contact or that she initially objected to the contact but the man was able to obtain the level of intimacy he desired. Relative to participants assigned to the no-alcohol expectancy or no-alcohol consumption group, participants in the alcohol expectancy and alcohol consumption groups took significantly longer to determine that the man should refrain from attempting further sexual contact. The implications of the findings are discussed.This investigation was carried out by the first author under the supervision of the second author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.     

The effect of performer gender,performer skill level,and opponent gender on self-confidence in a competitive situation

An equal number of male and female subjects (N=48), ranging in age from 17 to 26, were randomly assigned to compete in three competitive video games against a male or female opponent. All subjects were given bogus feedback that they had lost two out of three video games by a standard margin. Initial performance expectancies, as well as postcompetition expectancies, of all subjects were recorded. Initial performance expectancy scores recorded prior to competition were analyzed in a 2 (subject gender)×2 (opponent gender) analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) design with initial skill level on a preliminary game as the covariate. No significant gender differences in initial expectancy scores were found. A 2 (subject gender)×2 (opponent gender) ANCOVA design was utilized to analyze the postcompetition expectancy scores with initial performance expectancy as the covariate. The analysis revealed no significant differences. These findings did not support Corbin's (1981) data suggesting that females express significantly less self-confidence than males for future performance after competing against and losing to a superior opponent on a video task. Initial performance expectancies in the present study were significantly correlated (p.05) to skill level, indicating that performance expectancies may be more related to skill level than to gender. Thus, a realistic perception about one's initial skill level on a particular task may be the most salient determinant of performance expectancies.     

Evaluation of a single-session expectancy challenge intervention to reduce alcohol use among college students

In this study, the authors developed and evaluated a single-session experiential expectancy challenge (EC) intervention, seeking to reduce alcohol use by changing key positive expectancies among moderate to heavy drinking male and female college students. Participants (N=217) were randomly assigned to attend a 90- to 120-min EC session, CD-ROM alcohol education, or assessment only. Participants were assessed at pretest, posttest, and 1-month follow-up. Exposure to the EC intervention led to significant decreases in alcohol expectancies and subsequent alcohol consumption in both genders at follow-up. No significant changes were evident in either control condition. This study is the first to effectively decrease expectancies and drinking in college students with a single-session EC intervention. Further, although several studies have demonstrated the utility of the intervention with men, it is the first to do so with women. This study represents a critical step in the process of translating an innovative, theory-based intervention into a more practical format that makes it more accessible to those who seek effective drinking-reduction strategies for college campuses.     

The effects of alcohol intoxication and sexual interest on men's sexual persistence and hostility in a dating simulation

Perpetrators of sexual assault are often intoxicated; however, few experimental studies evaluate alcohol's “in the moment” effects on sexual aggression. This study extends past theory and research by examining the acute effects of alcohol on men's decisions about how to respond to sexual refusals in a dating simulation. Men (N = 62) ages 21–29 were randomly assigned to consume alcohol (target breath alcohol level 0.080%) or no alcohol. Participants were encouraged to talk to a simulated woman and act as they would on an actual date. They made choices from a list which included nonsexual and sexual options. The female agent was programmed to engage in some sexual activities but refuse others. Refusals became more intense if participants persisted. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to test a path analytic model. As predicted, participants' self‐reported desire to have sex was positively associated with choosing more consensual sexual activities during the simulation (i.e., activities in which the woman willingly engaged). Consensual sexual activities were positively associated with the number of times participants persisted after the woman refused. Alcohol moderated this relationship such that it was stronger for intoxicated men than sober men. The more sexual refusals participants received, the more hostile verbal comments they made to the woman. Contrary to our predictions, this relationship was not moderated by alcohol condition. Because participants had multiple opportunities to escalate their aggression or desist, this paradigm provides new insights into the mechanisms through which intoxication enhances the likelihood of sexual aggression in dating situations.

     

Men and women's acceptance of coercive sexual strategies varied by initiator gender and couple intimacy

Seventy-two men and 86 women read vignettes describing five coercive strategies for obtaining sexual intercourse on a date. Subjects rated the acceptability of strategies used by male and female initiators for couples who were or were not sexually intimate. Subjects generally rejected all tactics. Results revealed a continuum of increasing rejection from verbal pressure and sexual stimulation, followed by mock force, followed by intoxication and physical force. Although women were more rejecting of any strategy than were men, women were slightly less opposed to verbal pressure and stimulation for “more sex” rather than for “first-time sex.” Women equally rejected most male- and female-initiated strategies, but men were more accepting of female-initiated strategies. Results are explained in terms of sex role norms prescribing that men be initiators and women be gatekeepers in sexual interaction.     

Men behaving nicely: Public goods as peacock tails

Insights from sexual selection and costly signalling theory suggest that competition for females underlies men's public good contributions. We conducted two public good experiments to test this hypothesis. First, we found that men contributed more in the presence of an opposite sex audience, but there was no parallel effect for the women. In addition, men's public good contributions went up as they rated the female observer more attractive. In the second experiment, all male groups played a five round public good game and their contributions significantly increased over time with a female audience only. In this condition men also volunteered more time for various charitable causes. These findings support the idea that men compete with each other by creating public goods to impress women. Thus, a public good is the human equivalent of a peacock's tail.     

青少年饮酒期望与饮酒行为的关系:追踪研究的证据

通过对1000余名青少年为期一年的追踪调查,探讨了青少年饮酒期望与饮酒行为之间的关系,同时考察了饮酒期望的发展和性别差异。研究结果表明:(1)一年来青少年的饮酒行为、饮酒消极期望和饮酒积极期望都显著增加;女生的饮酒行为和饮酒积极期望的增加都显著高于男生。(2)第二次测查时,青少年的饮酒行为、饮酒积极期望和饮酒消极期望高于一年前原同年级的学生。(3)饮酒积极期望、消极期望和饮酒行为之间的基本关系一年来没有发生变化:消极期望可能降低饮酒行为,积极期望可能增加饮酒行为,消极期望对积极期望与饮酒行为的关系具有显著的调节作用。但是消极期望对饮酒行为的作用降低,积极期望的作用升高。