SEXUAL AND EMOTIONAL VARIABLES INFLUENCING SEXUAL-RESPONSE TO EROTICA

This study was designed to evaluate the relative contribution of atten tion and emotional responses to the sexual response to erotica. Self r eported levels of sexual arousal, attention, and emotional responses w ere measured after 20 men and 20 women viewed a series of erotic film segments. Men and women reported greater sexual arousal to erotica whe n they became absorbed in the activities portrayed in the film and whe n they experienced the erotic encounters as appetitive, than when they were distracted and perceived the encounters as aversive. Subjective sexual arousal also correlated positively with the degree to which sub jects experienced entertainment and curiousity to the erotic film segm ents, but negatively with boredom. The level of sexual arousal reporte d by subjects did not correlate significantly with trait measures of a bsorption (as indexed by the Tellegen Absorption Scale) and vividness of imagery (as assessed by the Betts Questionnaire upon Mental Imagery ). The multidimensional nature of the sexual response was demonstrated by the fact that the magnitude of subjective sexual arousal was predi cted by the separate groupings of state assessed attentional and emoti onal variables, trait indexed absorption and appetitive feelings, and demographic information. These findings applied to both men and women, with the exception that men experienced greater sexual arousal than w omen, and women reported more disgust to the stimulus materials. Futur e directions for studying the basis for differences in sexual arousal between men and women are outlined, with an emphasis on a psychophysio logical exploration of these phenomena. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.