INTERACTION WITH A SEX-EXPERT SYSTEM CHANGES ATTITUDES AND MAY MODIFYSEXUAL-BEHAVIOR

This study investigated whether interaction with a sex-expert computer system called Sexpert affected couples' attitudes concerning computer ized sexual information and modified their ongoing sexual behavior. Fi fty sexually active couples were randomly assigned to one of three exp erimental conditions involving either interaction with Sexpert, exposu re to a questionnaire with questions identical to Sexpert, or exposure to a computer game. Subjects in the Sexpert condition-showed signific ant improvement in, their attitudes towards computerized sexual inform ation as measured by similarity-dissimilarity judgments and by semanti c differential measures. Retrospective measures of sexual behavior cha nge suggested that interaction with Sexpert modified sexual behavior D aily monitoring of sexual behavior, however, did not confirm this find ing. Reasons for the discrepancy between retrospective and daily monit oring measures are discussed Overall, this study confirms that couples perceive interaction with Sexpert positively and that such interactio n may change sexual behavior