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Unconscious Desire: The Affective and Motivational Aspects of Subliminal Sexual Priming

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Archives of Sexual Behavior
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Sexual arousal is thought to be the result of the processing of sexual cues at two levels: conscious and unconscious. Whereas numerous studies have examined the affective and motivational responses to supraliminal (consciously processed) sexual cues, much less is known regarding the responses to subliminal (processed outside of one's awareness) sexual cues. Five studies examined responses to subliminal sexual cues. Studies 1-3 demonstrated increases in adult's positive affect following exposure to subliminal sexual cues compared to control cues. Study 4 demonstrated that the positive affect resulting from exposure to subliminal sexual cues increased motivation to further engage in a neutral task. Study 5 provided evidence suggesting that the affect and motivation found in Studies 1-4 were associated with motivation to engage in sex specifically, rather than a general approach motivation. The implications of these findings for the processing of subliminal sexual cues and for human sexuality are discussed.
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Unconscious Desire: The Affective and Motivational Aspects
of Subliminal Sexual Priming
Omri Gillath
1
Tara Collins
2
Received: 4 June 2013 / Revised: 5 July 2014 / Accepted: 11 May 2015
ÓSpringer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract Sexual arousal is thought to be the result of the pro-
cessing of sexual cues at two levels: conscious and unconscious.
Whereas numerous studies have examined the affective and
motivational responses to supraliminal (consciously processed)
sexual cues, much less is known regarding the responses to sub-
liminal (processed outside of one’s awareness) sexual cues. Five
studies examined responses to subliminal sexual cues. Studies
1–3 demonstrated increases in adult’s positive affect following
exposure to subliminal sexual cues compared to control cues.
Study 4 demonstrated that the positive affect resulting from ex-
posure to subliminal sexual cues increased motivation to further
engage in a neutral task. Study 5 provided evidence suggesting
that the affect and motivation found in Studies 1–4 were asso-
ciated with motivation to engage in sex specifically, rather than a
general approach motivation. The implications of these findings
for the processing of subliminal sexual cues and for human sex-
uality are discussed.
Keywords Sex Positive affect Motivation
Unconscious Subliminal Priming
Introduction
The ample research on responses following exposure to sup-
raliminally presented sexual stimuli demonstrates changes in
both affect and motivation (e.g., Allen et al., 2007; Byrne,
Fisher, Lamberth, & Mitchell, 1974; Fisher, White, Byrne, &
Kelley, 1988; Staley & Prause, 2013). Much less is known, how-
ever, regarding responses to sexual cues presented outside
of one’s conscious awareness (i.e., subliminally) (Macapagal &
Janssen, 2011). Exposure to subliminal cues often results in dif-
ferent and even opposite outcomes compared to when a stimulus
is perceived consciously—especially when it comes to socially
sensitive topics such as sex (e.g., Fazio & Olson, 2003;Green-
wald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). To date, only a few studies
have examined the motivational and affective responses fol-
lowing exposure to subliminal sexual cues, often revealing in-
consistent findings in relation to gender differences and sub-
jective measures (e.g., Bancroft, Graham, Janssen, & Sanders,
2009; Eastwick, Eagly, Finkel, & Johnson, 2011; Gillath,
Mikulincer, Birnbaum, & Shaver; 2007; Janssen & Bancroft,
2007; Spiering, Everaerd, & Janssen, 2003). The current studies,
therefore, further examined the outcomes following exposure to
subliminal sexual cues, focusing specifically on affective and
motivational responses.
Several methodological approaches have been used to study
the effects of exposure to supraliminal sexual cues on affect and
motivation. First, non-human animal models have been used to
gain a more controlled and behaviorally based understanding of
sexual motivation (e.g., A
˚gmo, 1999; Paredes & Vazquez, 1999;
Pfaus, Kippin, & Centeno, 2001). For example, A
˚gmo evaluated
a model of sexual motivation, in which sexual approach be-
haviors were activated by specific incentives. Demonstrating the
model with rats, A
˚gmo argued that the pleasure derived from
sexual activity becomes a learned incentive through experience.
As an incentive, it then motivates the animal to engage in sexual
behavior to experience further pleasure. These learning and moti-
vational processes are thought to be the same in other mam-
mals, including humans. Similarly, Pfaus et al. (2001) suggested
that although biological functions (e.g., hormone actions) allow
for animals to engage in sexual activity, the learned associations
&Omri Gillath
ogillath@ku.edu
1
Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, 1415
Jayhawk Blvd., Rm 518, Lawrence, KS 66045-7556, USA
2
Department of Psychology, Winthrop University, Rock Hill,
SC, USA
123
Arch Sex Behav
DOI 10.1007/s10508-015-0609-y
between sexual behaviors and rewards are more important in
determining the motivation to engage in such activities. When
applied to human sexuality, these animal models provide support
for a basic incentive-based motivation to engage in sexual acti-
vity based on the positive feelings that may be associated with
such activity.
Research with human participants, mainly using self-reports,
has explored the relative affective valence resulting from expo-
sure to supraliminal sexual cues. This work has demonstrated
that such exposure results in increased positive affect and app-
roach motivation (e.g., Bradley, Codispoti, Cuthbert, & Lang,
2001; Byrne et al., 1974; Cooper, Shapiro, & Powers, 1998;
Fisher et al., 1988; Jacob et al., 2011). For instance, Bradley et al.
found that exposing individuals to erotic stimuli produced pos-
itive feelings and induced heightened physiological arousal (i.e.,
somatic and autonomic reflexes). It was suggested that such
heightened arousal indicates a greater degree of motivational
activation (i.e., appetitive motivation). Allen et al. (2007), in a
meta-analysis summarizing over 40 studies, concluded that
exposure to supraliminal sexual cues is indeed likely to result in
an increase in positive affect (which, in turn, is thought to be re-
warding) (e.g., Ashby & Isen, 1999).
It is important to note, however, that not all studies revealed a
simple increase in positive affect following exposure to supral-
iminal sexual cues. Some studies revealed an ambivalent or even
negative affective reaction to exposure to supraliminal sexual
cues. For example, Staley and Prause (2013) showed that expos-
ing participants to erotic films not only increased their positive
affect (excitement, arousal, and desire to be close to one’s part-
ner—potentially suggesting an increase in approach moti-
vation), but also induced greater reports of negative affect, guilt,
and anxiety. This study and others show that consciously per-
ceived sexual stimuli can sometimes activate both positive and
negative affect (Everaerd, 1989;Heiman&Hatch,1980; Laan,
Everaerd, van Bellen, & Hanewald, 1994; Peterson & Janssen,
2007; Rellini, McCall, Randall, & Meston, 2005). Exposure to
sexual cues has also been related to ambivalent motivations (i.e.,
approach and avoidance motives) (Cooper, Talley, Sheldon, Le-
vitt, & Barber, 2008; Galbraith & Mosher, 1968;Impett&Pep-
lau, 2003; Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, & Michaels, 1994).
Moreover, shifting one’s attentional focus while consciously pro-
cessing sexual information can also affect arousal, genital res-
ponse, and desire (i.e., sexual motivation) (Prause, Barela,
Roberts, & Graham, 2013). Thus, conscious processing of sexual
stimuli often results in ambivalent affect and motivation that are
also malleable.
Neuroscience has also provided support for the associations
between exposure to sexual cues, affect, and motivation (e.g.,
Berridge, 2003; Georgiadis & Kringelbach, 2012). Berridge
provided evidence suggesting similar neural processes are in-
volved in the wanting of various types of rewards (i.e., approach
motivation), including sex. Georgiadis and Kringelbach ex-
panded Berridge’s work and provided evidence to show that
sexual arousal and behavior follow the same neural principles
and phases as those in wanting, liking, and satiety.Inotherwords,
when people are consciously processing sexual stimuli the same
neural pleasure cycle that is activated for other rewards is acti-
vatedforsex(seealsoAharonetal.,2001;Kampe,Frith,Dolan,
&Frith,2001; O’Doherty et al., 2003). Thus, the neural activa-
tion following exposure to sexual cues appears to be associated
with positive affect and approach motivation.
The methodological approaches reviewed above, while pro-
viding ample evidence, shed light mainly on responses following
exposure to supraliminal sexual stimuli. Less in known about the
affective and motivational responses following exposure to sub-
liminal sexual stimuli. To obtain a fuller understanding of sexual
arousal and behavior, more research on exposure to subliminal
cues is needed (e.g., Eastwick et al., 2011; Janssen, 2011;Jans-
sen, Everaerd, Spiering, & Janssen, 2000). A similar idea was ad-
vocated by Greenwald, Poehlman, Uhlmann, and Banaji (2009),
who argued that assessment of unconscious processes and use
of subliminal cognitive techniques (e.g., subliminal priming) are
essential when studying socially sensitive topics such as sex or
prejudice. Greenwald et al. further claimed that subliminal expo-
sure and measures based on it can provide higher predictive and
incremental validity of behavioral, judgment, and physiological
indexes (see also Gawronski, 2009).
According to Greenwald et al. (2009) and Gawronski (2009),
the processing of supraliminal stimuli is likely to be affected by
factors such as social desirability, defensiveness, demand char-
acteristics, and participants’ attempts to control or inhibit their
responses. Exposure to subliminal cues can minimize the po-
tential biases or confounds mentioned above and reduce par-
ticipants’ tendency to activatecontrol or regulatory processes.
Measures based on exposure to subliminal cues (i.e., implicit
measures) are thought to be less susceptible to self-presentation
or self-monitoring biases (e.g., pretending/faking) and social
desirability as compared with traditional self-report measures.
This approach can help researchers better understand the human
sexual response cycle. According to Janssen et al. (2000), study-
ing unconscious processes is also important because aspects of
the response to sexual cues take place at an automatic uncon-
scious level.
Scholars (e.g., Bancroft et al., 2009;Toates,2009)have
worked toward creating integrative models to account for the
diverse findings related to the processing of sexual information.
Building on previous models (e.g., Barlow, 1986; Rowland,
Cooper, & Slob, 1996; Rowland, Kallan, & Slob, 1997), Ban-
croftetal.(2009) and Janssen and Bancroft (2007) suggested the
dual control model of sexual response. According to this model,
sexual response is influenced by the interaction of both excita-
tory and inhibitory mechanisms. This model can be used to un-
derstand some of the discrepancies seen in affective response to
sexual stimuli (e.g., Staley & Prause, 2013). Janssen et al. (2000)
and Janssen and Everaerd (1993) proposed a different model—
the information processing model of sexual arousal—according
Arch Sex Behav
123
to which sexual arousal is shaped by an interaction between auto-
matic and controlled processes at different levels of processing:
conscious and unconscious (see also Wiegel, Scepkowski, &
Barlow, 2007).
In two studies Janssen et al. (2000) provided support for their
model showing that exposure to subliminal sexual cues, com-
pared to neutral cues, resulted in higher cognitive accessibility of
sexual material and, in turn, shorter decision-making time for
identifying sexual images as sexual. Their findings suggest that
the meaning of sexual stimuli can be perceived very quickly in an
automatic and potentially effortless manner. Their work also
suggests that exposure to subliminal sexual cues might result in
different outcomes than exposure to supraliminal sexual cues
(e.g., differing physiological responses). Further supporting Jan-
ssen’s (2000) model, Spiering et al. (2003) found that exposure to
subliminal sexual cues automatically activated sexual represen-
tations in memory. However, the subjective experience, such as
sexual arousal, occurred mainly after exposure to supraliminal
sexual cues and not subliminal cues. They explained the differ-
ences between responses to supraliminal and subliminal cues as
being, in part, due to the excitatory and inhibitory effects of socia-
lization, culture, norms, etc. at the conscious level.
Toates (2009) developed a model of sexual motivation by
integrating ideas from Janssen and Bancroft’s (2007) model with
the extant work on non-human subjects and the incentive moti-
vation model (Berridge, 2001;Bindra,1978;Bolles,1972;
Depue & Collins, 1999; Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky, 2005;
McClelland, 1987;Toates,1986). Through his model, Toates
discussed how sexual motivation is affected by factors that ope-
rate at different levels of awareness. Specifically, stimulus-gen-
erated (i.e.,‘online’’level) excitation is triggered automatically
following exposure to a sexual stimulus and generally occurs
outside of one’s conscious awareness. However, there are also
cognition-based (i.e.,‘offline’’level) factors that affect motiva-
tion. These factors involve intentional processing of sexual
stimuli and, hence, require conscious awareness. Toates argued
that the early automatic (i.e., online) processing of a stimulus is
likely to trigger changes in affect, arousal, and motivation. Fur-
thermore, like Spiering et al. (2003), Toates claimed that this
early processing is less likely to be impacted by inhibiting fac-
tors, which take place mainly during conscious cognitive (i.e.,
offline) processing.
Gillath et al. (2007; Gillath, Mikulincer, Birnbaum, & Shaver,
2008), similar to Spiering et al. (2003), have provided evidence
suggesting differential response patterns following the proce-
ssing of sexual stimuli at different awareness levels. They found
exposure to subliminal sexual cues (i.e., presented outside of
conscious awareness) to differ from response patterns following
exposure to supraliminal (i.e., consciously perceived) cues. Only
exposure to subliminal cues resulted in higher accessibility of
sex-related thoughts, whereas exposure to supraliminal sexual
cues resulted in decreased accessibility of sex-related thoughts.
Gillath and Canterberry (2012) showed that while exposure to
subliminal sexual cues primarily evoked brain activation asso-
ciated with sexual arousal, exposure to supraliminal sexual cues
evoked activation associated with both arousal and regulatory
processes. Some of these processes are thought to relate to app-
ropriateness of the sexual response based on socialization and
context. These different patterns demonstrated by Gillath et al.
further support the importance of studying responses to sub-
liminal sexual stimuli (see also Macapagal & Janssen, 2011).
Current Studies
It is already known that supraliminal exposure to sexual cues can
result in positive affect (Kenrick Montello, Gutierres, & Trost,
1993) or negative affect (emotions such as guilt, anxiety, and embar-
rassment) (e.g., Beck & Barlow, 1984; Mosher, Barton-Henry,
&Green,1988;Stoller,1976). Negative affect has been found to
be evoked early in the chain of stimuli processing in specific pop-
ulations, such as individuals who are high on erotophobia, those
with a history of sexual abuse (see Rellini et al., 2005), or people
with sexual dysfunction (Brauer, de Jong, Huijding, Laan, & ter
Kuile, 2009). Conversely, sexually functional people, who have
no history of abuse or dysfunction, are more likely to exhibit posi-
tive affect and increased approach motivation early in the chain of
stimuli processing, following exposure to sexual cues.
Relatively less is known about affective and motivational
responses following exposure to subliminal sexual cues (Maca-
pagal & Janssen, 2011). Furthermore, many of the existing find-
ings related to these responses were obtained with regard to
people with specific traits (e.g., erotophilia/erotophobia) (Ma-
capagal & Janssen, 2011) or from specific populations, such as
child abusers or individuals experiencing sexual dysfunction
(Beck & Barlow, 1984; Brauer et al., 2009; Oliver, Watson,
Gannon,& Beech, 2009; Ponseti& Bosinski, 2010).Neverthe-
less, these studies provide initial support to the idea that subliminal
exposure to sexual cues does result in physiological, affective, and
motivational changes (e.g., Ponseti & Bosinski, 2010).
In light of the abovementioned literature, we expected to find
mainly positive affect and increased approach motivation fol-
lowing subliminal exposure to sexual cues. The current set of stu-
dies was set to test the assumptions that subliminal exposure to
sexual cues will increase positive affect, which, in turn, will in-
crease approach motivation. We also took this process one step
further to show that such exposure results in a specific approach
motivation to engage in sex as reflected in behavioral tendencies.
Study 1
Study 1 was designed to empirically examine the effects of expo-
sure to subliminal sexual cues on positive affect. Changes in
affect were assessed using a self-report measure (Positive and
Negative Affect Schedule [PANAS]) (Watson, Clark, & Telle-
gen, 1988). Although some previous studies found no effect of
Arch Sex Behav
123
subliminal primes on subjective sexual arousal (Spiering et al.,
2003), other studies did find effects on affective outcomes. For
example, Macapagal and Janssen (2011) found an association
between subliminal sexual primes and identification of posi-
tively valenced targets; amongpeople high on erotophilia (see
also Gillath et al., 2008). In line with these more recent findings,
we wanted to test the hypothesis that subliminal exposure to sex-
ual stimuli would associate with positive affective outcomes in
people, regardless of their levels of erotophobia–erotophilia.
Method
Participants
A total of 77 self-reported heterosexual students, 39 men and 38
women (age range: 19–36 years), all of whom had previous sex-
ual experience, participated for either a monetary reward or
course credit.
1
The procedures of the experiment were explained
beforehand (see below), and only those who were willing to be
exposed to sex-related pictures or words participated (no one
declined to participate).
Measures and Procedure
Participants were invited individually to the laboratory to partake
in an experiment involving decision making, during which they
would be asked to make judgments regarding neutral objects,
themselves, and their social relationships. In the laboratory, par-
ticipants were told they would perform some computerized
tasks. They were also informed that some of the tasks might in-
volve exposure to sexual stimuli (among other types of stimuli).
Following these initial instructions, participants completed a
state version of the 20-item PANAS (Watson et al., 1988). Each
participantwasaskedtorateeachofthe20itemsbasedonthe
extent to which it described his or her current feelings. The rat-
ings were done on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (not at all
descriptive)to5(highly descriptive). Each PANAS subscale
(positive and negative) consists of 10 items. Cronbach alphas for
both subscales were adequate (positive scale a=.83, negative
scale a=.86); therefore, we calculated two mean affect scores
by averaging the items on each scale.
Next, participants completed the priming task. In the task,
participants were asked to rate how similar or associated two
pieces of furniture were. There were 20 pairs of furniture
names altogether (e.g., table and chair). Before seeing each
pair of names, participants were exposed to the prime, which
was presented subliminally for 30 ms. The prime presenta-
tion was followed by a mask presented for 500 ms (a visual
‘noise’’pattern that was used to eliminate the possibility that
the prime’s image remained on the retina). Based on random
assignment to one of the two experimental conditions, par-
ticipants were exposed to either a subliminal sexual prime
(n=46) or to a subliminal neutral prime (n=31). The pair of
furniture stayed on the screen until the participant pressed the
number to indicate how similar she/he thought they were.
Both the sexual and the neutral primes were chosen in a set of
pretests and shown to affect people’s attitudes and behaviors
in previous studies (e.g., Gillath et al., 2008). The sexual primes
were pictures of an attractive naked opposite-sex person, approx-
imately the same age as the participants, defined as erotic but not
pornographic (i.e., in a pretest, we verified that people did not
find these pictures offensive or objectifying), and the neutral
prime was an abstract picture (for further details, see Gillath
et al., 2007).
The task was constructed using SuperLab Pro 2.0, based on a
similar procedure used in previous studies (e.g., Gillath et al.,
2007,2008), and run on an IBM PC Pentium III computer with
an SVGA color CRT monitor (with refresh rate *65 Hz). The
primes as well as the pairs of furniture names were displayed in
shades of gray over a white background in the center of the
screen. Immediately followingthe furniture task, participants
were asked to once again complete the PANAS; as before, parti-
cipants were asked to rate their feelings at that particular moment
in time. Participants then answered some demographic questions
(including questions about their sexual orientation and experi-
ence), were debriefed, and thanked. During the debriefing, par-
ticipants were also asked whether they identified the prime, and
none of the participants identified it.
Results and Discussion
To examine our hypothesis, we conducted a 4-way mixed-de-
sign ANOVA. Prime type (sexual or neutral) and gender (male or
female) served as between-subjects variables and PANAS di-
mension (positive affect and negative affect) and time (before
and after the manipulation) were the within-subjects variables.
The analysis revealed a significant main effect for PANAS di-
mension, with participants indicating more positive than nega-
tive affect (see Table 1for descriptive statistics and Table 2for
Ftest statistics). There was also a marginally significant main
effect for time, with positive and negative affect both decreasing
over time. However, these main effects were qualified by a signi-
ficant 3-way interaction between prime type, PANAS dimen-
sion, and time. Probing the interaction showed that, as expected,
there was a significant simple interaction of prime type and time
for positive affect but not for negative affect (see Table 3). Exam-
inations of the simple main effects revealed that there was no
significant difference in positive affect between the two prime
conditions prior to the manipulation, F(1, 75)\1. However,
following exposure to the primes, the individuals in the sexual
1
Only participants with prior heterosexual sexual experiences were
included in these studies. We chose to use this population because we
believe they would be able to better relate to the other-sex sexual images
rather than perceive them as unclear or threatening/disgusting. Also, all
participants were naı
¨ve, i.e., they only participated in one of the five
studies.
Arch Sex Behav
123
prime condition reported significantly more positive affect than
individuals in the neutral prime condition, F(1, 75) =4.24,
p=.04. There were no other significant main effects or inter-
actions.
Study 1 provided initial support for our claim that exposure to
subliminal sexual cues influences positive affect. Controlling for
baseline levels allowed us to conclude that it was not the case that
people who were happier to begin with reacted differently to the
primes. The decreased positive affect reported by the partici-
pants in the neutral condition suggests that the priming task itself
may have been boring or irritating; however, exposure to sexual
cues was associated with more positive affect despite the nega-
tive affect potentially associated with the task itself. The goal of
Study 2 was to provide further support to our claim while using
dependent measures that are less susceptible to self-reports bi-
ases, to rule out social desirability as a confound.
Study 2
Study 2, like Study 1, examined the effects of subliminal expo-
sure to sexual stimuli on positive affect. Unlike Study 1, however,
we used a non-self-report measure as our dependent measure: the
affective priming paradigm (Murphy & Zajonc, 1993). Murphy
and Zajonc provided a simple way to assess the effects of expo-
sure to a subliminal cue on positive affect or mood. In their study,
participants rated Chinese characters, which are assumed to be
neutral or have no prior affective meaning to participants in the
United States. Before each character, participants were sublim-
inally exposed to a happy face (a universal representation of pos-
itive affect) (Ekman, Friesen, & Ellsworth, 1972). This exposure
led to increased liking of the previously neutral characters. We
used the same procedure in the present study, but substituted the
subliminal happy face used by Murphy and Zajonc with a sub-
liminal sexual prime.
We used a repeated measure design in which the within-sub-
jects variable was prime type (sexual, neutral, and no prime). The
study included a computerized version of the task in which par-
ticipants were asked to rate Chinese characters after being expo-
sed to the various primes. We hypothesized that there would be a
main effect of prime type on liking for the Chinese characters,
such that people will express higher liking for them following
Table 1 Study 1: Means and SDs for affect before and after the sub-
liminal prime
Affect Prime Gender Before prime After prime
MSDMSD
Positive
Sexual
Men 3.36 0.62 3.49 0.72
Women 3.52 0.59 3.52 0.64
Total 3.44 0.60 3.51 0.67
Neutral
Men 3.46 0.58 3.27 0.80
Women 3.37 0.69 3.03 0.92
Total 3.41 0.61 3.15 0.85
Negative
Sexual
Men 1.79 0.66 1.65 0.65
Women 1.77 0.57 1.65 0.58
Total 1.78 0.61 1.65 0.61
Neutral
Men 1.61 0.43 1.56 0.49
Women 1.68 0.64 1.69 0.59
Total 1.65 0.54 1.62 0.54
Table 2 Study 1: Fstatistics for all main effects and interactions from
the Prime 9Gender 9PANAS 9Time mixed-design ANOVA
Source FdfpPartial g
2
Prime 1.67 1 ns 0.02
Gender \1 1 ns 0.00
PANAS 387.74 1 \.01 0.84
Time 3.94 1 .05 0.51
Prime 9gender \11ns\0.01
Prime 9PANAS \11ns\0.01
Prime 9time 1.59 1 ns 0.02
Gender 9PANAS \11ns\0.01
Gender 9time \11ns\0.01
PANAS 9time \11ns\0.01
Prime 9gender 9PANAS 1.12 1 ns 0.02
Prime 9gender 9time \11ns\0.01
Prime 9PANAS 9time 11.05 1 \.01 0.13
Gender 9PANAS 9time 1.82 1 ns 0.02
Prime 9gender 9PANAS 9time \11ns\0.01
Prime prime type (sexual or neutral), gender (male or female), PANAS
PANAS dimension (positive or negative affect), time (pre-manipulation
or post-manipulation)
Table 3 Study 1: Fstatistics for the simple main effects and interactions
for each PANAS dimension
Source Fdf pPartial g
2
Negative affect
Prime \11ns\.01
Time 3.19 1 .08 0.04
Prime 9time 1.49 1 ns 0.02
Positive affect
Prime 1.77 1 ns 0.02
Time 2.31 1 ns 0.03
Prime 9time 6.58 1 .01 0.08
Prime prime type (sexual or neutral) and time (pre-manipulation and
post-manipulation)
Arch Sex Behav
123
subliminal exposure to a sexual prime, compared to the neutral
prime and no prime conditions. Expressing liking of Chinese
characters is thought to be an indirect measure of positive affect
that is less likely to be affected by self-report-related biases as
compared with the PANAS (Murphy & Zajonc, 1993). Using a
repeated measure design, in which each participant is being
exposed to all the prime types (sexual, neutral, and no prime),
allowed us to better control for potential confounds and variance
due to individual differences.
Method
Participants
A total of 105 self-reported heterosexual students, 51 men and 54
women (age range: 18–35 years), all of whom had previous sex-
ual experience, participated for either a monetary reward or
course credit. The aim of the experiment was explained be-
forehand, and only those who were willing to be exposed to
sex-related pictures or words participated (no one declined to
participate).
Measures and Procedure
After receiving similar instructions to Study 1 and consenting
to participate, participants received specific instructions for
the Chinese character rating task:‘‘In the next task, you will be
asked to rate how much you like (or enjoy looking at) each one
of several symbols or signs presented on the screen in front of
you.’’ The ratings were made on a 1 (do not like it at all)to7
(like it very much) scale. Every trial started with a fixation
cross in the center of the screen. Participants were asked to
keep their eyes fixed on that point throughout the experiment.
After the fixation, a brief flash of light appeared, which par-
ticipants were told they could ignore (and was actually the
subliminal prime), followed by the Chinese character they
had to rate. As soon as they typed in their ratings, the letter
disappeared and the next trial began. Each Chinese character
was preceded by a subliminal presentation of one of the three
primes (sexual, neutral, or no prime/blank screen).
Each participant rated 45 different Chinese characters. A third
of the characters were preceded by a sexual prime (picture of an
opposite-sex nude), a third were preceded by a neutral prime
(abstract picture), and a third were not preceded by any prime
(blank screen). The letters were presented in blocks by prime
type, and the order of the blocks was counterbalanced. The task
was constructed using SuperLab Pro 2.0 and run on an IBM PC
Pentium III computer with an SVGA color screen. The Chinese
characters and the primes were presented over a white back-
ground in the center of the screen. One prime was subliminally
presented (30 ms) before each Chinese character, followed by a
mask (scrambled picture for 500 ms). Immediately after the
mask, the Chinese character was presented on the screen until the
participant pressed a number key on the keyboard, which then
initiated the next trial. Three scores were calculated for each par-
ticipant by averaging the liking ratings of the items in each block.
Results and Discussion
To examine our hypothesis, we conducted a 2-way mixed-de-
sign ANOVA with prime type (sexual, neutral, and no prime)
as a within-subjects variable and gender as a between-subjects
factor. The analysis revealed a main effect for prime type, F(2,
206) =18.01, p\.001, g
p
2
=.15, such that the ratings for Chi-
nese characters were higher after sexual priming (M=4.12,
SD =1.11) than after either neutral priming (M=3.62, SD =
1.00, p\.001) or no prime (M=3.66, SD =0.89, p\.001),
which were not significantly different from each other.
In line with our predictions and Study 1, the findings of Study
2 have demonstrated that exposure to sexual cues increases the
liking of formerly neutral stimuli (Chinese characters). These
findings provide further support to the claim that exposure to sub-
liminal sexual cues is likely to result in increased positive affect.
Study 3
Studies 1 and 2 provided experimental evidence that exposure to
subliminal sexual cues results in greater positive affect. In Study
1, we measured changes in self-reported affect and, in Study 2,
we examined liking of neutral images via the affective priming
paradigm (Murphy & Zajonc, 1993). In Study 3, we wanted to go
beyond the effects revealed in Study 1 and 2, and rather than
measuring general positivity or positive affect, we focused on
assessing positivity specifically related to sex. To do this, we
used a computerized lexical decision task (Meyer & Schvan-
eveldt, 1971), which assesses the accessibility of various sex-re-
lated concepts. During the task, participants viewed letter strings
and tried to identify as quickly as possible whether each string
was a proper English word or not (i.e., a nonword). Reaction
times (RTs) serve as a measure of the accessibility of thoughts
related to the target words—the quicker the RT, the higher the
accessibility (e.g., Fischler & Bloom, 1979). In the current study,
the target words were sexual negative and positive words, em-
bedded within a sexual or a neutral context.
Numerous studies have provided evidence for a context re-
latedness effect: RTs for identifying target words are quicker if
these words are primed by relevant contexts (e.g., Stanovich &
West, 1983). This facilitation effect happens mainly when a tar-
get word is the most available association activated by the pri-
med context (e.g., Fischler & Bloom, 1979). This effect happens
even when the primed context was presented subliminally, so
that participants could not consciously process its connection
with target words (Forster, 1981). This suggests that fluctuations
in RTs reflect the extent to which a target word is mentally
activated by a context, even when the context-target link is not
Arch Sex Behav
123
consciously processed. Lexical decision task was found to be an
effective means for exploring sex-related representations (Gil-
lath et al., 2007,2008).
In the current study, we examined whether activating a sexual
context would result in higher accessibility of any sex-related
words or, alternatively, and in line with Studies 1 and 2, with a
stronger activation of positive sex-related words. To do this, we
exposed participants to either a sexual or control prime while
they completed a lexical decision task in which they were pre-
sented with four different word types (nonwords, neutral, neg-
ative sexual, and positive sexual words). We hypothesized that
following exposure to a sexual prime participants would identify
positive sexual words faster than all other word types. Such find-
ings would be in line with Macapagal and Janssen (2011), who
used images and found an association between exposure to sub-
liminal sexual cues and classification of positively valenced sex-
ual targets among people high on erotophilia.
Method
Participants
A total of 59 self-reported heterosexual students with previ-
ous sexual experience, 36 female and 23 male (age range: 18–25
years), participated for course credit or a monetary reward. The
purpose of the study was explained prior to the experimental
session and only the participants who were willing to be exposed
to sexual pictures or words participated (no one declined).
Measures and Procedure
After receiving similar initial instructions as in Studies 1 and
2, participants received the following instructions:
You will now be presented with letter strings that either
form or do not form a proper English word. For each string,
please indicate whether you think it is a word (by pressing 1
on the keypad) or not a word (by pressing 3). Make this
judgment as fast as you can. Every trial will begin with a
fixation cross in the center of the screen. You are asked to
keep your eyes fixed on the fixation point at all times. You
might then see a brief flash of light, which you can ignore.
After the flash, a letter string will be presented on the screen
until you make your decision.
As soon as participants indicated their decision, the letter
string disappeared and the next trial began. Each letter string was
preceded by a presentation of the fixation cross for 500 ms
followed by a subliminal presentation of one of the three primes
(sexual, positive, or a dressed person) for 30ms. The sexual
prime was a picture of a naked opposite-sex person. The positive
prime was a picture of a cute puppy, and the dressed person prime
was a picture of a dressed opposite-sex person (which, although
potentially arousing, especially as these pictures were matched
with the sexual prime on attractiveness, was rated as less sexual
than the sexual primes). The primes were tested and successfully
used before (for more details, see Gillath et al., 2007,2008). The
main goal of the dressed person prime was to rule out the possi-
bility that our findings resulted from merely presenting a‘‘human
being.’ Seeing an attractive opposite-sex person in a non-thre-
atening posture with a positive facial expression is likely to acti-
vate motivations such as the need to belong, affiliation, and gen-
eral positive affect. We suggest, however, that these additio-
nal motives are shared with the sexual prime, making the sexual
component different.
All participants received each of the primes, as well as each of
the target letter string types, which included positive sexual words
(e.g., orgasm), negative sexual words (e.g., rape), neutral words
(e.g., chair), and non-words (e.g., omrsag). There were 10 words
from each of the three word type groups (positive sexual, negative
sexual, neutral). The non-word letter strings were created by
randomly re-ordering the letters of each of the previously men-
tioned words, thus resulting in 30 non-words. The words in each
of the groups were matched for frequency of usage and length.
Results and Discussion
To test our hypothesis, we conducted a three-way mixed-design
ANOVA with word type (neutral, non-word, negative sexual,
and positive sexual) and prime type (sexual, positive, and dres-
sed person) as the within-subjects variables and gender as a be-
tween-subjects variable. Relevant means and SDs for this anal-
ysis are shown in Table 4. The analysis revealed a significant
main effect of word type, F(3, 171) =40.53, p\.001, g
p
2
=.42.
However, this main effect was qualified by a significant inter-
action between word type and prime type, F(6, 342) =2.71,
p=.01, g
p
2
=.05.
To probe the two-way interaction between word type and
prime type, we conducted three repeated measure ANOVAs to
identify the simple main effects of word type for each prime type
(sexual, positive, and dressed person) separately (as suggested
by Cardinal & Aitken, 2006). The analysis for the sexual prime
revealed a significant difference between the reaction times for
identifying the different word types, F(3, 174) =22.30, p\.001.
Specifically, following the sexual prime, participants were faster
at identifying positive sexual words compared to all other word
types, all ps between .01 and .04 (see Table 4for pairwise com-
parisons). Furthermore, participants were slower at identifying
negative sexual words, as compared with positive sexual words
and neutral words, p=.001 and .02, respectively. Finally, as
expected, participants had the longest reaction times for identi-
fying non-words.
Although the effect of word type was also significant fol-
lowing the positive and dressed primes, F(3, 174) =22.57,
p\.001; F(3, 174) =28.29, p\.001, respectively, the pattern in
these two conditions was different. Specifically, after either the
positive or the dressed prime, participants were slowest at
Arch Sex Behav
123
identifying non-words, all ps\.002. In the positive condition, no
other word type was significantly different from the other word
types. In the dressed person prime, RTs for identifying negative
sexual words were slower than positive sexual words and neutral
words, all psB.001. However, there was no significant differ-
ence between the positive sexual words and the neutral words in
either of these conditions.
To summarize, sexual primes were associated with shorter
reaction times when identifying positive sexual words, as com-
pared to any other word type. These effects were unique to the
sexual prime, and could not be attributed to general positivity (as
represented by the positive prime). Moreover, a dressed oppo-
site-sex person (which is both a positive cue and a cue that is
likely to generate motivation to approach or affiliate) did not
generate the same effects as the sexual prime. The differences in
the effects of the sexual (naked person) and dressed person
primes might suggest that the essential component of the effects
is the direct sexual meaning of thesexualprime(i.e.,amereoppo-
site-sex person was not enough). The results of Study 3 were in
line with the findings of Studies 1 and 2. Moreover, they provide
further support to our claim that subliminal exposure to sexual
stimuli is associated with positive affect. Importantly, the use of
subliminal priming and non-self-report DVs further supports our
claim that the effects we obtained were not due to social desir-
ability or self-report-related biases.
As we explained in the introduction, based on models such as
the incentive motivation model (Berridge, 2001; Depue & Mor-
rone-Strupinsky, 2005;Toates,1986,2009), exposure to sexual
cues is expected to lead to an increase in motivation and, more
specifically, further motivation to engage in sexual intercourse,
i.e., motivation to approach others and to engage in sex-related
behavior. In Study 4, we examined whether indeed exposure to
subliminal sexual cues results in increased approach motivation.
Study 4
In Study 4, we tested the idea that subliminal exposure to sexual
cues would result not only in a rewarding or gratifying sensation
(i.e., increase in positive affect), but also in increased approach
motivation. This, in turn, was expected to increase the desire to
engage in the anagram task (the behavior associated with the posi-
tive affect) when participants were exposed to the sexual prime. In
real life, the cue that activates the sexual response (e.g., seeing
one’s partner naked) and the behavior taking place are both likely
to be related to sex, and are accompanied with a reward (e.g.,
positiveaffect). This incentivemotivates individualsto further
engage in sex-related behavior.
In Studies 1–3, we showed that exposure to subliminal sexual
primes increased general positive affect as well as sex-specific
positivity (assessed via cognitive accessibility of sex-related
positive words). Although an increase in positive affect is reward-
ing and may serve as an incentive, we did not yet provide direct
evidence regarding this motivational aspect. Therefore, in Study
4, we examined how exposure to sexual cues directly affects gen-
eral approach motivation.
Similar to Study 2, where we found support for the idea that
the positive affect associated with sex transfers to a previously
neutral target; in Study 4, we expected the approach motivation
associated with sex to transfer to the previously neutral task and
increase people’s motivation to engage in it. We further expected
this effect on motivation to be mediated by positive affect mani-
fested in enjoyment of the task. The idea that emotions precede
motivation has been suggested by various scholars (e.g., Bechara
& Damasio, 2005; Le Doux, 2012; Levenson, 1994). Here, we
apply this idea to responses to subliminal sexual stimuli, suggest-
ing that exposure to a sexual stimulus leads to positive affect,
which in turn leads to approach motivation.
Although neutral or sex-irrelevant behavior are less likely to
take place in a sexual context (e.g., in the middle of intercourse
people are less likely to engage in a nonsexual activity), we de-
cided to test this combination in Study 4 as a way to isolate the
motivational outcomes generated by the exposure to subliminal
sexual cues. Using a sex-related outcome as a dependent variable
could have potentially introduced a confound—the dependent
variable itself may be the source of motivation. In other words, to
make sure the motivation comes only from the subliminal expo-
sure, we paired a non-sexual, neutral activity with the primes
(sexual or not) and examined the motivation to continue this pre-
viously neutral activity.
We expected that exposing people to a subliminal sexual
prime while they complete a neutral task would increase their
Table 4 Study 3: Means and SDs for word type following each prime type
Word type
Positive sexual Neutral Negative sexual Non-words
Prime type M SD M SD M SD M SD F p
Sexual 594.57
a
81.28 611.59
b
93.62 632.92
c
98.15 670.82
d
119.19 22.30 \.001
Positive 600.56
a
83.66 605.70
a
95.23 610.36
a
93.47 665.04
b
108.61 22.57 \.001
Dressed 596.65
a
76.87 595.73
a
84.97 631.06
b
101.11 663.18
c
105.46 21.28 \.001
Total 597.26
a
9.80 604.34
a
11.03 624.78
b
11.67 666.35
c
14.15 2.44 .03
Pair-wise comparisons are between word-types following each prime. Means that do not share superscripts differ at p\.05
Arch Sex Behav
123
enjoyment of the task, which would serve as an incentive (i.e.,
motivator) to further engage in the task as compared with expo-
sing people to a control prime.
Method
Participants
A total of 131 self-reported heterosexual students with previous
sexual experience, 65 female and 66 male, (age range: 18–44
years), participated for course credit. The purpose of the study
was explained prior to the experimental session, and only par-
ticipants who were willing to be exposed to sexual pictures or
words participated (no one declined). Four participants were
excluded from analyses for not following the directions of the
anagram task.
Measures and Procedure
After receiving similar instructions to those in Studies 1–3,
participants completed an anagram task on the computer. Par-
ticipants received the following instructions:
In the next task, you will be presented with letter strings.
You will be asked to unscramble each letter string to form a
proper English word. Each anagram may have more than
one correct answer. Any word you can form, using all of
the letters, which can be found in an English dictionary,
will be considered a correct response. Try to solve each
anagram as fast as you can and type your response on the
keyboard. Submit your answer by pressing the space bar.
Participants completed four practice anagrams, getting feed-
back after each one to ensure that they understood the task.
Immediately after the practice trials, the experimental trials
began. Every trial began with a fixation cross in the center of the
screen that was presented for 500 ms. Participants were asked to
keep their eyes fixed on the location of the fixation cross. The
fixation cross was then replaced with a brief presentation of the
prime. Participants were told, like in the previous studies, that they
would see a brief flash of light, which they could ignore. After the
prime, a mask picture (noise pattern) was presented for 500 ms,
followed by a letter string, presented on the screen until the par-
ticipants entered their response. As soon as participants entered
their answer, the letter string disappeared and the next trial began.
Each letter string (anagram) was preceded by a subliminal
presentation of one of the three primes (sexual: n=44, a dressed
person: n=45, or abstract: n=42) for 26 ms (we used a shorter
exposure time because the computer used in Study 4 was faster
than the computers we used previously and its refresh rate was
higher, allowing us to set a shorter exposure time while still expos-
ing participants to the full image for at least one refresh rate). Par-
ticipants completed 15 anagrams being exposed to the same prime
on every trial. All participants received the same anagrams;
however, the presentation order for each participant was random.
Following the first 15 anagrams, participants were asked two
questions about their desire to continue the task. Regardless of their
response, participants were given five additional anagrams to
complete, with the same subliminal prime, followed by the same
two questions. Next, five more anagrams were presented, with the
same prime, and then participants indicated whether they would
like to end the study or complete more anagrams (although all
participants ended the anagram task at this time regardless of their
response). Participants were then asked five additional questions
regarding their enjoyment of the task.
Motivation Motivation to reengage in the task was assessed by
participants’ responses to six questions throughout the anagram
task—two after each round of anagrams. First, participants were
told that they have the opportunity to continue with the anagram
task or switch to a different cognitive task. Participants were
asked to use a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (I would really like to do
to a different task)to7(I would really like to continue with the
anagram task). Participants were also asked an open-ended
questionindicating how manyadditional anagramsthey would
be willing to complete. Participants responded to these two
questions following the first and second experimental trials.
Following the final set of five anagrams, participants indicated
their preference to complete more anagrams or end the study
using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (I would really like to
end the study now)to7(I would really like to continue with the
anagram task). Participants then were again asked to indicate
the number of additional anagrams they would be willing to
complete.
All of the items assessing motivation were standardized to
allow for comparison across the different items and time points.
The six items showed adequate internal consistency, a=.75, and
hence we computed one score by averaging all six standardized
items to create a single index of motivation. Higher scores ref-
lected a stronger desire to reengage in the neutral anagram task,
and an overall higher approach motivation.
Fun/Enjoyment Enjoyment of the task was measured follow-
ing the completion of the anagram task with five items assessing
the extent to which participants thought the anagram task was
boring (reverse scored), enjoyable, exciting, fun, and pleasur-
able. Participants indicated their agreement with each adjective
using a 7-point Likert scale (1 =strongly disagree to 7 =
strongly agree)(a=.87).
At the end of the study, participants provided their demogra-
phic information and were asked to indicate how involved they
were in the computer task. Participants indicated their attention
to or involvement in the task using an 11-point scale ranging
from 0 % involved to 100% involved. This question was in-
cluded to control for potential differential exposure to the sub-
liminal primes. If a participant was not at all involved in the task
Arch Sex Behav
123
(i.e., not paying attention) they would not have been exposed to
the prime to the same degree as participants who were 100 %
involved in the computer task. Participants were then probed for
suspicion and debriefed by the experimenter.experimenter.
Results and Discussion
Effects of Prime Type on Motivation
A multivariate regression analysis was conducted to assess the
effects of prime type on motivation levels while performing the
anagram task. To account for possible differential exposure to
the subliminal primes, we controlled for participant’s self-re-
ported attention to the task, R
2
=.04 (which did not differ across
conditions, F(2, 128)\1). We examined the effects of the
primes using two dummy coded variables, one representing the
effects of the sexual prime (d1, sexual prime coded as 1 and the
two other primes coded as 0) and the other representing effects of
the dressed person prime (d2, dressedprimecodedas1andthe
two other primes coded as 0), with the abstract prime as a control.
Prime type significantly added to the model, R
2
=.10, p=.004.
As expected, the sexual prime was associated with higher moti-
vation to continue in the anagram task, B=.33, SE =.14, p=
.02. The dressed person prime was not a significant predictor of
motivation, B=-.05, SE =.14.
Mediation Tests
To examine the mediating role of enjoyment of the task in the
association between prime type and motivation to continue
engaging in the task, we used multiple mediation tests. We were
interested in examining whether subliminal sexual priming
increased enjoyment of a neutral task, which in turn led to
increasedmotivation to continuein the task. We first examined
whether prime type had an effect on enjoyment from the task.
Effects of Prime Type on Fun/Enjoyment
A multivariate regression analysis was conducted to assess the
effects of prime type on enjoyment participants reported fol-
lowing the anagram task. On the first step of the analysis, we
added our control variable to account for possible differences in
exposure to the primes (involvement in the task; R
2
=.03); then,
we added the effects of the primes using the same two dummy
coded variables as before. As predicted, prime type predicted
enjoyment of the anagram task, R
2
=.06, p=.04, such that sex-
ual prime was associated with more enjoyment compared to the
control, B=.56, SE =.28, p=.04. The dressed person prime did
not predict enjoyment following the anagram task compared to
the control, B=.16, SE =.28.
After establishing the association between prime type and
enjoyment, we computed mediation tests using the SPSS mul-
tiple mediation macro by Preacher and Hayes (2008). The in-
direct effect of sexual priming on motivation through enjoyment
of the task was examined using the bootstrap method (as outlined
by Preacher & Hayes; bootstrap N=1,000). The advantages of
this method are that it does not assume normality of the distri-
bution of the indirect effect and allows for greater confidence in
smaller samples (i.e., reduced likelihood of making a statistical
decision error) (Hayes, 2009; Preacher & Hayes, 2004). Through
the use of the multiple mediation method, we were also able to
test mediation while controlling for other variables, including
other independent variables in a multiple independent variable
model (e.g., when using more than one dummy code) (Preacher
&Hayes,2008).
We conducted two multiple mediation tests, one for each of
the dummy coded variables as the independent variable. In the
first analysis, we examined whether the association between the
sexual prime and motivation to continue engaging in the neutral
task was due to greater enjoyment of that task (while controlling
for involvement in the task). As predicted, the direct effect of the
sexual prime on motivation was no longer significant when acco-
unting for the effect of the mediator (enjoyment). Instead, the
indirect effect of the sexual prime on motivation through enjoy-
ment of the task was significant, p\.05, 95 % confidence in-
terval =.01, .29 (see Fig. 1).
The second analysis revealed that the dressed person prime
did not have any effects on motivation or enjoyment, Bs=-.05,
.16, respectively. The bootstrapped analysis of the indirect effect
was also non-significant, 95 % confidence interval =-.07, .14.
In addition, there were no interactions with gender on task enjoy-
ment or motivation to continue.
As hypothesized, Study 4 demonstrated that subliminal ex-
posure to sexual cues increased one’s approach motivation.
Moreover, the increase in motivation was mediated by feelings
of enjoyment, suggesting that exposure to sexual cues indeed
leadstopositiveaffect,whichinturnleadstoanincreasein
approach motivation. Although the motivation to engage in the
task was not directly related to sex, we see the results of Study 4 as
similar to those of the affective priming in Study 2. In Study 2, the
Subliminal
sexual prime
Fun/
Enjoyment
Motivation
β
= .56, SE = .28*β= .19, SE = .04***
β= .32, SE = .14*
β’ = .21, SE = .13, ns
Fig. 1 Study 4: Mediation model examining the effect of the subliminal
sexual prime on motivation through task enjoyment. The covariates
included in the analysis were the dummy code for dressed prime (d2) and
involvement in task. *p\.05, ***p\.001
Arch Sex Behav
123
assumption was that if sex is associated with positive affect, then
pairing a neutral cue with a sexual prime will cause people to per-
ceive the cue as positive. Similarly, in Study 4, we assumed that if
sex is associated with approach motivation then pairing a sexual
prime with a previously neutral task will cause people to be moti-
vated to engage in the task. In both cases, as with many other
studies, the conclusion is based on an indirect finding, due to
the lack of ability to examine real-worldsexual behavior in the
laboratory.
Study 5
In Studies 1–4, we provided consistent support for the associa-
tion between subliminal exposure to sexual cues and the experi-
ence of positive affect. In Study 4, we found that these positive
experiences motivated participants to further engage in a task asso-
ciated with the increase in enjoyment. Finding an increase in
general motivation following a sexual prime, at least on the
surface, seems to contradict our line of logic. It seems to suggest
that such exposure motivates people to do other things rather than
sex. However, readers need to remember that we had to construct
an artificial setup for Study 4, in order to isolate the changes in
approach motivation following exposure to a sexual cue and avoid
potential confounds associated with sex-related dependent vari-
ables. This setup, has weakened the external validity of Study 4. In
the real world this increase in motivation is expected to take place
within a sexual context and increase, in turn, the tendency to engage
in sex. In Study 5, therefore, we provided such a context by using a
dependent variable that was more directly related to sex. Specifi-
cally, we examined whether exposure to subliminal sexual cues
increased the motivation to engage in sexual behavior as reflected
in the participants’ selection of a condom, rather than a pen (which
is useful and likely desirable by students), as a gift for their partic-
ipation.
In previous studies (e.g., Lam, Morrison, & Smeesters, 2009),
the behavior of choosing to take a condom over a pen was claimed
to represent the motivation to have (safe) sex. In the current study,
based on that rationale, the tendency to take a condom was thought
to represent sex being more salient to the individual and moti-
vation to have sex being higher. Conversely, taking a pen was
thought to represent lower accessibility for sex-related thoughts
and lower motivation to engage in sex. We predicted that people
in the sex prime condition would be more likely to pick a con-
dom as a gift, as compared with people in the control conditions.
Method
Participants
A total of 95 self-reported heterosexual students with previous
sexual experience, 38 female and 57 male (age range: 18–33
years) participated for course credit. The purpose of the study
was explained prior to the experimental session, and only partic-
ipants who were willing to be exposed to sexual pictures or words
participated (no one declined).
Measures and Procedure
The subliminal priming task used in Study 5 was identical to the
anagram task used in Study 4. Participants were exposed to one
of three primes: sexual (n=30), a dressed person (n=32), or an
abstract drawing (n=33). Participants completed 25 anagrams
in which they were exposed to the same prime on every trial.
Following the anagram task, participants were told that the study
was almost over and that they would receive a gift for their
participation.
Motivation to Have Sex At the end of the study, participants
were presented with a container of‘‘gifts,’’and asked to select one
gift as a reward for their participation. In reality, these gifts pro-
vided us with a measure of the participants’ motivation to have
sex following the study. Participants could choose either a pen or
a condom as their gift (see Lam et al., 2009, for a similar use of
this dependent variable). Participants were left alone with the gift
container while the research assistant was ostensibly collecting
additional materials from another room. In addition, participants
were told to put their selected gift in their bag prior to the research
assistant’s return, to allow for more privacy in their gift selection.
The number of pens and condoms was recorded before and after
the experimental session and the difference was used to examine
the participant’s gift choice. The condoms and pens were mat-
ched on colorfulness and dollar value, to control for these poten-
tial confounds. The choice of a condom as a gift was considered
to represent motivation to engage in sex. Finally, participants
provided demographic information, were probed for suspicion,
and then debriefed by the experimenter.
Results and Discussion
Effects of Prime Type on Motivation to Engage in Sex
The effects of the primes on gift choice were examined using a
Chi square test. We examined the frequencies of condom selec-
tion (vs. pen) across our three experimental priming conditions
(sexual, dressed person, and abstract). The prime conditions were
found to differ in the frequency of condom selection, v
2
(2) =
6.07, p\.05.Participants exposed to the subliminal sexual prime
were more likely than expected to select a condom, rather than a
pen, as a gift (53 %, n=16). The observed frequencies of the
selection of a condom as a gift was consistent with the expected
frequencies for participants in the dressed and abstract prime con-
ditions (25 %, n=8; 30 %, n=10, respectively). The examina-
tion of the differences between the observed and expected
Arch Sex Behav
123
frequencies for selecting a condom across the three priming
conditions revealed significantly more participants than expected
selecting a condom, rather than a pen, in the sex prime con-
dition compared to the dressed person prime condition. The
abstract prime condition did not differ from either of the other
two conditions. These effects did not vary by gender
As hypothesized, Study 5 supported our prediction that expo-
sure to subliminal sexual cues would increase one’s motivation
to engage in sexual activity. Thus, participants who were expo-
sed to a subliminal sexual prime, as compared with non-sexual
control primes, were more likely to choose a condom over a pen.
The choice of condom as a gift, while not necessarily meaning
that people are about to have sex, suggests that there is a higher
likelihood that they are thinking about having sex, and act in
accordance by preparing themselves for this possibility. Carry-
ing a condom is considered a reliable predictor for the tendency
to use it (Brook et al., 1998). Thus, Study 5 goes beyond the pre-
vious studies to show that exposure to subliminal sexual cues was
not merely associated with higher positive mood and approach
motivation, but also with motivation to specifically engage in
sexual activity.
General Discussion
Through five studies we have provided, for the first time, coher-
ent evidence that exposure to subliminal sexual cues results in an
increase in positive affect and approach motivation (i.e., moti-
vation to approach pleasurable opportunities, or the direction of
behavior toward, positive stimuli: events, objects, possibilities)
(e.g., Elliot, & Covington, 2001). In Study 1, we showed that
exposure to a subliminal sexual prime (i.e., naked opposite-sex
people), compared to a neutral prime, resulted in higher self-
reported positive affect. Using the affective priming paradigm,
Study 2 further supported our claims. Replicating and extending
the results of Study 1, we showed that a subliminal sexual prime,
as compared with a neutral prime or no prime, increased the lik-
ing of previously neutral targets (i.e., Chinese characters). These
findings suggest that subliminal sexual images are associated
with positive affect, and this association can transfer to other
objects. In Study 3, using a lexical decision task, we found that a
subliminal sexual prime, resulted in higher accessibility of pos-
itive sex-related words and decreased accessibility of negative
sex-related words, compared to neutral words; these effects were
not found following exposure to either positive or dressed (op-
posite-sex) person primes. Study 4 showed that a sexual prime,
compared with the neutral and dressed person primes, resulted in
more enjoyment of an otherwise neutral task, and this enjoy-
ment heightened motivation to engage in the task. Finally,
Study 5 demonstrated that exposure to a subliminal sexual
prime was associated with motivation to specifically engage
in sexual activity, as reflected in a higher tendency to select a
condom as a gift.
Together these findings advance our understanding of the
information processing model of sexual arousal (e.g., Janssen
et al., 2000), the incentive motivation theory (e.g., Toates, 1986;
2009), and sexuality in general. Building on the work of Janssen
et al. (2000) and others (e.g., Spiering et al., 2003), who focused
primarily on the automatic processing of and activation follow-
ing exposure to subliminal sexual cues, here, we show that expo-
sure to subliminal sexual cues results in measurable outcomes.
The five studies presented here provide consistent evidence to
support the idea that exposure to subliminal sexual cues results in
increased positive affect, which then serves as an incentive that
increases approach motivation. These findings are also in line
with A
˚gmo (1999) and others’ (e.g., Paredes & Vazquez, 1999;
Pfaus, Kippin, & Centeno, 2001;Toates,2009) work with human
and non-human animals and the incentive model, showing that
sexual cues serve as incentives, which increase approach moti-
vation, and sex-related behavioral tendencies.
The studies also shed light on the role of positive affect as a
mediator of the link between exposure to sexual stimuli and app-
roach motivation. Going beyond the mere association between
sex and pleasure, or sex and approach motivation (e.g., Aharon
et al., 2001; Kenrick et al., 1993), our experimental findings pro-
vide evidence related to the causality and directionality in these
response cycles. We found that exposure to subliminal sexual
cues, as compared to neutral cues, resulted in positive affect.
Such affect, in turn, resulted in approach motivation. In Study 4,
we delivered direct evidence related to this mediational effect.
Our findings do not suggest that other emotional states, such
as anxiety, cannot also impact sex-related outcomes (for a re-
view, see Cranston-Cuebas & Barlow, 1990). However, they
highlight at least one pathway through which sexual stimuli can
result in emotional changes and behavioral tendencies. Our find-
ings are in line with the broad literature associating general posi-
tive emotions, sex-related emotions (e.g., feeling sensual and pas-
sionate), and sexual response (e.g., general sexual arousal, desire,
and wanting to make love; Allen et al., 2007; Rowland et al., 1996).
It is important to note though that sexual motivation and beha-
vior only partly overlap (Janssen, 2011). Sexual behavior has
many determinants and sexual motivation is only one of them. In
other words, not all sexual behavior is sexually motivated. Num-
erous reasons, such as pleasing one’s partner, fear, or the sense of
duty, many of which are nonsexual, can lead people to engage in
sexual behavior (Meston & Buss, 2007). Janssen suggests that
sexual arousal and sexual motivation are related but not every
incidence of sexual motivation would result in sexual behavior.
Furthermore, what works in the laboratory may have very dif-
ferent outcomes in the real world and further research in needed
to fully understand the links between exposure to subliminal sex-
ual cues, affect, motivation, and sexual behavior.
Behavior is shaped not only by people’s motivation, but also
to a large extent by the environment. Different environmental
conditions or contexts facilitate different developmental trajec-
tories and potentially different emphasis on one’s goals (for
Arch Sex Behav
123
details see the literature on life history theory and attachment)
(e.g., Del Giudice, 2009). This is just one way in which sexual
behavior is affected by the environment. In general, the moti-
vation generated following exposure to sexual cues is likely to
interact with the environment to shape sexual behavior. Beha-
vior following exposure to supraliminal sexual images is more
likely to be affected by the environment (e.g., laboratory context,
presence of others, appropriate of the response) (e.g., Gillath
et al., 2007) as compared with behavior following exposure to
subliminal sexual cues, and perhaps that is why our findings were
more consistent than some of the findings we cited earlier as
being contradictory or inconsistent.
Exposure to supraliminal stimuli involves various top-down
processes, such as inhibition of sexual urges due to social norms
(Spiering et al., 2003;Toates,2009). These processes may re-
duce the likelihood that a person would engage in sexual beha-
vior, despite the motivation to have sex, especially if the circum-
stances are inappropriate or dangerous. Future studies should
examine whether the approach motivation found in the current
studies may lead to different behaviors under different circum-
stances. For example, when people are initiating a new rela-
tionship, the activated-motivation is likely to lead to sex with a
new partner(s). However, when people are already in a com-
mitted relationship, this motivation is likely to lead to relation-
ship maintenance behaviors and to repeated sex with the same
partner, rather than a new one (Gillath et al., 2008).
We do not claim that the approach motivation activated fol-
lowing exposure to sexual stimuli is indiscriminate and that peo-
ple will be motivated to have sex with any available potential
mate. In Toates’ (2009) application of the incentive model to
human sexuality, he distinguished between automatic, stimulus-
triggered (i.e., online) and controlled, cognitive, intentional (i.e.,
offline) levels of excitation that motivate behavior. We argue that
in these studies, the subliminal sexual prime acts as a specific
stimulus that is likely to trigger automatic (i.e., online) excitation
and motivation. However, the automatic excitation elicited by a
sexual cues can be counteracted by evaluations (of environ-
mental, social, cultural, and relational factors), other motivations
(e.g., to find the ‘right’ long-term mate), and behavioral ten-
dencies (e.g., taking care of others or self-protection) that operate
at the conscious level. This could result in lower likelihood that
the initial motivation will lead to sex (e.g., Eastwick & Finkel,
2012). These factors, however, were less likely to affect the
participants in the current studies as the sexual cues were pre-
sented subliminally and many of our DVs were not directly re-
lated to sex, so the offline or conscious processing was less likely
to play a role.
Limitations
Despite the coherence of our findings, one might argue that they
are merely reflecting general arousal or affiliative tendencies.
Previous studies, however, have already demonstrated that
exposure to sexual stimuli results in heightened subjective sexual
arousal and increased genital response (e.g., Both, Spiering, Ever-
aerd, & Laan, 2004; Dekker & Everaerd 1988; Laan & Everaerd,
1995;Spieringetal.,2003;Stole
´ru et al., 1999). Moreover, pre-
vious work (Gillath et al., 2008) suggests that it is the exposure to
sex-related cues, rather than cues related to affiliation (e.g., ano-
ther human being) or general positivity (e.g., a puppy), that gen-
erates the reported motivations or behavioral tendencies asso-
ciated with sex.
Research using subliminal priming can present unique chal-
lenges, one of which involves ensuring the primes are presented
subliminally (i.e., not consciously perceived). Although we did
not use recognition tests or individual thresholds in these studies,
very few participants reported seeing the subliminal primes (even
when asked to guess about the content of a hypothetical prime).
Future research should aim to replicate the results found in these
studies, while utilizing more individualized priming techniques.
Additionally, as is the case with many studies using sublim-
inal priming, the setup is artificial. In the‘‘real world’’it is rare that
subliminal sexual stimuli are completely isolated and indepen-
dent from conscious stimuli, and are presented in such a control-
led manner. Moreover, even if the cues are presented completely
outside of an individual’s awareness, leading to the activation of
approach or sexual behaviors, once such behaviors are enacted
they are likely to invoke conscious processing, and hence other
motivational factors. So, while these studies provide directional
evidence regarding the isolated effects of automatic processing
of sexual cues on motivation they are limited in their external
validity.
The previous point relates to another limitation, the inability
to assess actual sexual behavior in the laboratory. Although our
measures do not provide a direct view into sexual behavior (or
sexual arousal), they do provide direct assessment of affect, app-
roach motivation, and behavioral tendencies to engage in sex.
Furthermore, an advantage of the current set of studies is that our
findings are not solely based on self-reports or physiological mea-
sures. Using various measures, we were able to obtain convergent
validity based on self-reports, cognitive tasks, reaction times, and
behavioral tendencies (i.e., taking a condom) to support our claims.
Whereas selecting a condom is not necessarily indicating moti-
vation for sex, the main use of condoms is for sex, and taking or
carrying one, is perceived as intention to having sex (e.g., Hillier,
Harrison, & Warr, 1998).
Another limitation has to do with the meaning of priming
studies in general and the current studies specifically. While some
scholars might suggest that our results only reflect semantic prim-
ing, we claim to the contrary. Thus, in Study 3 a merely semantic
effect should have resulted in increased accessibility for all sex-
related (i.e., both positive and negative) words; however, nega-
tive sexual words were less, rather than more, accessible. Simi-
larly in Study 4, two factors disconfirm the semantic-priming
alternative explanation. First, our control prime (dressed person)
is also semantically related to positive mood and approach moti-
Arch Sex Behav
123
vation. People like attractive others, and tend to approach such
others, to either affiliate or mate with them. However, only our
sexual prime resulted in the expected effects (increased motiva-
tion to engage in the task). Second, semantic priming is thought to
activate mainly semantic meaning, in the current study, we de-
monstrate a motivational change and behavioral tendencies, which
go beyond mere semantics.
A final limitation is that the effect sizes in our studies are rel-
atively small; therefore, the results need to be replicated in other
laboratories and future studies. Future studies should also in-
clude actual attempts to meet and date a new partner following
exposure to a subliminal sexual prime (e.g., Dutton & Aron,
1974). Replicating our findings with such measures would pro-
vide further evidence that we affected actual behaviors rather
than behavioral tendencies.
Future studies should also try and address the other above-
mentioned limitations and should also examine the effect of var-
ious individual differences, such as those associated with sexual
orientation, sexual desire, sexual strategies, or different life ex-
periences on the effects recorded in the current five studies. For
example, it would be interesting to compare the current findings
obtained from non-clinical samples with findings obtained in
clinical samples, where negative affect may show a more pro-
minent role.
Conclusion
Exposing people to subliminal sexual stimuli results in increased
positive affect and motivation to have sex. The current studies
further support the information processing model of sexual
arousal and incentive motivation model, shedding further light
on automatic unconscious processing. Together these findings,
which proved replicable and coherent across five studies, pro-
vide new understanding of the response to sexual stimuli and
advance new topics and questions for future research.
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... One plausible explanation could be that men seemed more attracted to sex-related stimuli because of evolutionary reasons, such that sex has always been fundamental for survival and innate perpetuation of species, and sexual signals could fundamentally be captured in nature [24,26]. Another reason could be related to cultural and sociological factors, such that men and women experienced emotional arousal in different ways, with the former having greater tendency to exaggerate sexual reactions [13,24,27]. Lastly, men with SCI appeared more attracted to explicit pictures than other groups possibly due to their longing to satisfy sexual desires since prior to injury, thus exaggerating their response to visual stimuli with sexual hints. ...
... Interestingly, females with SCI responded to sexual explicit pictures more slowly than other participant groups during CRTT (Fig. 4). Differences between sexes at subliminal and conscious levels were noted from previous studies [24,27]. One possible explanation for our findings is that females with SCI remained attracted to sexual explicit targets, albeit in a way different from other groups. ...
Article
Study design: Observational cross-sectional study. Objectives: To determine the differences between persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) and control individuals in terms of conscious and unconscious sexual responses to subliminally presented visual sexual stimuli. Setting: Spinal cord injury rehabilitation center in northern Italy. Methods: A two-part behavioral experiment was conducted on 40 participants (27 individuals with SCI; 13 controls). In first part, all participants were subliminally exposed to a prime picture (neutral or sexual) and asked to rate the extent to which they were emotionally aroused, while watching a set of explicit target pictures (neutral or sexual). In the second part, choice reaction time task was employed, wherein participants were shown a subliminal prime picture (neutral or sexual) followed by an explicit target picture (neutral or sexual) superimposed by a black dot and were asked to locate the dot as fast as possible. Results: In the first part, men with SCI reported higher levels of emotional arousal to explicit sexual target pictures compared to other groups. In the second part, slower choice reaction times were found in the SCI group, particularly with sexual prime picture. Moreover, females with SCI spent more time during implicit motor learning tasks with sexual target pictures than other groups. Conclusion: We found differences in the experience of subliminal and explicit sexual pictures not only between the two groups, but also between females and males with SCI. Attention should thus be paid when considering sexual experience at subliminal and conscious level in SCI population for future research and rehabilitative protocols.
... As it turns out, the affective component of a visual stimulus can even be appraised without conscious awareness. Strikingly, arousal to sexual stimuli can occur in absence of conscious awareness of the stimulus which evoked it (Ponseti and Bosinski, 2010;Gillath and Collins, 2016). Although the sexual stimuli used in these studies may not align with what Brielmann and Pelli (2017) had in mind when discussing beauty, the finding that visually pleasing stimuli can cause affective and sexual responses even without conscious awareness poses another challenge to their argument (Ponseti and Bosinski, 2010;Gillath and Collins, 2016;cf. ...
... Strikingly, arousal to sexual stimuli can occur in absence of conscious awareness of the stimulus which evoked it (Ponseti and Bosinski, 2010;Gillath and Collins, 2016). Although the sexual stimuli used in these studies may not align with what Brielmann and Pelli (2017) had in mind when discussing beauty, the finding that visually pleasing stimuli can cause affective and sexual responses even without conscious awareness poses another challenge to their argument (Ponseti and Bosinski, 2010;Gillath and Collins, 2016;cf. Chatterjee et al., 2009). ...
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Recent experimental work on the relationship between cognitive processing and the appreciation of beauty has suggested that thought is a prerequisite for feeling beauty. This Commentary draws on research in cognitive science and neuroaesthetics to argue that although thought is one of the three primary constituents of beauty response, thought per se is not necessary for the appreciation of beauty. In fact, experimental evidence from various sources indicates that beauty responses can occur outside conscious awareness. Besides thought, the two other components of beauty response are sensory modalities and emotional qualia. Any two of the three primary constituents of beauty response can be removed without completely incapacitating a person's ability to appreciate beauty. Beauty can be amplified by cognitive processes—such as integration with novel associations, integration over higher semantic levels, or integration over multiple modalities—processes which can be particularly important for the experience of art. Yet elaborate cognitive processes are by no means a prerequisite for the appreciation of beauty.
... The gifts were a pen, a useful object for students, or a condom, also useful in some contexts. The subjects primed with the sexual picture chose the condom more frequently than subjects exposed to the neutral picture, suggesting that their momentaneous interest in having sex had been increased by the sexual incentive [140]. The effects of priming were equal in men and women in all tasks. ...
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In self-report questionnaires, men report higher scores than women on variables such as desire for sex, frequency of sexual thoughts, number of sex partners, etc. Based on this, men are considered to have a higher level of sexual motivation than women. However, retrospective self-reports may be unsuitable for estimations of the inherent level of sexual motivation. We review data on automatic (unconsciously controlled) responses and measures of implicit motivation during exposure to sexual stimuli. These responses and measures are inaccessible to willful manipulations and make it possible to determine whether the sex difference in answers to questionnaires is replicated when volitional response manipulations are unlikely. We complement the human data with observations from some rodent and non-human primate species. The attentional resources allotted to stimuli with sexual relevance as well as genital responses to such stimuli are similar in men and women. Measures of implicit motivation also fail to detect any sex difference. Finally, the frequency of masturbation is superior in female infants before the age at which social expectations begin to determine behavior. Neither in rodents nor in non-human primates is there any clear-cut evidence for sex differences in motivation. It seems that males and females are similar with regard to the intensity of sexual motivation. The responses to questionnaires may be affected by social learning of sexual scripts and/or the inferior quality of sexual experiences in women, among other things.
... There is evidence that neural processing of sexual arousal involves both conscious and unconscious aspects (Janssen et al., 2000;van Lankveld et al., 2015;Gillath and Collins, 2016). While unconscious processes are thought to be inevitable and automatic, conscious ones can be described as controlled cognitive processes in the appraisal of sexual events. ...
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Background: Pedophilic disorder is characterized by increased sexual interest towards children, with comparatively lesser interest towards adults. In real life, the behavior of subjects with pedophilic disorder is shaped by evaluative processes in response to sexually relevant cues. Therefore, brain activation during anticipation of sexually relevant cues is of potential interest. Whereas previous research demonstrated reduced activation when viewing adult (nonpreferred) sexual stimuli in pedophilic sex offenders (PSOs), it is not known if anticipation of preferred versus unpreferred stimuli will elicit differential brain activation. Methods: Two fMRI studies (1.5 and 7 Tesla) were conducted in separate samples, each with 26 subjects (13/13 PSOs/controls) to assess brain activity during expectancy of subsequent adult (non-preferred) sexual stimuli. In the second study (7 Tesla) additionally child (preferred) cues were presented. Results: As predicted, expectancy of adult sexual stimuli generated smaller dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation in PSOs in both studies, driven by stronger activation during expectancy of adult erotic stimuli in non-pedophilic controls (HCs). In the second study, PSOs showed significantly increased activations in dACC during expectancy of child stimuli compared with expectancy of adult stimuli. This difference was significantly greater compared to the same contrast in HCs, thus demonstrating preference specificity of dACC activation. Conclusion: Our findings support the notion of decreased brain activation to adult cues in PSOs and preference specificity in neural response during expectancy of erotic stimuli. The localization of these cue reactivity differences in the salience network supports the interpretation that PSOs show abnormally increased preparatory activation even before relevant sexual stimuli are actually presented.
... Future studies could adopt the fully unconscious subliminal method to examine this speculation. For example, the future research could trigger the mating motives via the subliminal sexual cues paradigm (Gillath & Collins, 2016). According to the metacognitive and affective model of self-regulated learning, further full unconscious priming may replicate our mating effects (Efklides, 2011). ...
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Evolutionary theories suggest that fundamental mating-related motivesmight exert specific effects on human cognition and behaviors. Based on the evolutionary perspective, our prior research illustrated that the activation ofmating-relatedmotives leads to a study-time allocation bias toward highly attractive female faces. While study-time allocation is one of the aspects of the self-regulated learning process, it is unclear whether mating motives affect study decision behaviors (as measured by item-selection orders) during the learning process. Therefore, the present study followed the logic of previous research and aimed to examine the effects of matingrelated motives on item-selection orders for face–name associations among faces with varying attractiveness. In two experiments, after an imagery procedure, participants in mating-related priming conditions (Experiment 1: mate search, Experiment 2: mate guarding) or control conditions performed an item-selection task. Participantswere shown 16 female faceswith varying attractiveness on a computer screen and were instructed to decide the order for studying the faces and corresponding names. Experiment 1 showed that activating mate-searchmotives ledmale participants to prioritize the choice of highly attractive rather than less attractive faces for studying. In Experiment 2, compared to the participants in the control condition, female participants in the mate-guarding priming conditionweremore likely to prioritize the choice of highly attractive rather than less attractive faces for studying. The present findings clarify that mating-related motives affect the item-selection prioritization of faces with varying attractiveness.
... "In some cases (e.g., the sexual instinct; see Kant, 1775Kant, -1776 one can feel an instinct without a direct cognition of the object of that instinct." (Frierson, 2014) This strikingly coincides with the evidence Luoto provides concerning sexual stimuli (Ponseti and Bosinski, 2010;Gillath and Collins, 2016), facial beauty (Willis and Todorov, 2006) and the integration of visual information outside of consciousness (Mudrik et al., 2014;cf. Kant, 1798, 07:135f). ...
... It is puzzling, however, how little is known about the cognitive mechanisms underlying the processing of visual sexual stimuli (Rupp & Wallen, 2008). Evidence from studies using subliminal priming (Gillath & Collins, 2016;Janssen, Everaerd, Spiering, & Janssen, 2000) as well as attentional interference (e.g., dot-probe tasks; Kagerer et al., 2014) suggests that sexual meaning can be processed on a largely automatic basis, inde-pendent of subjective appraisal and awareness. This may also account for important differences between the sexes, as established by previous research: Whereas genital arousal in women is elicited by exposure to a broad range of erotic cues (regardless of subjective preference; Chivers & Bailey, 2005), men are usually most strongly aroused by content matching their sexual orientation (Chivers, Rieger, Latty, & Bailey, 2004;Rieger et al., 2015). ...
Article
The early processing of visual sexual stimuli shows signs of automaticity. Moreover, there is evidence for sex-specific patterns in cognitive and physiological responding to erotica. However, little is known about the time course of rapid pupillary responses to sexual stimuli and their correspondence with other measures of autonomic activity in women and men. To study pupil dilation as an implicit measure of sexual arousal at various stages of picture processing, we presented 35 heterosexual participants with pictures showing either erotic couples or single (male/female) erotic nudes, contrasted with people involved in everyday situations. Brightness-adjusted grayscale pictures were shown for a duration of 2,500 ms within the central visual field, alternating with perceptually matched patches. Left pupil diameter was recorded at 500 Hz using a video-based eye tracker. Skin conductance and heart rate were coregistered and correlated with latent components of pupil dilation (dissociated by temporal PCA). Whereas stimulus-evoked changes in pupil size indicated virtually no initial constriction, a rapid effect of appetence emerged (dilation to erotica within 500 ms). Responses at early stages of processing were remarkably consistent across both sexes. In contrast, later phases of pupil dilation, subjective ratings, and skin conductance responses showed a sex-specific pattern. Moreover, evidence for an association of early-onset pupil dilation and heart rate acceleration was found, suggestive of parasympathetic inhibition, whereas the late component was mainly related to sympathetically mediated skin conductance. Taken together, our results indicate that different temporal components of pupil responses to erotic stimuli may reflect divergent underlying neural mechanisms.
Chapter
This chapter covers the intricate relationship between and influence of sexuality, intimacy, relational dynamics, and love. It describes what enhances satisfactory sexual relationships, what encourages couples to maintain intimacy, and what the concerns and obstacles are in reaching, or keeping, a satisfying intimate and sexual relationship.
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The current research tests whether and how being in the presence of attractive individuals alters consumers’ evaluations of their expected dining experience and the taste of the products consumed. Our results uncover a novel phenomenon in the domains of physical attractiveness and taste perception: attractiveness does indeed impact taste perception, but its influence varies as a function of the valence of the food consumed. When the server is attractive, good food tastes better but bad food tastes worse. Six studies demonstrate this effect and, importantly, show that it occurs for male, but not female consumers and only if the male consumers are low in need for cognition. The implications of this work and potential avenues for additional research are discussed.
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Models of language processing which stress the autonomy of processing at each level predict that the semantic properties of an incomplete sentence context should have no influence on lexical processing, either facilitatory or inhibitory. An experiment similar to those reported by Fischler and Bloom (1979) and Stanovich and West (1979, 1981) was conducted using naming time as an index of lexical access time. No facilitatory effects of context were observed for either highly predictable or semantically appropriate (but unpredictable) completions, whereas strong inhibitory effects were obtained for inappropriate completions. When lexical decision time was the dependent measure, the same results were obtained, except that predictable completions now produced strong facilitation. In a further experiment the inhibitory effects of context on lexical decision times for inappropriate targets were maintained, even though unfocussed contexts were used, in which no clear expectancy for a particular completion was involved. These results were interpreted in terms of a two-factor theory which attributes the facilitation observed with the lexical decision task to postaccess decision processes which are not involved in the naming task. The inhibitory effects were attributed to interference resulting from semantic integration. In contrast to the results for sentence contexts, lexical contexts of the doctor-nurse variety produced clear facilitation effects on naming time (but no inhibitory effects). It was also shown that relatively minor variations in the type of neutral context could completely alter the relative importance of facilitation and inhibition.
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Extraversion has two central characteristics: (1) interpersonal engagement, which consists of affiliation (enjoying and valuing close interpersonal bonds, being warm and affectionate) and agency (being socially dominant, enjoying leadership roles, being assertive, being exhibitionistic, and having a sense of potency in accomplishing goals) and (2) impulsivity, which emerges from the interaction of extraversion and a second, independent trait (constraint). Agency is a more general motivational disposition that includes dominance, ambition, mastery, efficacy, and achievement. Positive affect (a combination of positive feelings and motivation) is closely associated with extraversion. Extraversion is accordingly based on positive incentive motivation. Parallels between extraversion (particularly its agency component) and a mammalian behavioral approach system based on positive incentive motivation implicate a neuroanatomical network and modulatory neurotransmitters in the processing of incentive motivation. A corticolimbic-striatal-thalamic network (1) integrates the salient incentive context in the medial orbital cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus; (2) encodes the intensity of incentive stimuli in a motive circuit composed of the nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum, and ventral tegmental area dopamine projection system; and (3) creates an incentive motivational state that can be transmitted to the motor system. Individual differences in the functioning of this network arise from functional variation in the Ventral tegmental area dopamine projections, which are directly involved in coding the intensity of incentive motivation. The animal evidence suggests that there are three neurodevelopmental sources of individual differences in dopamine: genetic, "experience-expectant," and "experience-dependent." Individual differences in dopamine promote variation in the heterosynaptic plasticity that enhances the connection between incentive con text and incentive motivation and behavior. Our psychobiological threshold model explains the effects of individual differences in dopamine transmission on behavior, and their relation to personality traits is discussed.
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In this article, we introduce this special issue by establishing a conceptual foundation for the distinction between approach and avoidance motivation. We do so primarily by explicating several reasons why the approach–avoidance distinction should be viewed as fundamental and basic to the study of human behavior. In addition, we compare and contrast the “approach–avoidance” designation with other designations that have been used in the motivational literature to cover the same or similar conceptual ground. Finally, we conclude by briefly overviewing the other contributions to this special issue, specifically highlighting how they make use of the approach–avoidance distinction.
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Current conceptualizations of sexual dysfunctions are reviewed, focusing upon the disorders of arousal (male erectile impotency and female anorgasmia) and their treatment. The centrality of the concept of anxiety is illustrated in clinical reports and critiqued in light of current theoretical accounts of anxiety from related literature. Direct and indirect empirical evidence is reviewed, exploring the role of anxiety as a maintaining f actor in these dysfunctions. Finally, an alternative perspective is presented, drawing a parallel between operative processes in the arousal disorders and social phobia, and deliniating relevant cognitive factors such as detraction and attentional focus. Suggestions for empirical study are offered and implications for treatment discussed.
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Abstract Implicit Association Tests (IATs) often reveal strong associations of self with positive rather than negative attributes. This poses a problem,in using the IAT to measure associations involving traits with either positive or negative evaluative content. In two studies, we employed non-bipolar but evaluatively balanced Big Five traits as attribute contrasts and explored correlations of IATs with positive (e.g. sociable vs. conscientious) or negative (e.g. reserved vs. chaotic) attributes. Results showed,(a) satisfactory internal consistencies for all IATs, (b) explicit–explicit and implicit–implicit correlations that were moderate to high and comparable,in strength after both were corrected for attenuation and (c) better model fit for latent variable models that linked the implicit and explicit measures to distinct latent factors rather to the same factor. Together, the results suggest that IATs can validly assess the semantic aspect of trait self-concepts and that implicit and explicit self-representations are, although correlated, also distinct constructs. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: implicit personality self-concept; semantic associations; valence associa- tions; Big Five Often we realize very quickly whether we like or dislike something or somebody,without