Automatic processes and the appraisal of sexual stimuli: Toward an information processing model of sexual arousal |
| |
Authors: | Erick Janssen Walter Everaerd Mark Spiering Jeroen Janssen |
| |
Institution: | 1. Universiteit van Amsterdam , The Netherlands;2. Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction , Indiana University , Morrison Hall 313, Bloomington, IN, 47405–2501 E-mail: ejanssen@indiana.edu;3. Universiteit van Amsterdam , The Netherlands |
| |
Abstract: | A model of sexual arousal is presented that highlights the interaction between automatic and controlled cognitive processes and proposes that different levels of cognitive processing can differentially affect subjective and physiological sexual arousal. In addition, two studies are presented in which the role of automatic processes was explored using a priming paradigm. Subjects were sexually functional men. In the first study an effect of priming was found on penile erection. Unexpectedly, responses were lower in sexual than in neutral trials. In the second study support was found, using a behavioral measure (decision time), for the notion that the meaning of sexual stimuli can be perceived in a fast, automatic manner. Priming was most successful at lower levels of stimulus accessibility. The model and experimental approach presented in this article render starting points for new research on response discordance, gender differences in the processing of sexual stimuli, and inhibition of sexual response. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|