The Role of Mixed Emotional States in Predicting Men’s and Women’s

1. Gender 7 7 women 6 men 6 5 NegativeAffect 4 5 3 Negative Affect 4 2 10 1 8 3 Ambivalent 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 100 Ambivalent 7 Positive Affect 6 High 80 Positive 4 Negative Subjective Arousal 2 60 Negative Positive Affect 2 Negative 40 High 0 20 Low 6 Negative 1 -2 Negative 0 Genital Response Affect Indifferent -4 Affect 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 -20 Indifferent Positive Affect Low -6 -40 Negative -8 -60 5 Affect -80 Low High -100 Positive Affect Negative Affect Low High 7 4 Positive Affect 6 3 5 Negative Affect 4 2 3 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 Positive Affect 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Positive Affect The Role of Mixed Emotional States in Predicting Men’s and Women’s Subjective and Physiological Sexual Responses to Erotic Stimuli Peterson, Z. D.1 and Janssen, E.1,2 1The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction; 2Department of Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington METHODS INTRODUCTION • There is support for the idea that positive affect is associated with greater • sexual response in both men and women (e.g., Rowland, Cooper, & Slob, 1996; • Heiman,1980). There also is evidence that, for women, negative affect actually • may facilitate genital arousal but not subjective arousal (e.g., Laan and Everaerd, • 1995). For men, negative affect does not appear to relate to sexual response in a • clear and consistent manner. In general, the findings regarding the impact of • affect on sexual response are complicated and inconsistent across studies. One • possible explanation for the inconsistent findings regarding the relationship • between affect and sexual response could relate to the fact that sometimes • positive and negative affect co-occur. • Primary Research Questions • Are emotional responses to sexual stimuli purely positive or negative or do some individuals respond to sexual stimuli with ambivalent affect (i.e., co-occurring positive and negative emotions) or indifferent affect (i.e., an absence of both positive and negative emotions)? • If there is evidence for ambivalence and indifference, how do positive, negative, ambivalent, or indifferent emotional states differentially impact subjective sexual arousal and genital response? 26 female and 19 male participants observed 3 erotic film excerpts and 1 film excerpt depicting a coercive sexual encounter. In a prior study, one of the erotic film excerpts (i.e., the “female-selected film”) was selected from among many excerpts as the most sexually arousing to female viewers, and the other erotic film segment (i.e., the “male-selected film”) was selected as most arousing to male viewers (Janssen, Carpenter, & Graham, 2003). The third erotic film (i.e, “the runner-up film”) differed for the female and male participants; these clips were selected as the second-most arousing to women and men, respectively. Vaginal pulse amplitude or penile rigidity were measured throughout the films. Using a scale ranging from 1 (Not at all) to 7 (Very Strong), participants rated their status on 4 positive and 7 negative emotions as well as on subjective sexual arousal. Participants’ positive affect score was based on their maximum rating on one of the 4 positive emotions, and their negative affect score was based on their maximum rating on one of the 7 negative emotions. Schematic Representation of the Study Design RESULTS Evidence of Mixed Emotions There was evidence that our stimuli produced mixed emotional states. Some individuals reported relatively high levels of both positive and negative emotions (i.e., ambivalence) or relatively low levels of both positive and negative emotion (i.e., indifference). Distribution of Positive and Negative Affect Ratings The Relationship Between Affect and Sexual Response To evaluate the impact of positive, negative, ambivalent, and indifferent emotions on sexual response, we conducted multiple regression analyses with subjective sexual arousal and genital response as criterion variables. Predictor variables for each regression were gender (dummy-coded and entered in Step 1), positive and negative affect (entered in Step 2), and the interaction between positive and negative affect (entered in Step 3). For the analyses with genital response as the criterion variable, analyses for men and women were conducted separately. Results for Subjective Results for Sexual Arousal:Genital Response: Male-Selected Film Condition Female-Selected Film Condition Ambivalent Ambivalent Negative Negative Figure depicts the distribution of positive and negative affect ratings for each of the film conditions. Marker size indicates number of participants per data point, with larger markers indicating a larger number of participants. Reference lines indicate median ratings of positive and negative affect for each film. Positive Indifferent Indifferent Positive Interaction Pattern Interaction Pattern Coercive Film Condition Runner-Up Film Condition Ambivalent Negative Negative For analyses with male participants, there were no significant associations between affective state and genital response in any of the 4 conditions. Figure depicts the pattern of the significant interaction effect for women in the male-selected film condition. High scores are 1 SD above the mean; low scores are 1 SD below the mean. Figure depicts the pattern of the significant interaction effect in the coercive film condition. High scores are 1 SD above the mean; low scores are 1 SD below the mean. Indifferent Positive Ambivalent Positive Indifferent REFERENCES CONCLUSIONS Heiman, J. R. (1980). Female sexual response patterns: Interactions of physiological, affective, and contextual cues. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 1311-1316. Janssen, E., Carpenter, D., & Graham, C. A. (2003). Selecting films for sex research: Gender differences in erotic film preference. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32, 243-251. Laan, E., & Everaerd, W.(1995). Determinants of female sexual arousal: Psychophysiological theory and data. Annual Review of Sex Research, 6, 32-76. Rowland, D. L., Cooper, S. E., & Slob, A. K. (1996). Genital and psychoaffective response to erotic stimulation in sexually functional and dysfunctional men. Journal of Abnormal Psychology,105, 194-203. • Positive affect was predictive of subjective sexual arousal in both men and women across conditions. • Negative affect was a poor predictor of subjective sexual arousal. However, among women, negative affect was associated with enhanced genital response. • Erotic stimuli did elicit mixed emotional states in many of our participants, and ambivalence (i.e., high positive and high negative affect) was associated with relatively high levels of subjective sexual arousal across conditions. • In some of our experimental conditions, affective indifference (i.e., low positive and low negative affect) was associated with particularly low levels of sexual response.