Information as a defensive control of sexual arousal.

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Investigated the effect information about the true nature of an experiment has when the experiment deals with areas of defensive concern, e.g., sexuality. 61 male undergraduates, aged 21 yr. and older, were shown a sexually arousing film or a boring film under conditions where Ss either knew the true purpose of the study or were misinformed. Pre- and postarousal urine samples were analyzed for urinary acid phosphatase, a possible indicator of sexual arousal. A significant interaction showed that informing Ss caused a paradoxical finding: acid-phosphatase secretion was high in control Ss, while Ss seeing an arousing movie showed no change from prearousal levels. Previous findings of increased acid phosphatase following arousal were replicated for noninformed Ss. Sexually experienced Ss responded to the film with increases in acid-phosphatase secretion, while sexually inexperienced Ss did not. Results are discussed in terms of defensive control of arousal and its implication for research dealing with high-concern, high-defensiveness areas, e.g., sexuality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: