The effect of sexual arousal on risky decision-making / Gillian Kennedy

ix, 156 leaves; 29 cmSexual arousal is likely an important situational factor in date rape. Research shows that sexual arousal increases self-reported willingness to engage in sexually aggressive behaviour. Chapter One reviews the situational, perpetrator, and victim characteristics of date rape. Chapter Two describes an experiment that examined the effect of sexual arousal on measures of decision-making, including Risky Choice Task, Balloon Analogue Risk Task, Future Discounting, and on a measure of Viewing Time. Participants were 20 heterosexual men and 22 heterosexual women 18 to 25 years old. Results revealed that sexually aroused women preferred higher variance options compared to women who were not, and the opposite was observed for men. No other significant effects were observed. Chapter Three describes Experiment 2 which included another neutral condition and a measure of sexual decision-making. Results revealed no effect of condition on behavioural or sexual decision-making, nor on viewing times. Chapter Four provides a general discussion and directions for future research