Bolmont M, Bianchi-Demicheli F, Boisgontier MP, et al. The Woman’s Body (Not the Man’s One) Is Used to Evaluate Sexual Desire: An Eye-Tracking Study of Automatic Visual Attention. J Sex Med 2019;16:195–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2018.12.003
Abstract
Introduction: Vision of the human body has been shown to be key in eliciting sexual desire. However, whether the visual pattern characterizing sexual desire is different in women and men is still unclear.
Aim: To investigate the effect of gender on visual patterns triggered by an identical set of stimuli depicting attractive heterosexual couples.
Methods: Heterosexual women and men (n = 106) were tested on a picture-viewing task associated with eye tracking. The context of sexual desire was activated by asking the participant whether they perceived such desire while looking at sensual pictures of heterosexual couples. Data were analyzed using mixed-subject design analyses of variance.
Main Outcome Measure: Fixation durations were used to investigate visual patterns. 2 areas of interest were created to investigate visual patterns (face vs body area).
Results: Results showed longer fixations on body rather than face areas irrespective of participant gender. Moreover, all participants looked longer at women’s than men’s bodies and at the faces of the opposite sex.
Clinical Implications: These findings shed light on the automatic processes underlying sexual desire, which has the potential to improve the care of patients suffering from sexual disorders by optimizing interventions.
Strengths & Limitations: The strengths of this study are the use of an eye-tracking paradigm, the dissociation between 2 fixation areas (ie, face and body), and the use of an identical set of stimuli allowing an accurate between-gender comparison of the visual pattern. The limitations are the small sample size, the use of healthy heterosexual individuals, and the absence of measures of sexual arousal and genital response.
Conclusions: These findings confirm the association between the human body and sexual desire. They also reveal the unique attentional attractiveness of woman’s bodies across genders.
Key Words: Automatic AttentionEye TrackingGenderSexual DesireVisual Pattern
Check also Widman, D. R., Bennetti, M. K., & Anglemyer, R. (2019). Gaze patterns of sexually fluid women and men at nude females and males. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, Sep 2 2019, https://www.bipartisanalliance.com/2019/09/gaze-patterns-of-sexually-fluid-women.html
Bipartisan Alliance, a Society for the Study of the US Constitution, and of Human Nature, where Republicans and Democrats meet.
Friday, September 6, 2019
Sexual Performance Anxiety is one of the most prevalent sexual complaints & causes or maintains most common sexual dysfunction; no diagnosis is recognized for either gender; no treatments are well proven
Pyke RE. Sexual Performance Anxiety. J Sex Med 2019; XX:XXX–XXX, Aug 22 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sxmr.2019.07.001
Abstract
Introduction: Sexual performance anxiety (SPA) is one of the most prevalent sexual complaints; yet, no diagnosis is recognized for either gender. Thus, research into treatment has been minimal.
Aim: Review the prevalence of SPA and its relation to sexual dysfunctions and anxiety disorders. Compare SPA to (non-sexual) performance anxiety and social anxiety (PA/SA). Apply pharmacologic principles to the known properties of drugs and phytotherapies to hypothesize treatments for SPA.
Methods: Review SPA and PA/SA through PubMed searches for relevant literature from 2000 to 2018.
Main Outcome Measure: Prevalence was estimated using population-representative surveys. For treatment results, controlled clinical trial results were prioritized over open-label trial results.
Results: SPA affects 9–25% of men and contributes to premature ejaculation and psychogenic erectile dysfunction (ED). SPA affects 6–16% of women and severely inhibits sexual desire. Cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness meditation training have been proven effective for PA/SA and are recommended for SPA, but controlled studies are lacking. Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors are effective for psychogenic ED and premature ejaculation, both of which include SPA as a major element. Drugs proven for PA/SA have adverse sexual and sedative effects, but serotonergic anxiolytics with prosexual effects (buspirone ± testosterone, trazodone ± bupropion) may have potential, and sage, passionflower, l-theanine, and bitter orange are anxiolytic. Nitric oxide boosters (l-citrulline, l-arginine, Panax ginseng) have the potential for increasing genital tumescence and lubrication, and plant-based alpha-adrenergic antagonists may aid sexual arousal (yohimbine/yohimbe, Citrus aurantium/p-synephrine).
Conclusion: SPA causes or maintains most common sexual dysfunction. No treatments are well proven, although cognitive behavior therapy, mindfulness meditation training, and serotonergic anxiolytics (buspirone, trazodone, gepirone) have potential, and phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors are effective for psychogenic ED and premature ejaculation. Several phytotherapies also appear to have potential.
Abstract
Introduction: Sexual performance anxiety (SPA) is one of the most prevalent sexual complaints; yet, no diagnosis is recognized for either gender. Thus, research into treatment has been minimal.
Aim: Review the prevalence of SPA and its relation to sexual dysfunctions and anxiety disorders. Compare SPA to (non-sexual) performance anxiety and social anxiety (PA/SA). Apply pharmacologic principles to the known properties of drugs and phytotherapies to hypothesize treatments for SPA.
Methods: Review SPA and PA/SA through PubMed searches for relevant literature from 2000 to 2018.
Main Outcome Measure: Prevalence was estimated using population-representative surveys. For treatment results, controlled clinical trial results were prioritized over open-label trial results.
Results: SPA affects 9–25% of men and contributes to premature ejaculation and psychogenic erectile dysfunction (ED). SPA affects 6–16% of women and severely inhibits sexual desire. Cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness meditation training have been proven effective for PA/SA and are recommended for SPA, but controlled studies are lacking. Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors are effective for psychogenic ED and premature ejaculation, both of which include SPA as a major element. Drugs proven for PA/SA have adverse sexual and sedative effects, but serotonergic anxiolytics with prosexual effects (buspirone ± testosterone, trazodone ± bupropion) may have potential, and sage, passionflower, l-theanine, and bitter orange are anxiolytic. Nitric oxide boosters (l-citrulline, l-arginine, Panax ginseng) have the potential for increasing genital tumescence and lubrication, and plant-based alpha-adrenergic antagonists may aid sexual arousal (yohimbine/yohimbe, Citrus aurantium/p-synephrine).
Conclusion: SPA causes or maintains most common sexual dysfunction. No treatments are well proven, although cognitive behavior therapy, mindfulness meditation training, and serotonergic anxiolytics (buspirone, trazodone, gepirone) have potential, and phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors are effective for psychogenic ED and premature ejaculation. Several phytotherapies also appear to have potential.
We often offload memory demands onto external artefacts, subverting the limitations of our biological memory; authors manipulated the information in that store, leading, upon retrieval by users, to the creation of false memories
Offloading
memory leaves us vulnerable to memory manipulation. E.F. Risko, M.O.
Kelly, P. Patel, C. Gaspar. Cognition, Volume 191, October 2019, 103954.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.04.023
Abstract: We often offload memory demands onto external artefacts (e.g., smartphones). While this practice allows us to subvert the limitations of our biological memory, storing memories externally exposes them to manipulation. To examine the impact of such manipulation, we report three experiments, two of which were pre-registered. Individuals performed a memory task where they could offload to-be-recalled information to an external store and on a critical trial, we surreptitiously manipulated the information in that store. Results demonstrated that individuals rarely noticed this manipulation. In addition, when individuals had information inserted into their external memory stores, they often encoded it into their biological memory, thereby leading to the creation of a false memory. The reported results highlight one of the cognitive consequences of offloading our memory to external artefacts.
Abstract: We often offload memory demands onto external artefacts (e.g., smartphones). While this practice allows us to subvert the limitations of our biological memory, storing memories externally exposes them to manipulation. To examine the impact of such manipulation, we report three experiments, two of which were pre-registered. Individuals performed a memory task where they could offload to-be-recalled information to an external store and on a critical trial, we surreptitiously manipulated the information in that store. Results demonstrated that individuals rarely noticed this manipulation. In addition, when individuals had information inserted into their external memory stores, they often encoded it into their biological memory, thereby leading to the creation of a false memory. The reported results highlight one of the cognitive consequences of offloading our memory to external artefacts.
After stating opinions on political issues, some responses were manipulated to indicate an opposite position; this created a false memory of a past attitude which people used when generating future responses on political statements
False Memories Resulting from a Choice Blindness Task Shapes Future Political Attitudes. David Bengtegård. Master’s thesis in Cognitive Science, Department of Philosophy, Lund University, Jun 6 2019. http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=8989830&fileOId=8989841
In many attitude theories, it is commonly assumed that what we believe in is partly based on our own past actions, and that these actions shape our present opinion towards an issue. This suggests that how one remembers and represents past decisions could have an instigating role in establishing future attitudes. However, the way attitudes change over time has generally been explained by either self-perception processes or from resolving internal motivational conflicts. The aim of this thesis is to go beyond this conception of attitude change and explore an alternative explanation: that attitudes are liable to the dynamics and processes of memory. To do this, participants stated their opinions on political issues, and the Choice Blindness Paradigm was used to manipulate some of their previous responses to indicate an opposite position. Participants were then asked to remember their previous responses together with their current opinion on the issue directly after the manipulation and one day later to investigate how memories of past attitudes are influenced when accepting the false feed-back. Specifically, to test whether the choice blindness manipulation creates a false memory of a past attitude which participants’ uses when generating their future response on a political statement. The result showed that participants’ memory responses were strongly influenced by the manipulation and moved in direction of the false feedback, both directly following the manipulation as well as one day later. This effect was also found for attitude responses in which participants exhibited lasting shifts in attitudes. Additionally, the memory of past attitudes was a significant predictor for later attitude shifts and explained a large portion of variance in attitude change. These findings provide evidence that attitude change as well as choice blindness may result from memory mechanisms. And helps to understand how environmental forces and memory processes can interact in shaping future attitudes.
In many attitude theories, it is commonly assumed that what we believe in is partly based on our own past actions, and that these actions shape our present opinion towards an issue. This suggests that how one remembers and represents past decisions could have an instigating role in establishing future attitudes. However, the way attitudes change over time has generally been explained by either self-perception processes or from resolving internal motivational conflicts. The aim of this thesis is to go beyond this conception of attitude change and explore an alternative explanation: that attitudes are liable to the dynamics and processes of memory. To do this, participants stated their opinions on political issues, and the Choice Blindness Paradigm was used to manipulate some of their previous responses to indicate an opposite position. Participants were then asked to remember their previous responses together with their current opinion on the issue directly after the manipulation and one day later to investigate how memories of past attitudes are influenced when accepting the false feed-back. Specifically, to test whether the choice blindness manipulation creates a false memory of a past attitude which participants’ uses when generating their future response on a political statement. The result showed that participants’ memory responses were strongly influenced by the manipulation and moved in direction of the false feedback, both directly following the manipulation as well as one day later. This effect was also found for attitude responses in which participants exhibited lasting shifts in attitudes. Additionally, the memory of past attitudes was a significant predictor for later attitude shifts and explained a large portion of variance in attitude change. These findings provide evidence that attitude change as well as choice blindness may result from memory mechanisms. And helps to understand how environmental forces and memory processes can interact in shaping future attitudes.
Self-presentation and impressions of personality through text-based online dating profiles: A lens model analysis
Self-presentation
and impressions of personality through text-based online dating
profiles: A lens model analysis. Stephanie Tom Tong et al. New Media
& Society, September 5, 2019.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819872678
Abstract: In online dating, the self-authored profile serves as the primary way for daters to introduce themselves to others and to learn more about potential partners. However, few studies have examined the extent to which daters’ self-authored profile content is consistent with the impressions that others actually form. This study applied the Brunswikian lens model (1956) to examine self-presentation and impression formation in the text-based “about me” portion of the online dating profile. Using the meaning extraction method, we analyzed 190 profiles. Consistent with the lexical approach to personality, daters were able to encode aspects of themselves through linguistic self-description (cue validity), and observers were able to decode profile information to form impressions (cue utilization). However, there were few significant associations between a dater’s self-presentation and observers’ judgments (functional achievement). Findings are interpreted in line with previous work examining self-presentation and impressions in online dating profiles.
Keywords: Computer-mediated communication, impressions, language, lens model, online dating, personality, self-presentation
Abstract: In online dating, the self-authored profile serves as the primary way for daters to introduce themselves to others and to learn more about potential partners. However, few studies have examined the extent to which daters’ self-authored profile content is consistent with the impressions that others actually form. This study applied the Brunswikian lens model (1956) to examine self-presentation and impression formation in the text-based “about me” portion of the online dating profile. Using the meaning extraction method, we analyzed 190 profiles. Consistent with the lexical approach to personality, daters were able to encode aspects of themselves through linguistic self-description (cue validity), and observers were able to decode profile information to form impressions (cue utilization). However, there were few significant associations between a dater’s self-presentation and observers’ judgments (functional achievement). Findings are interpreted in line with previous work examining self-presentation and impressions in online dating profiles.
Keywords: Computer-mediated communication, impressions, language, lens model, online dating, personality, self-presentation
Persons were exposed to a target wearing symbols of relatively high or low social class who was presumably requesting money to help the homeless; they gave more than twice as much to the target wearing high social class symbols
Callaghan, Bennett, Quinton M. Delgadillo, and Michael W. Kraus. 2019. “The Influence of Signs of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior: A Field Experiment.” PsyArXiv. September 5. doi:10.31234/osf.io/en7zd
Abstract: A field experiment (N = 4,537) examined how signs of social class influence prosocial behavior. In the experiment, pedestrians were exposed to a target wearing symbols of relatively high or low social class in two major urban cities in the USA who was presumably requesting money to help the homeless. Pedestrians gave more than twice (2.55 times) as much to the target wearing high social class symbols than they did to the one wearing lower-class symbols. A follow-up perceptual study exposed participants to images of this panhandler wearing the same higher- or lower-class symbols, finding that higher-class symbols elicited perceptions of elevated competence, trustworthiness, similarity to the self, and perceived humanity compared to lower-class symbols. These results indicate that perceivers use visible signs of social class as a basis for judging others’ traits and attributes, and in decisions to directly share resources.
Abstract: A field experiment (N = 4,537) examined how signs of social class influence prosocial behavior. In the experiment, pedestrians were exposed to a target wearing symbols of relatively high or low social class in two major urban cities in the USA who was presumably requesting money to help the homeless. Pedestrians gave more than twice (2.55 times) as much to the target wearing high social class symbols than they did to the one wearing lower-class symbols. A follow-up perceptual study exposed participants to images of this panhandler wearing the same higher- or lower-class symbols, finding that higher-class symbols elicited perceptions of elevated competence, trustworthiness, similarity to the self, and perceived humanity compared to lower-class symbols. These results indicate that perceivers use visible signs of social class as a basis for judging others’ traits and attributes, and in decisions to directly share resources.
The car as a sexual enhancer: Having one increased self-steem, sexual desire, the probability of having sexual intercourse at a younger age, of having more sexual partners, of being promiscuous, & frequency of sexual activities
The Automobile as a Sexual Enhancer: How Having a Car Affects the Sexual Behavior of Emerging Adults That Are University Students. David A. Soriano-Hernandez et al. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, September 5 2019. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-019-00403-2
Abstract: The automobile (or car) is a symbol of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that move its drivers from one place to another, but it can also bring about behavioral changes in them. Changes in sexual behavior resulting from having a car have not been quantified. Given that emerging adults belong to a vulnerable and psychologically immature group, examining said changes in that population is of interest. A case-control study was designed that included 809 emerging adults (17–24 years) studying at a small university in Western Mexico. The students were surveyed in relation to their sexual conduct, along with other socioeconomic aspects. The participants were then separated into cases (having a car, n = 161) and controls (not having a car, n = 648). Having a car increased sexual desire and the probability of having sexual intercourse at a younger age, of having more sexual partners, of being promiscuous, and of increasing the frequency of sexual activities. It also increased self-esteem. Originally conceived as a means of transportation, the automobile can also act as a sexual enhancer in emerging adulthood, which should be taken into consideration in the development of sex education strategies. Future studies are required in other social groups.
Keywords: Adolescent behavior Sex Automobiles Self-concept Students
Abstract: The automobile (or car) is a symbol of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that move its drivers from one place to another, but it can also bring about behavioral changes in them. Changes in sexual behavior resulting from having a car have not been quantified. Given that emerging adults belong to a vulnerable and psychologically immature group, examining said changes in that population is of interest. A case-control study was designed that included 809 emerging adults (17–24 years) studying at a small university in Western Mexico. The students were surveyed in relation to their sexual conduct, along with other socioeconomic aspects. The participants were then separated into cases (having a car, n = 161) and controls (not having a car, n = 648). Having a car increased sexual desire and the probability of having sexual intercourse at a younger age, of having more sexual partners, of being promiscuous, and of increasing the frequency of sexual activities. It also increased self-esteem. Originally conceived as a means of transportation, the automobile can also act as a sexual enhancer in emerging adulthood, which should be taken into consideration in the development of sex education strategies. Future studies are required in other social groups.
Keywords: Adolescent behavior Sex Automobiles Self-concept Students