International Academy of Sex Research Presentations

Presentations by researchers from The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at the meeting of the International Academy for Sex Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 12-15, 2006. You will find links to further materials following each presentation abstract.

Attention and Emotional Responses to Sexual Stimuli and Their Relationship to Sexual Desire

Nicole Prause, Erick Janssen, E. and William Hetrick

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University

People vary in their levels of sexual desire. Can we test or predict how people will respond to sexual stimuli based on this level? And how do attention and emotion interact with sexual desire in our responses to sexual stimuli? These studies suggest new directions for uncovering such interactions in a laboratory setting. READ MORE

The Measurement of Sexual Compulsivity in Young Adults: A Comparison of Two Scales

Kimberly McBride, Michael Reece, Stephanie Sanders and Erick Janssen.

The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University

While there has been an increase in research aimed at understanding the notion of out of-control sexual behavior and “sexual compulsivity”, much of the existing work has focused on men (especially within the context of HIV risk) and clinical samples, giving little attention to women and non-clinical groups, particularly young heterosexual adults. The purpose of this study was to examine two existing measurement tools used to assess sexual compulsivity, giving special attention to the scales’ ability to predict the negative outcomes of sexual behavior that some would suggest are definitive elements of the construct of sexual compulsivity. READ MORE

The Role of Mixed Emotional States in Predicting Men’s and Women’s Subjective and Physiological Sexual Responses to Erotic Stimuli

Zoe Peterson and Erick Janssen

The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University

For many people, sexuality seems a source of mixed, or ambivalent, emotions. Researchers have explored the impact of positive and negative emotions on sexual response (i.e., subjective sexual arousal and physiological sexual arousal) before, but the role of mixed emotions has not been explicitly analyzed in any of these studies. Can individuals experience mixed positive and negative emotions in a sexual context? Conversely, can individuals experience indifference (or an absence of both positive and negative emotions) in a sexual context? If so, how do ambivalent or indifferent emotional states influence sexual response? Understanding the role of these co-occurring emotional states could contribute to our understanding of the complex relationship between mood and sexual behavior. READ MORE

Attention to Visual Sexual Stimuli: An Eye-Tracking Study

Heather Rupp and Kim Wallen.

The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University and Department of Psychology and the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Males and females respond differently to the presentation of visual sexual stimuli in terms of neural activation and genital and subjective arousal. What specific components of visual sexual stimuli are important to males as compared to females and what roles do hormones play between and among these groups? READ MORE

Response Specificity and Construct Validity of the Labial Thermistor as Compared with the Vaginal Photoplethysmograph

Nicole Prause, Kimberley Payne, and Julia Heiman

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University and the Centre for Psychological Services, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario

This study tests two devices for measurement of female sexual arousal: the vaginal photoplethysmograph and the labial thermistor. The researchers discuss advantages and problems with each, and offer suggestions for further testing. READ MORE

Gender Similarities in Dual Control Processes: A Short Version of the Sexual Inhibition and Excitation Scales (SIS/SES-Short Form)

Deanna Carpenter, Erick Janssen, Cynthia Graham, Harrie Vorst & Jelte Wicherts

The Kinsey Institute’s Sexual Inhibition/Sexual Excitation Scales (SIS/SES) measure an individual’s propensity to become sexually aroused and to inhibit arousal. This study is the first to compare men and women in their responses to this questionnaire. Also, a series of statistical analyses identified a short version of the SIS/SES, including 14 of the original 45 questions, which is well-suited for research on gender similarities in sexuality. READ MORE

Shocking null-effects in a shock-threat paradigm

Lisa Scepkowski, and Erick Janssen.

Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Boston University, MA and The Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington

How willing are men to withstand the threat of a shock in order to watch an erotic film and what impact did this threat have on sexual arousal?

Are there differences between men who terminated the films to avoid shock threat and those who chose to receive shocks while completing film viewing? Why were most of these participants willing to endure shock threat and actual shocks rather than terminating an erotic film early? READ MORE