Relationships Between Sexual Arousal, Relationship Status, and Men's Ratings of Women's Sexual Willingness: Implications for Research and Practice

Livingston, Tyler N.; Rerick, Peter O.; Davis, Deborah

doi:10.1089/vio.2020.0042

Cited by 3 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…In one study [34], women's sexual arousal was positively associated with the endorsement of the belief that women say "no" to sex when they really mean "yes" (i.e., token resistance [35]) and with preferences for men who act with sexual assertiveness (e.g., undressing a woman without asking first). Sexual arousal also influences interpretations of sexual communication, with sexually aroused men-especially single men not in current romantic relationships-interpreting greater sexual willingness from women's ambiguous behaviors [12,13]. The current study replicated and extended this effect among a community sample of women and tested sexual arousal as a mediator of the relationship between target attractiveness and ratings of sexual intent.…”

Section: Effects Of Sexual Arousal On Sexual Decision Makingsupporting

confidence: 53%

“…Participants self-reported their present-state sexual arousal on a scale from 1 (not at all sexually aroused) to 7 (extremely sexually aroused). Single-item measures of sexual arousal reliably captured differences in self-reported sexual arousal in prior research [11][12][13].…”

Section: Self-reported Sexual Arousalmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Indeed, women and men rated 15 behaviors, from Haselton and Buss (2000), indicating a greater sexual intent when performed by someone else versus themselves [23]. The current study examined this actor-observer difference among a sample of women using a 25-item instrument that manipulated the participants' perspective and measured perceptions of sexual intent [12,13,24].…”

Section: Actor-observer Asymmetrymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Ratings of sexual intent served as the study's primary dependent variable. We measured this construct using a scale with high internal consistency adapted from prior research (α = 0.92-0.95) [12,13,24]. The scale consists of 25 items each rated on a continuous 7-point scale (see Table 2 for items and mean ratings separated by condition).…”

Section: Ratings Of Sexual Intentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If actor-observer asymmetry exacerbates the gender difference in sexual overperception, women prompted to interpret the nonverbal behavior of another woman should report greater sexual intent compared to women reporting their own nonverbal behavior. Variables such as the physical attractiveness of the male target of the nonverbal behavior [9,10], as well as the participant's sexual arousal [11][12][13], might also increase ratings of sexual intent underlying nonverbal behavior. The current study compared ratings of sexual intent between women rating their own behavior and Sexes 2023, 4 women rating another woman's behavior as a function of target attractiveness and mediated by the women's present-state self-reported sexual arousal, to identify contributors to miscommunications of sexual intent which might lead to sexual assault.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Men’s Physical Attractiveness Predicts Women’s Ratings of Sexual Intent through Sexual Arousal: Implications for Sexual (Mis)Communication

Livingston

Rerick

2023

Sexes

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Men often perceive greater sexual willingness underlying women’s behaviors than women themselves intend. This discrepancy can contribute to sexual miscommunication and, sometimes, acts of sexual assault. The current study tested whether actor–observer asymmetry is present in women’s ratings of sexual intent to offer an additional explanation for past findings. We hypothesized that women rating their own behaviors would report less sexual intent compared to women rating another woman’s behaviors. We also hypothesized that these ratings would be influenced by the physical attractiveness of a male target through self-reported sexual arousal as a mediation pathway. Results from a community sample of 164 women (Mage = 42 years) generally supported these hypotheses. Sexual arousal was positively associated with ratings among all participants, but the mediation pathway was significant only for women rating another woman’s behavior. The findings suggested that actor–observer asymmetry is present in ratings of sexual intent. This effect might account for some of the sexual overperception phenomena and explain why third-party observers of women’s sexual behavior (e.g., potential partners, Title IX investigators, jurors) sometimes misinterpret sexual willingness.

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Section: Effects Of Sexual Arousal On Sexual Decision Makingsupporting

confidence: 53%

Section: Self-reported Sexual Arousalmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Actor-observer Asymmetrymentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Ratings Of Sexual Intentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Men’s Physical Attractiveness Predicts Women’s Ratings of Sexual Intent through Sexual Arousal: Implications for Sexual (Mis)Communication

Livingston

Rerick

2023

Sexes

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Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder, and So Is Intent: Men's Interpretations of the Sexual Intent of Attractive Versus Unattractive Women

Rerick

Livingston

2022

Violence and Gender

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Sexual Incentive Motivation and Sexual Behavior: The Role of Consent

Ågmo,

Laan

2024

Annu. Rev. Psychol.

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The generalized social concern with sexual harassment and nonconsensual sex makes it imperative to incorporate notions of consent in any analysis of human sexual interactions. Such interactions follow an ordered sequence of events, starting with the perception of a sexual incentive, followed by an approach to it, genital interaction, and eventually orgasm. Consent from the partner is needed at every stage. At some points in this chain of events, the individuals involved make cognitive evaluations of the context and predictions of the likelihood for obtaining consent for proceeding to the next phase. Processes such as communication of consent or lack thereof, sexual decision making, and interpretation of cues emitted by the partner are decisive. Increased sexual motivation may influence these processes. However, available data make it possible to ascertain that enhanced motivation has no, or at most minor, effects, thereby invalidating the old assumption that heightened sexual motivation leads to impaired control. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 75 is January 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

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Relationships Between Sexual Arousal, Relationship Status, and Men's Ratings of Women's Sexual Willingness: Implications for Research and Practice

Cited by 3 publications

References 32 publications

Men’s Physical Attractiveness Predicts Women’s Ratings of Sexual Intent through Sexual Arousal: Implications for Sexual (Mis)Communication

Men’s Physical Attractiveness Predicts Women’s Ratings of Sexual Intent through Sexual Arousal: Implications for Sexual (Mis)Communication

Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder, and So Is Intent: Men's Interpretations of the Sexual Intent of Attractive Versus Unattractive Women

Sexual Incentive Motivation and Sexual Behavior: The Role of Consent

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