The Internet and sexuality education: Tapping into the wild side

Abstract

To see whether observing information exchanges in "cyberspace" had a positive effect on computer usage and attitudes, students in an advanced undergraduate sexuality class were given an Internet project. Their pre-and postproject computer attitude and utilization reports were compared with those of a traditional computer usage research methods course taught by the same instructor. Overall, the e-mail/Internet project did not have a positive effect on computer usage and attitudes, whereas the more traditional computer as research tool usage taught in the methods class did have a positive effect.Computers are an important tool for research and training. Experimental psychology courses often include units of instruction on the computer as a word processor or statistical analysis tool (Rosen, Feeney, & Petty, 1994). The computer has also been used as an experiment simulator, allowing students to run themselves and others as subjects in classical experiments (Petty & Rosen, 1990; St. James & Schneider, 1991). In each of these modalities the computer serves as a tool for the individual student, enabling the person alone to be more productive. However, psychology is the science of human behavior, and humans are social animals by nature and usually work in groups. Computing in the "real world" also has this social function. For example, one of the most popular uses of Internet communications is for e-mail and chatting, both of which are human interactions facilitated by computer technology.Computers have also been used to teach concepts in sexuality. Computer software has been used to present material about contraception (Reis & Tymchyshyn, 1992) and has been used as a very successful "free-feeding," interactive, health information and decision-making source for adolescents (Hawkins, Gustafson, Chewning, 'Bosworth, & Day, 1987).An untapped area, however, is "cyberspace." "Cyberspace" is populated by human beings who are using the computer to communicate. This communication activity offers psychology students an unprecedented opportunity to sample directly how people are interacting with each other.Teaching computer use as a means of communication might appeal more to nontraditional students. Nelson, Wiese, and Cooper (1991) report that women generally Correspondence should be addressed to E. F. Rosen, 5023 Lauderdale Ave., Virginia Beach, VA 23455 (e-mail: efrose@maiJ.wm.edu).have less positive attitudes toward computers than men do, although men and women have equal computer abilities and problem-solving skills. Women tend to have less knowledge and less interest in computers than do men, as well as less computer experience. Nelson et al. (1991) argue that this difference in experience between men and women accounts for attitudinal differences. Their survey of the literature indicates that there is a strong positive relationship between computer experience and favorable computer attitudes. They found that women who thought ofthe computer as a machine were more likely to drop out of a computer course. Generally, studen...

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