Abstract
Being sexually aroused may be an important risk factor contributing to sexual decision making. Dual-process cognitive models, such as the reflective-impulsive model of Strack and Deutsch (2004), could be used to explain the effect of sexual arousal on intentions to use a condom. In this study, we investigated whether explicit and implicit attitudes toward condom use can predict intentions to use a condom when participants are sexually aroused and not aroused. In a within-subjects experimental design, male participants (N = 27) watched both a neutral and an erotic movie clip in counterbalanced order. After each clip, participants completed a questionnaire assessing their intentions to use a condom and explicit condom attitudes, followed by a wanting Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald et al., 2003) and a liking IAT to assess their implicit attitudes to unsafe sex. In concordance with the reflective-impulsive model, we found that when participants were not sexually aroused, their intentions to use a condom were solely predicted by their explicit attitudes. However, when they were sexually aroused, intentions to use a condom were predicted by both explicit and implicit attitudes toward condom use.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 469-480 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Archives of Sexual Behavior |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 12 Jul 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Feb 2019 |
Keywords
- Sexual risk
- Sexual arousal
- Attitudes
- Implicit Association Test
- Dual-process model
- INCREASING NEUTRAL DISTRACTION
- ALCOHOL-INTOXICATION
- ASSOCIATION TEST
- RISK-TAKING
- BEHAVIORAL SKILLS
- DECISION-MAKING
- ATTITUDES
- IMPACT
- METAANALYSIS
- PERCEPTION