Sexual Attraction Under Conditions Of High Anxiety PDF

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1974, Vol. 30, No. 4, 510-517 SOME EVIDENCE FOR HEIGHTENED SEXUAL ATTRACTION UNDER CONDITIONS OF HIGH ANXIETY1 DONALD G. DUTTON2 AND ARTHUR P. ARON...

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1974, Vol. 30, No. 4, 510-517 SOME EVIDENCE FOR HEIGHTENED SEXUAL ATTRACTION UNDER CONDITIONS OF HIGH ANXIETY1 DONALD G. DUTTON2 AND ARTHUR P. ARON University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Male passersby were contacted either on a fear-arousing suspension bridge or a non-fear-arousing bridge by an attractive female interviewer who asked them to fill out questionnaires containing Thematic Apperception Test pictures. Sexual content of stories written by subjects on the fear-arousing bridge and tendency of these subjects to attempt postexperimental contact with the inter- viewer were both significantly greater. No significant differences between bridges were obtained on either measure for subjects contacted by a male interviewer. A third study manipulated anticipated shock to male subjects and an attractive female confederate independently. Anticipation of own shock but not anticipation of shock to confederate increased sexual imagery scores on the Thematic Apperception Test and attraction to the confederate. Some theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. There is a substantial body of indirect evi- to Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)-like dence suggesting that sexual attractions occur stimuli. Similar results were obtained in two with increased frequency during states of further studies (Barclay, 1969, 1970) in strong emotion. For example, heterosexual which fraternity and sorority members were love has been observed to be associated both angered by the experimenter. The 1970 study with hate (James, 1910; Suttie, 193S) and employed a female experimenter, which dem- with pain (Ellis, 1936). A connection be- onstrated that the aggression-sexual arousal tween "aggression" and sexual attraction is link was not specific to male aggression; the supported by Tinbergen's (1954) observa- 1969 study provided additional support for tions of intermixed courting and aggression the hypothesis by using a physiological mea- behaviors in various animal species, and a sure of sexual arousal (acid phosphatase con- series of experiments conducted by Barclay tent in urine samples). have indicated the existence of a similar phe- Barclay has explained his findings in terms nomenon in human behavior. In one study, of a special aggression-sexuality link and has Barclay and Haber (196S) arranged for stu- cited as support for his position Freud's dents in one class to be angered by having (1938) argument that prehistoric man had to their professor viciously berate them for hav- physically dominate his potential mates and ing done poorly on a recent test; another also a study by Clark (1952) in which in- class served as a control. Subsequently, both creased sexual arousal produced by viewing groups were tested for aggressive feelings and slides of nudes yielded increased aggression for sexual arousal. A manipulation check was in TAT responses. Aron (1970), on the other successful, and the angered group manifested hand, argued that an aggression-sexuality signfiicantly more sexual arousal than did link exists, but it is only a special case of a controls (p <.01) as measured by explicit more general relationship between emotional sexual content in stories written in response arousal of all kinds and sexual attraction. To 1 demonstrate this point, he designed a study in This research was supported by University of British Columbia Research Committee Grant 26 9840 which instead of anger, residual emotion from to the first author and National Research Council intense role playing was the independent Postdoctoral Fellowship 1560 to the second author. variable. In this experiment, each of 40 male 2 Requests for reprints should be sent to Donald subjects role played with the same attrac- G. Dutton, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver 8, British Columbia, tive female confederate in either a highly Canada, emotional or a minimally emotional situation. 510  SEXUAL ATTRACTION UNDER CONDITIONS OF HIGH ANXIETY 511 Subjects enacting highly emotional roles In- from one side to the other of the Capilano Canyon. cluded significantly more sexual imagery in The bridge has many arousal-inducing features such as (a) a tendency to tilt, sway, and wobble, creat- stories written in response to TAT-like stimuli ing the impression that one is about to fall over (p <.01) and indicated significantly more the side; (6) very low handrails of wire cable which desire to kiss the confederate (p <.05) than contribute to this impression; and (c) a 230-foot did subjects in the control condition. One drop to rocks and shallow rapids below the bridge. possible explanation is suggested by Schach- The "control" bridge was a solid wood bridge further upriver. Constructed of heavy cedar, this ters' theory of emotion (Schachter, 1964; bridge was wider and firmer than the experimental Schachter & Singer, 1962). He argued that bridge, was only 10 feet above a small, shallow environmental cues are used, in certain cir- rivulet which ran into the main river, had high cumstances, to provide emotional labels for handrails, and did not tilt or sway. unexplained or ambiguous states of arousal. Procedure However, it is notable that much of the As subjects crossed either the control or experi- above-cited research indicates that a sexual mental bridge, they were approached by the inter- attraction-strong emotion link may occur viewer.3 even when the emotions are unambiguous. Female interviewer. The interviewer explained Accordingly, taking into account both the that she was doing a project for her psychology class on the effects of exposure to scenic attractions Schachter position and findings from sexual on creative expression. She then asked potential sub- attraction research in general, Aron (1970) jects if they would fill out a short questionnaire. hypothesized that strong emotions are re- The questionnaire contained six filler items such as labeled as sexual attraction whenever an ac- age, education, prior visits to bridge, etc., on the ceptable object is present, and emotion-pro- first page. On the second page, subjects were in- structed to write a brief, dramatic story based upon ducing circumstances do not require the full a picture of a young woman covering her face with attention of the individual. one hand and reaching with the other. The instruc- The present series of experiments is de- tions and the picture (TAT Item 3GF) employed signed to test the notion that an attractive were adapted from Murray's (1943) Thematic Ap- perception Test Manual. A similar measure of sexual female is seen as more attractive by males arousal has been employed in the Barclay studies who encounter her while they experience a (1969, 1970; Barclay & Haber, 1965), and in other strong emotion (fear) than by males not sex-related experiments (Aron, 1970; Clark, 1952; experiencing a strong emotion. Experiment 1 Leiman & Epstein, 1961). The particular TAT item used in the present study was selected for its lack is an attempt to verify this proposed emo- of obvious sexual content, since projective measures tion-sexual attraction link in a natural set- of sexual arousal based on explicit sexual stimuli ting. Experiments 2 and 3 are field and lab- tend to be highly sensitive to individual differences oratory studies which attempt to clarify the due to sexual defcnsiveness (Clark & Sensibar, results of Experiment 1. 1955; Eisler, 1968; Leiman & Epstein, 1961; Lubin, 1960). If the subject agreed, the questionnaire was EXPERIMENT 1 filled out on the bridge. Stories were later scored for manifest sexual con- Method tent according to a slightly modified version of the Subjects procedure employed by Barclay and Haber (1965). Scores ranged from 1 (no sexual content) to 5 (high Subjects were males visiting either of two bridge sexual content) according to the most sexual ref- sites who fit the following criteria: (a) between 18 erence in the story. Thus, for example, a story with and 3$ years old and (b) unaccompanied by a any mention of sexual intercourse received 5 points; female companion. Only one member of any group but if the most sexual reference was "girl friend," of potential subjects was contacted. A total of 85 it received a score of 2 ; "kiss" counted 3; and subjects were contacted by either a male or a "lover," 4. female interviewer. On completion of the questionnaire, the inter- Site viewer thanked the subject and offered to explain the experiment in more detail when she had more time. The experiment was conducted on two bridges At this point, the interviewer tore the corner off a over the Capilano River in North Vancouver, 3 British Columbia, Canada. The "experimental" The interviewers were not aware of the ex- bridge was the Capilano Canyon Suspension Bridge, perimental hypothesis in order to prevent uninten- a flve-foot-wide, 450-foot-long, bridge constructed tional differential cueing of subjects in experimental of wooden boards attached to wire cables that ran and control groups. 512 DONALD G. BUTTON AND ARTHUR P. ARON sheet of paper, wrote down her name and phone mental and 18 control) had their TAT stories number, and invited each subject to call, if he scored for sexual imagery by two scorers who wanted to talk further. Experimental subjects were told that the interviewer's name was Gloria and were experienced with TAT scoring. (Al- control subjects, Donna, so that they could easily be though both were familiar with the experi- classified when they called. On the assumption that mental hypothesis, questionnaires had been curiosity about the experiment should be equal coded so that they were blind as to whether between control and experimental groups, it was felt that differential calling rates might reflect dif- any given questionnaire was written by a ferential attraction to the interviewer. control or experimental subject.) The inter- Male interviewer. The procedure with the male rater reliability was +.87. interviewer was identical to that above. Subjects Subjects in the experimental group ob- were again supplied with two fictitious names so tained a mean sexual imagery score of 2.47 that if they phoned the interviewer, they could be classified into control or experimental groups. and those in the control group, a score of 1.41 (* = 3.19, / > <.01, d} = 36, two-tailed). Results Thus, the experimental hypothesis was veri- Check on Arousal Manipulation fied by the imagery data. Male interviewer. Twenty-three out of 51 Probably the most compelling evidence for subjects who were approached on the experi- arousal on the experimental bridge is to mental bridge agreed to fill in the question- observe people crossing the bridge. Forty naire. On the control bridge 22 out of 42 percent of subjects observed crossing the agreed. Five of these questionnaires were un- bridge walked very slowly and carefully, usable, leaving 20 usable in both experimental clasping onto the the handrail before taking and control groups. These were rated as each step. A questionnaire was administered above. Subjects in the experimental group to 30 males who fit the same criteria as the obtained a mean sexual imagery score of.80 experimental subjects. Fifteen males on the and those in the control group,.61 (t =.36, experimental bridge were asked, "How fear- ns). Hence the pattern of result obtained by ful do you think the average person would be the female interviewer was not reproduced by when he crossed this bridge?" The mean the male interviewer. rating was 79 on a 100-point scale where 100 was equal to extremely fearful. Fifteen Behavioral Data males on the control bridge gave a mean rat- ing of 18 on the same scale (t = 9.7, dj — 28, Female interviewer. In the experimental p <.001, two-tailed). In response to the group, 18 of the 23 subjects who agreed to question "How fearful were you while crossing the interview accepted the interviewer's phone the bridge?" experimental-bridge males gave number. In the control group, 16 out of 22 a rating of 65 and control-bridge males a accepted (see Table 1). A second measure of rating of 3 (t = 10.6, p <.001, dj = 28, two- sexual attraction was the number of subjects tailed). Hence, it can be concluded that most who called the interviewer. In the experi- people are quite anxious on the experimental mental group 9 out of 18 called, in the con- bridge but not on the control bridge. To pre- trol group 2 out of 16 called (x2 = 5.7, p < vent suspicion, no checks on the arousal of.02). Taken in conjunction with the sexual experimental subjects could be made. imagery data, this finding suggests that sub- jects in the experimental group were more Thematic Apperception Test Responses attracted to the interviewer. Female interviewer. On the experimental Male interviewer. In the experimental bridge, 23 of 33 males who were approached group, 7 out of 23 accepted the interviewer's by the female interviewer agreed to fill in the phone number. In the control group, 6 out of questionnaire. On the control bridge, 22 of 33 22 accepted. In the experimental group, 2 agreed. Of the 45 questionnaires completed, subjects called; in the control group, 1 sub- 7 were unusable either because they were ject called. Again, the pattern of results ob- incomplete or written in a foreign language. tained by the female interviewer was not The remaining 38 questionnaires (20 experi- replicated by the male.  SEXUAL ATTRACTION UNDER CONDITIONS OF HIGH ANXIETY 513 TABLE 1 BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES AND THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST IMAGERY SCORES FOR EACH EXPERIMENTAL GROUP Interviewer No. filling in No. accepting No. phoning Usable Sexual imagery questionnaire phone number questionnaires score Female Control bridge 22/33 16/22 2/16 18 1.41 Experimental bridge 23/33 18/23 9/18 20 2.47 Male Control bridge 22/42 6/22 1/6 20.61 Experimental bridge 23/51 7/23 2/7 20.80 Although the results of this experiment combination of thrill seeking and greater sex- provide prima facie support for an emotion- ual imagery. Accordingly, a second experi- sexual attraction link, the experiment suffers ment was carried out in an attempt to rule from interpretative problems that often out any differential subject population expla- plague field experiments. The main problem nation for the results of Experiment 1. with the study is the possibility of different EXPERIMENT 2 subject populations on the two bridges. First, the well-advertised suspension bridge is a tour- Method ist attraction that may have attracted more Subjects out-of-town persons than did the nearby Subjects were 34 males visiting the suspension provincial park where the control bridge was bridge who fit the same criteria as in Experiment 1. located. This difference in subject popula- tions may have affected the results in two Procedure ways. The experimental subjects may have The chief problem of Experiment 2 was choosing been less able to phone the experimenter (if a site that would allow contact with aroused and nonaroused members of the same subject population. they were in town on a short-term tour) and One possibility was to use as a control group sus- less likely to hold out the possibility of pension-bridge visitors who had not yet crossed the further liaison with her. If this were the case, bridge or who had just gotten out of their cars. the resulting difference due to subject differ- Unfortunately, if a substantial percentage of this ences would have operated against the main group subsequently refused to cross the bridge, the self-selecting-subject problem of Experiment 1 would hypothesis. Also, this difference in subject not be circumvented. Alternatively, males who had populations could not affect the sexual imagery just crossed the bridge could be used as a control. scores unless one assumed the experimental The problem with this strategy was that this group, bridge subjects to be more sexually deprived having just crossed the bridge, may have felt residual anxiety or elation or both, which would than controls. The results using the male confound the study. To avoid this latter problem, interviewer yielded no significant differences control subjects who had just crossed the bridge in sexual imagery between experimental and and were sitting or walking in a small park were control subjects; however, the possibility still contacted at least 10 minutes after crossing the exists that sexual deprivation could have in- bridge. This strategy, it was hoped, would rule out residual physiological arousal as a confounding teracted with the presence of the attractive factor. Except that a different female experimenter female experimenter to produce the sexual was used in Experiment 2 and no male interviewer imagery results obtained in this experiment. condition was run, all other details of the study Second, differences could exist between ex- were identical to Experiment 1. perimental and control populations with re- Results spect to personality variables. The experi- mental population might be more predisposed Check on Arousal Manipulation to thrill seeking and therefore more willing to As with Experiment 1, no arousal manipu- chance phoning a strange female to effect a lation check was given to experimental sub- liaison. Also, present knowledge of person- jects in order not to arouse suspicion about ality theory does not allow us to rule out the the real intent of the experiment. Data for a 514 DONALD G. BUTTON AND ARTHUR P. AEON group of nonexperimental subjects of the same behave differentially.in experimental and con- age and sex as experimental subjects are trol conditions, she may have appeared dif- reported in Experiment 1. ferently in the two conditions. For example, the gestalt created by the experimental situ- Thematic Apperception Test Responses ation may have made the interviewer appear In the experimental group, 25 of 34 males more helpless or frightened, virtually a "lady who were approached agreed to fill in the in distress." Such would not be the case in questionnaire. In the control group, 25 out the control situation. of 35 agreed. Of the 50 questionnaires com- If this different gestalt led to differences in pleted, 5 were unusable because they were sexual attraction, the apparent emotion-sexual incomplete. The remainder (23 experimental arousal link might prove artifactual. Accord- and 22 control) were scored for sexual im- ingly, a laboratory experiment was run in agery as in Expriment 1. The interrater reli- which tighter control over these factors could ability in Experiment 2 was +.79. be obtained. This experiment involved a 2 X 2 Subjects in the experimental group obtained factorial design, where (a) the male subject a mean sexual imagery score of 2.99 and expected either a painful or nonpainful shock those in the control group, a score of 1.92 (subject's emotion was manipulated) and (b) (t-3.07, p <.01, c?/ = 36, two-tailed). the female confederate also expected either a Thus the experimental hypothesis was again painful or nonpainful shock (the lady-in-dis- verified by the imagery data. tress gestalt was manipulated). Behavioral Data EXPERIMENT 3 In the experimental group, 20 of the 25 Method subjects who agreed to the interview accepted Subjects the interviewer's phone number. In the con- Eighty male freshmen at the University of British trol group, 19 out of 23 accepted. In the Columbia took part in this experiment. All subjects experimental group, 13 out of 20 called, while were volunteers. in the control group, 7 out of 23 phoned (x2 Much of the initial phase of the procedure was patterned after that used in Schachter's (1959) = 5.89, p <.02). Thus the behavioral result anxiety and affiliation research. Subjects entered an of Experiment 1 was also replicated. experimental room containing an array of electrical Experiment 2 enables the rejection of the equipment. The experimenter welcomed the subject notion of differential subject populations as and asked him if he had seen another person who looked like he was searching for the experimental an explanation for the control-experimental- room. The experimenter excused himself "to look for bridge differences for female interviewers in the other subject," leaving the subject some Xeroxed Experiment 1. However, some additional copies "of previous studies in the area we are in- problems in the interpretation of the apparent vestigating" to read. The articles discussed the anxiety-sexual attraction link require the effects of electric shock on learning and pain in general. superior control afforded by a laboratory set- The experimenter reentered the room with the ting. "other subject," who was an attractive female con- First, although the female experimenter was federate.4 The confederate took off her coat and sat blind to the experimental hypothesis and her 4 The female confederate knew that the study behavior toward the subjects was closely involved sexual attraction but did not know the monitored by the experimenter, the possibility experimental hypothesis. Her every action in the of differential behavior toward the subjects experimental room was carefully rehearsed to avoid any possibility of differential behavior among ex- occurring was not excluded. Distance of the perimental conditions. Spacing of the confederate's interviewer from the subjects was controlled chair from the subject's was carefully controlled, in both Experiments 1 and 2, but more stable and the confederate was instructed to avoid any eye nonverbal forms of communication (such as contact with the subject after their initial intro- eye contact) could not be controlled without duction. Hence, eye contact was restricted to the confederate's entering the room and returning to her cueing the female interviewer to the experi- chair after removing her coat. Both the confederate's mental hypothesis. and the subject's chairs faced the same direction Second, even if the interviewer did not (toward the experimenter), so that eye contact was  SEXUAL ATTRACTION UNDER CONDITIONS OF HIGH ANXIETY 515 on a chair three feet to the side and slightly in TABLE 2 front of the subject. The experimenter explained REPORTED ANXIETY IN EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS that the study involved the effects of electric shock on learning and delivered a short discourse Female con- Female con- on the value and importance of the research. At Subject federate to federate to No female expects: get strong get weak confederate the end of this discourse, the experimenter asked if shock shock either subject wanted out of the experiment. As expected, no subject requested to leave. Strong shock 3.17 3,05 3.80 The experimenter then mentioned that two levels weak shock 2.42 2.28 of shock would be used in the experiment, describ- ing one as quite painful and the other level as a Note, n per cell = 20. "mere tingle, in fact some subjects describe it as enjoyable," and concluded by pointing out that the tion questions found to be most sensitive in allocation of subjects to shock condition had to be experimental situations of this sort (Aron, "completely random so that personality variables won't affect the outcome." At this point, the experi- 1970), and Part 3 included the TAT picture menter asked both subjects to flip a coin to deter- used in Experiments 1 and 2, which was again mine which shock level they would receive.5 Hence, scored for sexual imagery. the subject reported "heads/tails," the confederate reported "heads/tails," and the experimenter said, Anxiety "Today heads receives the high shock level." The experimenter then described the way in which the Anxiety was measured by the question shock series would take place, the method of hooking "How do you feel about being shocked?" (cf., subjects into electrodes, etc. Schachter, 1959) to which subjects could The experimenter then asked if the subjects had respond on a 5-point scale where scores any questions, answered any that arose, and then said: greater than 3 indicated dislike. (The greater the score, the greater the anxiety.) Table 2 It will take me a few minutes to set up this presents the results on this measure. In con- equipment. While I'm doing it, I would like to get some information on your present feelings and ditions where the subject anticipated receiving reactions, since these often influence performance a strong shock, subjects reported significantly on the learning task. I'd like you to fill out a more anxiety than in conditions where the questionnaire to furnish us with this information. subject anticipated receiving a weak shock We have two separate cubicles down the hall (t = 4.03, p <.001, df = 39, one-tailed). In where you can do this—you will be undisturbed and private, and I can get this equipment set up. conditions where the subject anticipated re- ceiving a strong shock with the female co- The confederate then got up, walked in front of subject present, subjects reported signifi- the subject to her coat, which was hanging on the wall, rummaged around for a pencil, and returned cantly less anxiety than in a control condi- to her chair. The experimenter then led the subject tion (n = 20), where two male subjects were and the confederate to the cubicles, where they pro- run (t = 2.17, p <.025, df - 19, one-tailed). ceeded to fill out the questionnaires. No significant differences in the subject's Results anxiety occurred as a function of the confed- erate receiving a strong versus a weak shock A three-part questionnaire constituted the (see Table 2). dependent measure of this study. Part 1 (feel- ings about the experiment) included a check Attraction to Confederate on the anxiety manipulation, Part 2 (feelings Two questions assessed attraction to the toward your co-subject) included two attrac- confederate in this study: (a) How much would you like to ask her out for a date? easily avoided. In addition, the confederate's chair and (b) how much would you like to kiss was somewhat closer to the experimenter than was the subject's chair, so that the subject could see her? (An alternative set of questions was pro- the confederate while the experimenter delivered vided for those subjects who ostensibly had a the instructions. male copartner. The experimenter instructed 5 Toward the end of the experiment, the confed- subjects in this condition to overlook these.) erate was told to report either the same result as the subject or a different result (of the coin flip) Attraction ratings were established by taking to facilitate obtaining equal ns for experimental the mean rating made by subjects on these conditions as quickly as possible. two questions. Table 3 shows the results, by 516 DONALD G. BUTTON AND ARTHUR P. ARON TABLE 3 outcome would seem to be particularly satis- ATTRACTION RATINGS BY EXPERIMENTAL CONDITION fying in light of the very strong differences obtained from the relatively small subject Female confederate Female confederate Subject expects: to get strong shock to get weak shock populations, and because these results were obtained, in Experiments 1 and 2, outside of Strong shock 3.7 3.4 Weak shock 2.9 2.7 the laboratory in a setting in which real- world sexual attractions might be expected to Note. Strongest attraction rating is 5. occur. The strong result of Experiment 3 sup- condition, of those ratings. A 2 X 2 analysis ports the notion that strong emotion per se of variance revealed a significant main effect increases the subject's sexual attraction to for subjects anticipating strong shock to the female confederate. Brehm, Gatz, Goe- themselves on attraction ratings (F = 22.8, thals, McCrimmon, and Ward (1967) ob- /»