Physiological responses to sexual and unpleasant film stimuli (1972)

Database: PsycINFO

Adamson, John D. Romano, Kenneth R. Burdick, James A. Corman, Clifford L. Chebib, Farouk S.

Citation

Adamson, J. D., Romano, K. R., Burdick, J. A., Corman, C. L., & Chebib, F. S. (1972). Physiological responses to sexual and unpleasant film stimuli. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 16(3), 153-162.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-3999(72)90038-4

Abstract

Studied whether sexual arousal and dysphoric arousal could be differentiated on the basis of changes in nonspecific physiological measures. 10 married male Ss viewed a sexual movie and an unpleasant movie in 2 separate experiments. It was found that both movies resulted in significant decreases in palmar skin resistance and finger temperature. Heart rate was significantly increased for the sexual movie only. Thus the hypothesized differences between sexual and dysphoric arousal were not demonstrated. (25 ref)