Abstract
Men who in earlier experiments in the same laboratory had been unable to enhance penile tumescence to any substantial degree by engaging in erotic fantasy were given two sessions of either sexual imagery training or general imagery training. Participants in the sexual imagery training program subsequently demonstrated increased physiological and subjective sexual arousal during unstructured as well as structured sexual fantasy. The gains were undiminished at follow-up, 1 month after the end of training. In contrast, general imagery training did not enhance fantasy-induced sexual arousal. Both training programs improved vividness of imagery, as assessed by the Betts QMI Scale, but only sexual imagery training led subjects to report that they were able to form sexual images with higher clarity when engaging in fantasy. Sexual arousal was thus enhanced through context-specific imagery training, a strategy commonly used in the clinical practice of sex therapy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bancroft, J. H., Jones, H. C., and Pullan, B. R. (1966). A single transducer for measuring penile erection, with comments on its use in the treatment of sexual disorders.Behav. Res. Ther. 4: 239–241.
Giambra, L. M., and Martin, C. E. (1977). Sexual daydreams and quantitativ aspects of sexual activity: Some relations for males across adulthood.Arch. Sex. Behav. 6: 497–505.
Henson, D. E., and Rubin, H. B. (1971). Voluntary control of eroticism.J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 4: 37–44.
Jensen, S. B. (1986). Sexual dysfunction in insulin-treated diabetics: A six-year follow-up study of 101 patients.Arch. Sex. Behav. 15: 271–283.
Julien, E., and Over, R. (1981). Male sexual arousal and the law of initial value.Psychophysiology 18: 709–711.
Kirk, R. E. (1968).Experimental Design: Procedures for the Behavioral Sciences, Brooks-Cole, New York.
Lang, P. J. (1979). A bio-informational theory of emotion.Psychophysiology 16: 495–512.
Lang, P. J., Kozak, M. J., Miller, G. A., Levin, D. N., and McLean, A. (1980). Emotional imagery: Conceptual structure and pattern of somato-visceral response.Psychophysiology 17: 179–192.
Lang, P. J., Levin, D. N., Miller, G. A., and Kozak, M. J. (1983). Fear behavior, fear imagery, and the psychophysiology of emotion: The problem of affective-response integration.J. Abn. Psychol. 92: 276–306.
Laws, D. R., and Rubin, H. B. (1969). Instructional control of an autonomic sexual response.J. Appl. Behav. Anal. 2: 93–99.
Masters, W. H., and Johnson, V. E. (1970).Human Sexual Inadequacy, Little Brown, Boston.
Nutter, D. E., and Condron, M. K. (1985). Sexual fantasy and activity patterns of males with inhibited sexual desire and males with erectile dysfunction versus normal controls.J. Sex Marital Ther. 11: 91–98.
Przybyla, D. P. J., Byrne, D., and Kelley, K. (1983). The role of imagery in sexual behavior. In Sheikh, A. A. (ed.),Imagery: Current Theory, Research and Application, Wiley, New York.
Robinson, A., and Reading, C. (1985). Imagery in phobic subjects: A psychophysiological study.Behav. Res. Ther. 23: 247–253.
Richardson, A., and Patterson, Y. (1986). An evaluation of three procedures for increasing image vividness. In Sheikh, A. A. (ed.),International Review of Mental Imagery, Vol. 2, Human Sciences Press, New York.
Sheehan, P. W. (1967). A shortened form of the Betts' Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery.J. Clin. Psychol. 23: 386–389.
Smith, D., and Over, R. (1987a). Correlates of fantasy-induced and film-induced male sexual arousal.Arch. Sex. Behav. 16: 395–409.
Smith, D., and Over, R. (1987b). Male sexual arousal as a function of the content and the vividness of erotic fantasy.Psychophysiology 24: 334–339.
Smith, D., and Over, R. (1987c). Does fantasy-induced sexual arousal habituate?Behav. Res. Ther. 25: 477–485.
Smith, D., and Over, R. (1988). Relationship between male sexual arousal and vividness of imagery in different sensory modalities.Aust. J. Psychol. 40: 303–310.
Tower, R. B., and Singer, J. L. (1981). The measurement of imagery: How can it be clinically useful? In Kendall, P. C., and Hollon, S. D. (eds.),Assessment Strategies for Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions, Academic Press, New York.
Walsh, F. J. (1976).An Imagery Training Procedure: The Development and Experimental Evaluation. Unpublished Honours Thesis, University of Queensland.
White, K. D. (1978). Salivation: The significance of imagery in its voluntary control.Psychophysiology 15: 196–203.
Zimmer, D. (1983). Sexual fantasies of sexually distressed and non-distressed men and women: An empirical investigation.J. Sex. Marital Ther. 9: 38–50.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smith, D., Over, R. Enhancement of fantasy-induced sexual arousal in men through training in sexual imagery. Arch Sex Behav 19, 477–489 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02442349
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02442349