Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Gender Differences in Liking and Wanting Sex: Examining the Role of Motivational Context and Implicit Versus Explicit Processing

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Archives of Sexual Behavior Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study investigated the specificity of sexual appraisal processes by making a distinction between implicit and explicit appraisals and between the affective (liking) and motivational (wanting) valence of sexual stimuli. These appraisals are assumed to diverge between men and women, depending on the context in which the sexual stimulus is encountered. Using an Implicit Association Test, explicit ratings, and film clips to prime a sexual, romantic or neutral motivational context, we investigated whether liking and wanting of sexual stimuli differed at the implicit and explicit level, differed between men and women, and were differentially sensitive to context manipulations. Results showed that, at the implicit level, women wanted more sex after being primed with romantic mood whereas men showed the least wanting of sex in the romantic condition. At the explicit level, men reported greater liking and wanting of sex than women, independently of context. We also found that women’s (self-reported) sexual behavior was best predicted by the incentive salience of sexual stimuli whereas men’s sexual behavior was more closely related to the hedonic qualities of sexual stimuli. Results were discussed in relation to an emotion-motivational account of sexual functioning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Note that the movie clips were counterbalanced across participants and order of presentation did not yield a significant effect on the subjective rating scores, p > .10.

  2. To control for the effect of sexual excitement scores in response to the movie clips, we included level of self-reported sexual and genital arousal as a covariate in our analyses, testing main effects as well as interaction effects between gender and self-reported arousal. This did not affect the pattern of results, neither for men or women, which indicates that the effect of prime condition on the liking-wanting scores did not depend on the extent to which participants were more or less aroused by the movie clips.

  3. To explore whether being in a relationship affected the pattern of results, we conducted a 2 (Gender) × 2 (SCIAT type) × 2 (relationship) × 3 (prime) repeated measures ANOVA. The three-way interaction between type of IAT, prime, and relationship yielded significance, F(1, 163) = 3.59, p < .05. Simple effects analyses revealed a significant effect of relationship in the romantic prime condition, indicating that participants in a relationship showed greater implicit liking of sex after watching a romantic film compared to those without relationship, t (50) = 2.53, p < .05. None of the other effects were significant, all ps > .10. The fact that priming with a romantic context has a stronger effect on the sexual outcome of participants that were in a relationship confirms the importance of considering context variables when studying sexual appraisal processes. Remarkably, no gender effects were found.

References

  • Alexander, M. G., & Fisher, T. D. (2003). Truth and consequences: Using the bogus pipeline to examine sex differences in self-reported sexuality. Journal of Sex Research, 40, 27–35.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bancroft, J. (1989). Sexual desire and the brain. Sexual and Marital Therapy, 3, 11–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basson, R. (2000). The female sexual response: A different model. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 26, 51–65.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Basson, R. (2001). Using a different model for female sexual response to address women’s problematic low sexual desire. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 27, 395–403.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F., Catanese, K. R., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Is there a gender difference in strength of sex drive? Theoretical view, conceptual distinctions, and a review of relevant evidence. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 242–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berridge, K. C., & Kringelback, M. L. (2008). Affective neuroscience of pleasure: Reward in humans and animals. Psychopharmacology, 199, 457–480.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bluemke, M., & Friese, M. (2008). Reliability and validity of the Single Target IAT: Assessing automatic affect towards multiple attitude objects. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 977–997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Both, S., Everaerd, W., & Laan, E. (2007). Desire emerges from excitement: A psychphysiological perspective on sexual motivation. In E. Janssen (Ed.), The psychophysiology of sex (pp. 327–339). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bush, S. I. (2001). Implicit and explicit memory of neutral, negative emotional, and sexual information. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 30, 615–631.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll, J. L., Volk, K. D., & Hyde, J. S. (1985). Differences between males and females in motives for engaging in sexual intercourse. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14, 131–139.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chivers, M. L., & Timmers, A. D. (2012). The effects of gender and relationship context cues in audio narratives on heterosexual women’s and men’s genital and subjective sexual response. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41, 185–197.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conley, T. D., Moors, A. C., Matsick, J. L., Ziegler, A., & Valentine, B. A. (2011). Women, men, and the bedroom: Methodological and conceptual insights that narrow, reframe, and eliminate gender differences in sexuality. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 296–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, M. L., Shapiro, C. M., & Powers, A. M. (1998). Motivations for sex and risky sexual behavior among adolescents and young adults: A functional perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1528–1558.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Houwer, J., & De Bruycker, E. (2007). The Implicit Association Test outperforms the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task as an implicit measure of inter-individual differences in attitudes. British Journal of Social Psychology, 46, 401–421.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Houwer, J., & Moors, A. (2010). Implicit measures: Similarities and differences. In B. Gawronski & B. K. Payne (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition: Measurement, theory, and applications (pp. 176–193). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everaerd, W. (1988). Commentary on sex research: Sex as an emotion. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 1, 3–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everaerd, W., Both, S., & Laan, E. (2006). The experience of sexual emotions. Annual Review of Sex Research, 17, 183–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Everaerd, W., Jannsen, E., & Spiering, M. (2003). Priming the sexual system: Implicit versus explicit activation. Journal of Sex Research, 30, 134–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, M. J., & Bargh, J. A. (2004). Liking is for doing: Effects of goal-pursuit on automatic evaluation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 557–572.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, M. J., Hassin, R., & Bargh, J. A. (2007). Implicit motivation: Past, present, and future. In J. Shah & W. Gardner (Eds.), Handbook of motivation science (pp. 150–166). New York: Guilford Press.

  • Frijda, N. H. (1993). The place of appraisal in emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 7, 357–387.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geer, J. H., & Manguno-Mire, G. M. (1996). Gender differences in cognitive processes in sexuality. Annual Review of Sex Research, 7, 90–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geer, J. H., & Robertson, G. G. (2005). Implicit attitudes in sexuality: Gender differences. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 671–677.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gillath, O., Mikulincer, M., Birnbaum, G. E., & Shaver, P. R. (2008). When sex primes love: Subliminal sexual priming motivates relationship goal pursuit. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1057–1069.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, J. L., & Schwartz, J. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464–1480.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald, A. G., Nosek, B. A., & Banaji, M. R. (2003). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: An improved scoring algorithm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 197–216.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamann, S., Herman, R. A., Nolan, C. L., & Wallen, K. (2004). Men and women differ in amygdala response to visual sexual stimuli. Nature Neuroscience, 7, 411–416.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hill, C. A., & Preston, L. K. (1996). Individual differences in the experience of sexual motivation: Theory and measurement of dispositional sexual motives. Journal of Sex Research, 33, 27–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofmann, W., Gawronski, B., Gschwender, T., Le, H., & Schmitt, M. (2005). A meta-analysis on the correlation between the Implicit Association Test and explicit self-report measures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1369–1385.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Impett, E. A., Peplau, L. A., & Gable, S. L. (2005). Approach and avoidance sexual motives: Implications for personal and interpersonal well-being. Personal Relationships, 12, 465–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, E., Carpenter, D., & Graham, C. A. (2003). Selecting films for sex research: Gender differences in erotic film preference. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32, 243–251.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Janssen, E., Everaerd, W., Spiering, M., & Janssen, J. (2000). Automatic processes and the appraisal of sexual stimuli: Toward and information processing model of sexual arousal. Journal of Sex Research, 37, 8–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karpinski, A., & Steinman, R. B. (2006). The Single Category Implicit Association Test as a measure of social cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 16–32.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, M., & Plante, R. F. (2002). The gender of desire: The sexual fantasies of women and men. Advances in Gender Research, 6, 55–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krishnamurti, T., & Loewenstein, G. (2012). The Partner-Specific Sexual Liking and Sexual Wanting Scale: Psychometric properties. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41, 467–476.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Laan, E., & Janssen, E. (2007). How do men and women feel: Determinants of subjective experience of sexual arousal. In E. Janssen (Ed.), The psychophysiology of sex (pp. 278–290). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lane, K. A., Banaji, M. R., Nosek, B. A., & Greenwald, A. G. (2007). Understanding and using the Implicit Association Test: What we know (so far) about the method. In B. Wittenbrink & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Implicit measures of attitudes (pp. 59–102). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leitenberg, H., & Henning, K. (1995). Sexual fantasy. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 469–496.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Meana, M. (2010). Elucidating women’s (heterosexual) desire: Definitional challenges and content expansion. Journal of Sex Research, 47, 104–122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, M. B., & Hyde, J. S. (1993). Gender differences in sexuality: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 29–51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Olson, M. A., & Fazio, R. H. (2004). Reducing the influence of extrapersonal associations on the Implicit Association Test: Personalizing the IAT. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 653–667.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peplau, L. A. (2003). Human sexuality: How do men and women differ? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12, 37–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petersen, J. L., & Hyde, J. S. (2010). A meta-analytic review of research on gender differences in sexuality, 1993–2007. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 21–38.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Phelps, E. A., O’Connor, K. J., Cunningham, W. A., Funayama, E. S., Gatenby, J. C., Gore, J. C., et al. (2000). Performance on indirect measures of race evaluation predicts amygdala activation. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12, 729–738.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, T. E., & Berridge, K. C. (1993). The neural basis of drug craving: An incentive-sensitization theory of addiction. Brain Research Review, 18, 247–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, T. E., & Berridge, K. C. (2001). Mechanisms of action of addictive stimuli: incentive-sensitization and addiction. Addiction, 96, 103–114.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, T. E., & Berridge, K. C. (2003). Addiction. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, T. E., & Berridge, K. C. (2008). The incentive sensitization theory of addiction: Some current issues. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences, 363, 3137–3146.

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Snowden, R. J., & Gray, N. S. (2013). Implicit sexual associations in heterosexual and homosexual women and men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42, 475–485.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Snowden, R. J., Wichter, J., & Gray, N. S. (2008). Implicit and explicit measurements of sexual preference in gay and heterosexual men: A comparison of priming techniques and the Implicit Association Task. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 37, 558–565.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spiering, M., Everaerd, W., Karsdorp, P., Both, S., & Brauer, M. (2006). Nonconscious processing of sexual information: A generalization to women. Journal of Sex Research, 43, 268–281.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spiering, M., Everaerd, W., & Laan, E. (2004). Conscious processing of sexual information: Mechanisms of appraisal. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 33, 369–380.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stephenson, K. R., Ahrold, T. K., & Meston, C. M. (2011). The association between sexual motives and sexual satisfaction: Gender differences and categorical comparisons. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40, 607–618.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Toates, F. (2009). An integrative theoretical framework for understanding sexual motivation, arousal and behavior. Journal of Sex Research, 46, 168–193.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • van Lankveld, J., Martin, A., Hubben, D., Creutz, N., & Verboon, P. (2013). The effects of autobiographic sexual memory recall on the sexual response of sexually functional men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42, 973–983.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zurbriggen, E. L., & Yost, M. R. (2004). Power, desire, and pleasure in sexual fantasies. Journal of Sex Research, 41, 288–300.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The research reported in this article was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship grant of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders (Belgium) (F.W.O.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental, Clinical, and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Marieke Dewitte

  2. Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 40, 6229 ER, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Marieke Dewitte

Authors
  1. Marieke Dewitte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marieke Dewitte.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dewitte, M. Gender Differences in Liking and Wanting Sex: Examining the Role of Motivational Context and Implicit Versus Explicit Processing. Arch Sex Behav 44, 1663–1674 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0419-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0419-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation