NCJ Number
122456
Date Published
1987
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Studies of rapists and nonrapists measured arousal to various sexual stimuli under conditions of alcohol use and soberness.
Abstract
The sexual stimuli involved audio accounts of dating scenarios with a sexual encounter between a man and woman. The variables in the scenarios were the degree of the woman's consensual participation and the man's aggression. The scenarios ran the gamut from the woman's enthusiastic participation to her stout resistance, with the latter matched by an increase in the man's aggression to the point of rape. The undergraduate sample of men (nonrapists) showed a strong decrease in arousal as the woman's resistance and the man's aggression increased. The sample of convicted rapists also manifested decreased arousal, but not to the extent of the nonrapists. A similar study was used to determine any differences in arousal under the condition of alcohol use. In the groups under the influence of alcohol, the decline in arousal from consent to rape was significantly less. Another study used a balanced placebo design where some groups were told they were receiving alcohol although they received a placebo, so as to measure the expectation effect. Although other studies have shown that the expectation of receiving alcohol has a disinhibiting effect similar to actual alcohol use, this study showed no such expectation effect.