In this fascinating research The Heat of the Moment: The Effect of Sexual Arousal on Decision Making, the results show that “the attractiveness of activities suggest sexual arousal acts as an amplifier of sorts” in young men…
Pornography can grab our attention and hold it fixed like a spell. We need to stay alert to how it can lure us into illegal or risky territory. This is especially the case when we’re bored or tired.
“a secondary implication of our findings is that people seem to have only limited insight into the impact of sexual arousal on their own judgments and behavior. Such an under-appreciation could be important for both individual and societal decision making.
“… the most effective means of self-control is probably not willpower (which has been shown to be of limited efficacy). But rather avoiding situations in which one will become aroused and lose control. Any failure to appreciate the impact of sexual arousal on one’s own behavior is likely to lead to inadequate measures to avoid such situations. Similarly, if people under-appreciate their own likelihood of having sex, they are likely to fail to take precautions to limit the potential damage from such encounters. A teenager who embraces ‘‘just say no,’’ for example, may feel it unnecessary to bring a condom on a date, thus greatly increasing the likelihood of pregnancy or transmission of STDs if he/she ends up getting caught up in the heat of the moment.”
Context matters
“The same logic applies interpersonally. If people judge others’ likely behavior based on observing them when they are not sexually aroused, and fail to appreciate the impact of sexual arousal, then they are likely to be caught by surprise by the other’s behavior when aroused. Such a pattern could easily contribute to date-rape. Indeed, it can create the perverse situation in which people who are the least attracted to their dates are most likely to experience date-rape. This is because being unaroused themselves they completely fail to understand or predict the other (aroused) person’s behavior.”
“In sum, the current study shows that sexual arousal influences people in profound ways. This should come as no surprise to most people who have personal experience with sexual arousal. But the magnitude of the effects is nevertheless striking. At a practical level, our results suggest that efforts to promote safe, ethical sex should concentrate on preparing people to deal with the ‘‘heat of the moment’’. Or to avoid it when it is likely to lead to self-destructive behavior. Efforts at self-control that involve raw willpower (Baumeister & Vohs, 2003) are likely to be ineffective in the face of the dramatic cognitive and motivational changes caused by arousal.”
For more details about the heat of the moment and a fascinating TEDx talk by Professor Dan Ariely, see our page on the mental effects of porn.
