Date of Award
5-1-2000
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)
Department
Psychology
Abstract
The present study investigated that extent to which the race of actors in an erotic video affected sexual arousal in African-American and Caucasian heterosexual males. It was hypothesized that the two racial groups would be significantly more sexually aroused while watching their respective homoethnic erotic video. The hypothesis was grounded in the modeling effects of Bandura's Social Leaning Theory (1977), the Matching Hypothesis (1982) and worldview differences between African-Americans and Caucasians (Baldwin and Bell, 1985). Thirty-four African-American and Caucasian males were shown homoethnic and non-homoethnic erotic videos while penile circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and self-report ratings of sexual arousal were measured. In addition, sexual attitude measures and an cultural identity questionnaire were given to the participants to assess whether sexual attitudes and cultural identity were related to sexual responsitivity. The hypothesis was not supported. The results of this study showed that the race of actors in an erotic video did not affect differentially the sexual responding of the AfricanAmerican and Caucasian men. However, systolic blood pressure tended to be a more sensitive indicator of general arousal in African-American men. While this study failed to support the hypothesis, the results did provide data relevant to the study of male sexuality in the laboratory setting. This area of research is still new and deserves more attention.
Recommended Citation
Horton, Boyd Randal, "Cross Racial Preferences in Viewing Sexually Explicit Material: a Comparison Between African-american and Caucasian Males" (2000). All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 569.
https://scholars.indianastate.edu/etds/569
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