Relationships Between Sexual Arousal, Relationship Status, and Men's Ratings of Women's Sexual Willingness: Implications for Research and Practice

Legal scholars and psychological researchers have identified the visceral state of sexual arousal as a potential contributing factor to the perpetration of sexual violence. Visceral states such as sexual arousal might systematically influence social perception and perhaps lead to misinterpretations of behavior, such as overestimates of others' willingness to have sex. The current study used an experimental design to assess effects of sexual arousal and relationship status on men's perceptions of the extent to which women's behaviors indicate sexual willingness. Our manipulation of sexual arousal was successful only among single men. Among these single men, sexual arousal was associated with ratings of the extent to which women's behaviors indicate sexual willingness. We consider explanations for why men in relationships responded differently to manipulations of sexual arousal and how this effect might contribute to equivocal findings in this literature. Results suggested that sexually aroused single men are uniquely motivated to misinterpret women's sexual willingness. These findings underscored the importance of interventions that identify and address the sources of sexual misunderstanding.