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

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

Gender Differences in Implicit Processing of Sexual Stimuli

“…Note that our results fit with a recent study in which we also found that men and women did not differ in their level of implicit liking of sexual stimuli. They did, however, want sex to a different degree, depending on the motivational context in which the stimuli were presented (Dewitte, in press). Hence, when studying the explanatory power of sexual appraisal in relation to sexual arousal, it may be more useful to focus on the reward value rather than the affective value of sexual stimuli, which is likely to depend on different motivational factors in men and women.…”

“…Furthermore, regulatory processes can operate in different ways at different levels of responding, and the regulation of emotions is determined by one's currently active goals (Bargh, 1984; Frijda, 1986). These goals and motivational triggers are likely to differ between men and women, with men being more sensitive to explicit sexual contexts and women being more responsive to romantic cues (Carroll, Volk, & Hyde, ; Dewitte, in press; Hill & Preston, ; Meana, ; Oliver & Hyde, ; Peplau, ; Stephenson et al, ). Note that, in the present study, stimuli were encountered in a neutral, non‐sexual environment, making it less relevant for men and women to adopt different regulatory strategies.…”

Beyond Sexual Orientation: Integrating Gender/Sex and Diverse Sexualities via Sexual Configurations Theory

“…Eroticism might involve interest in arousal that differs from pleasure. There is neurobiological evidence highlighting the difference between wanting and liking (Berridge & Kringelbach, 2008;Dewitte, 2014;Krishnamurti & Loewenstein, 2012) with potential implications; for example, someone may not want partnered sex but may enjoy it. Another person may want partnered sexual activity yet find it unfulfilling.…”

Tie-Up Cycles in Long-Term Mating. Part I: Theory

“…F's active seductive approach has an emotional nature, and reward is accompanied by physical correlates of emotional activation (e.g., [102]). In female sexual function, the emotional and sexual dimensions are deeply connected [103], and female implicit sexual desire increases once being romantically stimulated, whereas the same does not occur to men [104]. The reason of such a difference is that women associate with the romantic situation, and in particular to the first physical contacts aimed at the creation of a possible intimacy, a sexual connotation, while men on the contrary in such a situation are led to momentarily inhibit their sexual A key feature of our approach lies in the asymmetric characterization of the nature of AAs and RAs in the two sexes.…”