The Effect of a Primary Sexual Reward Manipulation on Cortisol Responses to Psychosocial Stress in Men

Abstract

This research provides the first evidence linking the experience of reward with reduced stress reactivity in humans and suggests a potential novel reward pathway for coping under stress.

Experience, cortisol reactivity, and the coordination of emotional responses to skydiving

“…High cortisol has been associated with enhanced reward sensitivity (Oswald et al, 2005 ) and dopamine is released in the ventral striatum proportionally to cortisol reactivity to a stressor (Pruessner et al, 2004 ). Conversely, reward has been associated with reduced cortisol reactivity (Creswell et al, 2013 ). The systems appear to be intricately related, and skydiving proffers a unique opportunity to examine how cortisol response relates to subjective reward.…”

Pornography and its impact on the sexual health of men

“…One study found that men who flipped through mildly erotic pictures of mixed couples had significantly lower cortisol reactivity to a subsequent stress test than the controls, and they did a lot better in a maths test. 26 In younger men, porn use may help them explore their sexuality, find out what they like, and boost their confidence in knowing what to do with real-life partners. While concerns exist regarding the unrealistic nature of some porn, a survey of 18-25-yearolds in Great Britain found that almost three-quarters of men considered the sex in porn not reflective of real life, and almost half agreed that porn content is creating 'impossible' beauty standards.…”

“…Soft porn has also been found to relieve psychosocial stress. One study found that men who flipped through mildly erotic pictures of mixed couples had significantly lower cortisol reactivity to a subsequent stress test than the controls, and they did a lot better in a maths test 26 …”

Covid-19 and Mental Health: Could Visual Art Exposure Help?

“…Translational and human research has consistently shown that increased reward manipulations and rewarding environments promote the growth of stress resilience (Dutcher and Creswell, 2018). Much of this research has analyzed the stress buffering effects of primary rewards using food, drink, or sex (Abad et al, 1996;Christiansen et al, 2011;Creswell et al, 2013). However, there is also emerging evidence that visual art interventions can enhance functional connectivity related to psychological resilience (Bolwerk et al, 2014), can lower levels of salivary cortisol and of self-reported measure of stress (Clow and Fredhoi, 2006) and even decrease systolic blood pressure (Mastandrea et al, 2019b).…”

“…The reward pathway activation observed as a consequence of visual art exposure can be beneficial as reward activation has shown to modulate survival behaviors by reducing stress levels. Even brief exposure to reward stimuli (such as erotic images) can decrease cortisol reactivity, improving cognitive performance on social stress tasks (Creswell et al, 2013).…”