The Impact of Instruction-Induced Pain and Disgust Expectancies on Sexual Arousal in Heterosexual Women: Two Parallel Studies Using a Differential Conditioning Paradigm

Abstract

Pain or disgust expectancies during sex can hinder sexual arousal, which may result in problematic sexual symptoms. Previous research demonstrated that instruction-induced pain expectancies, and experientially induced disgust expectancies, can reduce sexual arousal in women. This study tested the robustness of these findings, as well as whether the impact of instruction-acquired pain expectancies on sexual arousal could extend to instruction-acquired disgust expectancies. In two parallel studies, female heterosexual participants (n = 36 per study) underwent differential aversive conditioning to erotic film clips. To activate the disgust or pain (unconditional stimuli; US) expectancy, participants were either exposed to a mild electrocutaneous stimulation to determine the intensity of the pain, or shown a disgusting film clip; no US was presented during the test stages. Following the baseline stage, participants were informed that a red frame surrounding the erotic clip (conditional stimulus, CS+) would indicate that they might experience their respective US, while a green frame (conditional stimulus, CS-) would indicate that they were safe. Before each test trial, participants rated their US expectancy. After each trial, they rated their sexual arousal. Results demonstrated lower sexual arousal after the first trial of the disgust paradigm, but no effect across further trials in either paradigm. Thus, instruction-induced disgust expectancies can hinder sexual arousal even in the absence of contingent disgust experiences. This indicates that disgust associations may pose a risk for sexual symptoms through weakening sexual arousal. However, this effect remains small, and contingent aversive experiences seem necessary for a persistent impact on sexual arousal.