Negative and Positive Influences on the Sensations Evoked by Artificial Sex Partners: A Review of Relevant Theories, Recent Findings, and Introduction of the Sexual Interaction Illusion Model

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to provide a framework which structures different aspects that might positively and negatively influence the sensations nonliving sexual partners might evoke in order to guide future empirical research in the investigation of sexual responses toward machines. For this purpose, influential concepts from media psychology, human-machine interaction, and sexual science are explained and transferred to interactions with sex robots. This theoretical foundation is then used to develop the sexual interaction illusion model, which aims to conceptualize factors that are shaping users’ psychological immersion in sexual interaction with technology-based sex partners. More specifically, the model focuses on understanding users’ subjective (illusionary) experience that the interaction with an artificial partner feels like a sexual interaction with an existing, living social being.