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Turning off hot feelings: Down-regulation of sexual desire using distraction and situation-focused reappraisal.
- Source :
-
Biological psychology [Biol Psychol] 2018 Sep; Vol. 137, pp. 116-124. Date of Electronic Publication: 2018 Jul 17. - Publication Year :
- 2018
-
Abstract
- Despite the frequent need to down-regulate sexual desire, existing studies are scarce, and focus on strategies that involve disengagement from processing sexual stimuli. Accordingly, the present study compared the efficacy of down-regulating sexual desire via disengagement (attentional distraction) and engagement (situation-focused reappraisal) strategies. Utilizing Event Related Potentials, we measured the Late Positive Potential (LPP) - an electro-cortical component that denotes processing of arousing stimuli, showing decreased amplitudes during successful down-regulation. Additionally, we explored whether the sexual-intensity level of stimuli (validated in a pilot study) impacts the efficacy of, and individuals' behavioral preferences for distraction and situation-focused reappraisal. Supporting our predictions, relative to passive watching, both strategies successfully attenuated self-reported desire and LPP amplitudes, with a marginal trend (pā=ā.07) showing stronger LPP attenuation during distraction compared to reappraisal. While sexual-intensity did not moderate regulatory efficacy, as predicted, disengagement-distraction preference increased for sexually-intense relative to sexually-mild stimuli. Broad implications are discussed.<br /> (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1873-6246
- Volume :
- 137
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Biological psychology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 30030166
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2018.07.007