Sexual narcissism; Sexual aggression; Taylor Aggression Paradigm; Sex priming; Behavior priming
Abstract :
[en] Sexual narcissism (SN) has recently been proposed to be a specific risk factor for the perpetration of sexual coercion based on both self-reports of previous behavior and self-estimated likelihood of engaging in acts of sexual violence. To explore one of the potential underlying mechanisms of SN, we tested whether for highly sexually narcissistic males (measured with the German language version of the Sexual Narcissism Scale) the subtle priming of sexual concepts would evoke aggressive behavior in a standard measure of aggressive behavior, the Taylor Aggression Paradigm. Results showed that only for sexually narcissistic men did a subtle priming with mildly erotic words lead to an increase in shock volumes administered to the alleged competitor on this task. For women, it was postulated that physical force would not be represented as a functional behavioral script for sexually narcissistic females and, in line with this hypothesis, no effects were found for women. The results were discussed with regard to the underlying processes of SN and the importance of an individual difference perspective in sex-aggression links.
Disciplines :
Sociology & social sciences Treatment & clinical psychology
Schmidt, Alexander F. ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE)
Title :
Exploring the Automatic Undercurrents of Sexual Narcissism: Individual Differences in the Sex-Aggression Link
Publication date :
2013
Journal title :
ARCHIVES OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR
ISSN :
0004-0002
Publisher :
Springer/Plenum Publishers, New York, Unknown/unspecified