Affective valence and arousal as motivational indicators of homophobia

This study investigated the influence of physiological and subjective ratings of arousal and affective valence as well as attitudes toward gay men and lesbians on responses to sexually explicit or arousal-inducing videotaped presentations. Physiological indices of arousal and affective valence included skin conductance level, skin conductance response frequency, skin conductance response magnitude, and eyeblink amplitude. Participants were volunteers recruited from the campus communities of two large state universities in Texas during the spring and summer of 2000.;Results indicated that physiological responses to sexually-oriented stimuli are consistent with generalized arousal. However, a discrepancy between physiological indices of arousal and participants' subjective assessments of arousal in response to stimuli was discovered. Discrepancies between a physiological index of affective valence and subjective ratings of affective valence were also obtained.;Gender was not a mediating factor for either subjective or physiological responses, and sexual orientation was found to mediate subjective but not physiological responses. Initial presentation of more negatively valenced stimuli appeared to "prime" participants with regard to future physiological and/or subjective responses. The study also found that persons who possess more negative attitudes towards lesbians and gay men demonstrate a different pattern of physiological responses to sexually explicit stimuli than do those who have more positive attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.