Truth and consequences: using the bogus pipeline to examine sex differences in self-reported sexuality

Journal of Sex Research, Feb, 2003 by Michele G. Alexander, Terri D. Fisher

METHOD

Participants

An initial sample of 248 male and female undergraduates at a regional campus of a Midwestern university participated as partial fulfillment of a research requirement in their Introductory Psychology course. To keep the sample somewhat homogenous, we used only data from unmarried, heterosexual, 18- to 25-year-old participants. The 47 participants who did not fit this description were dropped, leaving a final sample of 201 participants (96 men and 105 women), 189 of whom were White, 7 of whom were African American, and 5 of whom were of other ethnic backgrounds.

Measures

Manipulation checks. To assess the effectiveness of the bogus pipeline procedure for reducing social desirability responding, we included a brief (19-item) version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Strahan & Gerbasi, 1972) at the end of the survey packet. Questions on this scale are answered in a true-false format, and possible scores range from 0 to 19, with higher scores indicating a tendency to deny having basic human foibles ([alpha] = .64 in the present study).

We also gave 50 participants who were attached to the polygraph (see procedures below) three items asking how accurate they thought the machine was in measuring their true attitudes and behavior, how much influence they thought the machine had on their responses, and how much pressure they felt from the lie detector to answer questions honestly. They responded using a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all to 5 = a great deal).

Sexual attitudes. The 21-item Sexual Opinion Survey (Fisher, Byrne, & White, 1983) was used to measure erotophobia-erotophilia. Sample items include "I think it would be very entertaining to look at hardcore pornography" and "If people thought I was interested in oral sex, I would be embarrassed." Participants responded using a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly agree, 7 = strongly disagree). Possible scores range from 0 to 126, with lower scores indicating negative emotional responses to sexual matters (erotophobia) and higher scores indicating positive emotional resoponses to sexual matters (erotophilia). In the current study, the Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient for this scale was .79.

We measured sexual attitudes with the Attitudes Toward Sexuality Scale (Fisher & Hall, 1988). This 13-item instrument assesses general sexual attitudes on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Sample items include "Petting (a stimulating caress of any or all parts of the body) is immoral behavior unless the couple is married" and "A person's sexual behavior is his/her own business and nobody should make value judgments about it." Potential scores on this instrument range from 13 to 65, with lower scores indicating greater sexual conservatism and higher scores reflecting more permissiveness ([alpha] = .81 for this sample).

Sexual experience and behavior. Sexual behavior was measured using the Cowart Pollack scale of sexual experience (Cowart-Steckler & Pollack, 1988), which is a pair of Guttman scales that assesses the breadth of men's and women's sexual experience. Using a yes-no response format, respondents indicate in which of 30 sexual activities they have engaged (e.g., oral stimulation of partner's genitals). Scores range from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating a broader range of sexual experience ([alpha] = .95 for the present study). Because we were especially interested in examining responses to three items highly relevant to gender role norms (masturbation, exposure to softcore erotica, and exposure to hardcore erotica), we created a subscale using these three items ([alpha] = .73).