Peer modeling and college men's sexually impositional behavior in the laboratory

Journal of Sex Research, Nov, 2002 by Damon Mitchell, D.J. Angelone, Richard Hirschman, Roy S. Lilly, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall

One limitation of the study concerns the artificiality of the laboratory environment and the loss of the context within which socially facilitated sexually aggressive behaviors occur (e.g., bars, concerts, parties, classrooms). Furthermore, it may not be possible to capture the spontaneity and anonymity of many acts of sexual imposition (e.g., shouting obscene comments out of a car window) in a controlled setting. Another limitation concerns the comparability of the video clips in their interactional level and emotional valence. Only the date rape video clip was intimately interpersonal in nature and contained negative affect. Differences across the video clip choices along these dimensions could have had some impact on participant video clip selection.

The present study tried to improve upon similar analogues by using a sexually aggressive stimulus that was more relevant to a college population than has been used in prior studies. The date rape stimulus involving college students may resemble the types of sexually impositional acts participants may have personally engaged in, witnessed, or heard about on campus. The present study also tried to improve upon similar analogues by having the confederate actively model sexually impositional and nonimpositional behavior rather than state an intention to do so.

The present paradigm can be adapted to study personality variables that interact with peer modeling to facilitate the expression of sexually impositional behavior. For example, there may be certain personality variables (e.g., adversarial sexual beliefs, sexism) that increase a man's likelihood to impose himself sexually in the presence of a peer who has engaged in the same behavior. Administering measures of such variables prior to or after participants take part in the experiment may help to identify individuals who are especially susceptible to such negative peer influences. Similar modifications of the paradigm may help reveal personality factors that act as strong disinhibitors of sexual imposition even in the presence of a peer who models nonimpositional behavior.

The fact that only 22% of participants selected the sexually aggressive video clip despite the presence of disinhibitory cues suggests that sexual imposition is a behavior with strong normative inhibitions. Perhaps one of the most important areas for further exploration is that of variables that can facilitate this inhibitory process and actively inhibit the expression of sexual imposition. The present study exposed some participants to a confederate who observed the sexually aggressive video clip and then chose to show a neutral video clip. One modification of the paradigm that may produce stronger inhibitions against showing the sexually aggressive video clip would be instructing the confederate to show a nonaggressive video clip while openly voicing his disgust for the sexually aggressive video clip or expressing a sense of incredulity that anyone would show the sexually aggressive video clip. Another modification that may produce stronger inhibitions against showing the sexually aggressive video clip would be varying participant knowledge of the female confederate's consent for viewing sexually aggressive subject matter. In the present study, participants may have believed that female confederates gave their consent to view sexually aggressive material. If the procedure had been modified so that participants were led to believe the female confederate had not consented to view sexually aggressive material, they may have behaved differently. Laboratory research that explores inhibitory factors may help discover unique person and situational factors that can help limit sexual imposition. Research on inhibitory factors may also shed light on personality and situational factors that can effectively inhibit sexual imposition even in the presence of other strong disinhibitory factors.