Joseph J. Plaud

The Respondent Conditioning of Male Sexual Arousal

The respondent (classical) conditioning of male sexual arousal was investigated, employing penile plethysmography and 2 control procedures. Nine participants participated in three sessions, for three consecutive weeks. Each session consisted of fifteen stimulus periods and fifteen detumescence periods. Three participants participated in each of three different experimental conditioning procedures. Sexually explicit visual stimuli preselected by each participant were utilized as the unconditioned stimuli (US), and a neutral slide of a penny jarwas employed as the conditioned stimulus (CS). In the first procedure, short delay conditioning, the CS was presented for 15 seconds, followed immediately by the US for 30 seconds. The second procedure was a backward conditioning procedure. In the third procedure, a random control condition, the presentation of CS and US was determined randomly. Results indicated that participants showed systematic maximum increases in penile tumescence from baseline in the short delay conditioning procedure, but not in the other two control procedures. Implications of these results to behavior therapy strategies which are based upon the conditioning of human sexual arousal are examined and discussed.

Volunteer bias in human psychophysiological sexual arousal research: To Whom do our research results apply?

The volunteer biases present in psychophysiological studies of sexual arousal were investigated in two geographically distinct sites. Four hundred eighty‐five male and female undergraduates at the University of North Dakota and Oklahoma State University completed a packet of questionnaires which included demographics and personality‐ and sexuality‐related measures. Participants were then given an opportunity to participate in a sexual arousal study, for which 74 individuals volunteered. Significant differences were found between males and females on sexual guilt, and between volunteers and nonvol‐unteers on four out of five measures. In addition, analyses of the reasons nonvolunteers provided for not participating suggest that the types of measurement and stimuli often influence what types of individuals volunteer for such research. These results have serious implications for the generalizability of such physiological arousal measures, and indicate a need for the development of less intrusive measures of ...

17 – Sexual Disorders

Publisher Summary Behavior analytic approaches to sexual disorders have as their bases the relationships among habituation, classical and operant conditioning, and overt sexual behavior. Learning-based accounts of sexual behavior focus on the importance of both conditioning and habituation of sexual arousal. Further, theories of human behavior which are not explicitly based on the principles of learning also rely on the assumption that, at least to some extent, sexual behavior and arousal are learned. In order to understand the importance of behavior analysis, empirical research should demonstrate that the principles of learning and behavior are involved in sexual behavior.. Functional assessment of sexual disorders should identify the possible respondent and operant mechanisms that may lie behind problematic sexual behavior in order to identify alternate appropriate, satisfying forms of sexual behavior that service the same function as the problematic sexual behavior. Additionally, therapists should identify appropriate forms of sexual behavior, either in the clients current or past behavioral repertoire, as well as appropriate forms of sexual expression that are presently not in the clients repertoire.

Submaximal exercise in young female subjects on land and in water with and without hand‐held weights

The purpose of this study was to compare the metabolic and physiologic responses to sub‐maximal exercise on land and in water with and without 0.90 kg (2.0 pounds) hand‐held weights in young women. Eight apparently healthy women (mean ± SD for age: 19.8 ± 1.6 years; height: 164.1 ± 8.4 cm; weight: 64.8 ±8.6) completed a maximal graded exercise test (GXT) and four submaximal exercise tests: (1) on land with hand‐held weights; (2) on land without hand‐held weights; (3) in neck‐depth water with hand‐held weights and (4) in neck‐depth water without hand‐held weights. Analysis of heart rate (HR), oxygen consumption (Vo2), ventilation (V E ), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), blood lactate [LA‐] and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) respectively was conducted in all tests. A 2 x 2 (environment x weights) analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated there was a significantly lower HR and Vo2 subject response to water exercise than to land exercise of the same type. The addition of hand‐held weights to the exercise load in the water significantly increased the HR after only 21 min of exercise. The addition of weights in the water did not increase the resistance or “drag” in the water during arm movements, as indicated by the non‐significant metabolic change between measurements in the water with weights compared with water exercise without weights. Response in VE and [LA‐] to the two exercise conditions produced a significantly higher response on land with weights than in water. The lowest value for rating the exertion (RPE) was generated during water exercise. These data indicate that water is an effective exercise stimulus and a suitable mode of water aided activity for those who are elderly, overweight or suffer from orthopedic injury. An additional advantage to water exercise was a reduced perception of effort by the subjects compared with land exercise of the same type.