Contributions of sexual portrayals to viewers’ responses to graphic horror

An experiment was conducted to explore the role of sexual portrayals in viewers’ responses to graphic horror. Subjects rated a 10‐minute video of a horror film that varied the gender of victim and the sexuality in the portrayal. Sexual portrayals increased viewers’ enjoyment, and particularly so among male subjects and subjects who scored higher on measures of sexual permissiveness. Sexual portrayals also increased physiological arousal during the sexual scenes themselves and during subsequently occurring suspenseful scenes (though not during subsequent portrayals of death). For male subjects, sexual portrayals also increased perceptions that the film was frightening.

[1]  I. L. Reiss.  The social context of premarital sexual permissiveness , 1968 .

[2]  D. Zillmann.  Excitation transfer in communication-mediated aggressive behavior , 1971 .

[3]  J. Bryant,et al.  Enhancement of experienced sexual arousal in response to erotic stimuli through misattribution of unrelated residual excitation. , 1975, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[4]  Jacob Cohen.  Partialed products are interactions; partialed powers are curve components. , 1978 .

[5]  J. Andreassi.  Psychophysiology: Human Behavior and Physiological Response , 1980 .

[6]  John McCarty.  Splatter Movies: Breaking the Last Taboo of the Screen , 1984 .

[7]  J. Hyde,et al.  Differences between males and females in motives for engaging in sexual intercourse , 1985, Archives of sexual behavior.

[8]  William F. Schoell.  Stay Out of the Shower: 25 Years of Shocker Films, Beginning With Psycho , 1985 .

[9]  Authoritarianism as a predictor of response to heterosexual and homosexual erotica. , 1985 .

[10]  Susan S. Hendrick,et al.  Gender differences in sexual attitudes. , 1985 .

[11]  E. Donnerstein,et al.  Mass Media Sexual Violence and Male Viewers , 1986 .

[12]  G. Sparks.  Developing a Scale to Assess Cognitive Responses to Frightening Films , 1986 .

[13]  Dolf Zillman,et al.  Connections between Sex and Aggression. , 1986, Violence and Victims.

[14]  Norbert Mundorf,et al.  Effects of an opposite-gender companion's affect to horror on distress, delight, and attraction. , 1986 .

[15]  D. Zillmann,et al.  Image Effects in the Appreciation of Video Rock , 1987 .

[16]  Ron Tamborini,et al.  Predictors of Horror Film Attendance and Appeal , 1987 .

[17]  Susan S. Hendrick,et al.  Multidimensionality of sexual attitudes , 1987 .

[18]  B. Gfellner.  Relations between Sexual Attitudes, Gender, and Sexual Behaviour Concepts of Older Adolescents , 1988 .

[19]  D. Byrne,et al.  Erotophobia‐erotophilia as a dimension of personality , 1988 .

[20]  John E. Hunter,et al.  On the Use and Interpretation of the Emotional Empathy Scale, the Self-Consciousness Scales, and the Self-Monitoring Scale , 1989 .

[21]  S. Chaffee,et al.  Regulating Pornography: A Public Dilemma , 1990 .

[22]  G. Cowan,et al.  Gender and survival vs. death in slasher films: A content analysis , 1990 .

[23]  C. H. Hansen,et al.  The Influence of Sex and Violence on the Appeal of Rock Music Videos , 1990 .

[24]  G. Sparks.  The Relationship Between Distress and Delight in Males’ and Females’ Reactions to Frightening Films , 1991 .

[25]  J. Weaver.  Are “slasher” horror films sexually violent? A content analysis , 1991 .

[26]  D. Zillmann.  The logic of suspense and mystery. , 1991 .

[27]  John O. Greene,et al.  On the Validity of Nonverbal Indicators as Measures of Physiological Arousal A Response to Burgoon, Kelley, Newton, and Keeley‐Dyreson , 1992 .

[28]  Carol J. Clover.  Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film , 2015 .

[29]  B. Sapolsky,et al.  Profile: Sex, violence, and victimization in slasher films , 1993 .