Although measures such as phallometric assessments are valued for providing an insightful indication of sexual orientation, they often are invasive in nature and may also be susceptible to deception. Indirect measures of sexual orientation are thought to capture automatic reactions, which may or may not be accessible to conscious introspection and hence are relatively resistant to deception. To this effect, a number of indirect methods have been developed. For instance, a number of studies have used simple viewing time paradigms to show that individuals spend more time looking at images they are sexually attracted to (higher response latencies), as compared to the images they are not (Imhoff et al., 2010; Imhoff, Schmidt, Weiß, Young, & Banse, 2012; Lykins, Meana, & Strauss, 2008). Additionally, more sophisticated indirect measurements such as gaze pattern analyses, pupil dilation, reaction times and implicit association of concepts have also been used. Several studies for instance have looked at how homosexual and heterosexual, men and women directed their visual attention while looking at gender specific images. Reported findings indicated that both men and women initially gaze at the face of the sexually preferred stimuli (Hewig, Trippe, Hecht, Straube, & Miltner, 2008). Hall, Hogue and Guo (2011) later showed that these gaze patterns were more gender specific, in that women gazed longer at the faces compared to men and men gazed longer at the upper body and waist-hip region of their preferred image, compared to women. Furthermore, Lykins et al. (2008) found that women dispersed their attention evenly between the male and female figures whilst men had a strong preference for female figures.
Previous research has also led to the development of several psychometric measures to assess sexual orientation. For example, Fernandez, Quiroga and Rodriguez (2009) developed and validated Sexual Attraction Questionnaire (SAQ) by showing that it was able to differentiate reliably between individuals who are attracted to males,
females, both sexes or neither sex. Another example is Epstein Sexual Orientation Inventory (ESOI) (Epstein, McKinney, Fox, & Garcia, 2012) which showed that there existed a degree of flexibility in the expression of sexual orientation in all people. Chung and Katayama (1996) conducted a meta-analysis of 144 studies on gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals, pointing out the methodological shortcomings of assessing sexual orientation techniques. They reported that past studies have employed following methods for assessing sexual orientation (i) self-identification, (ii) past behaviour/history, (iii) sexual preference, (iv) single dimension continuum ranging from heterosexuality to homosexuality and (v) multiple dimensions. The authors reported that the first four methods are limited and suggested that future studies assessing sexual orientation should focus on a multidimensional approach involving emotional and physical attraction. A survey of the past studies specifically aimed at investigating creativity or risk taking in sexual minorities reveal a limiting factor (Table 3.1). Most of these studies have either employed self-identification (“Do you consider yourself to be –
Heterosexual/Homosexual/Bisexual/Other”) or past behaviour (“In the past, have you had
sex with – Exclusively women/exclusively men/mostly women/mostly men/both men and
women/I’ve not had sex”) to assess sexual orientation. To overcome the limitations of the
previous studies, in the present research (Study 1), I employed a paired-choice task in conjunction with eye tracking to assess sexual/physical attraction to erotic picture stimuli. In addition, the current study also used the Sexual Attraction Questionnaire to assess emotional attachment, attraction and feelings towards people of the same and opposite sex in real life scenarios (such as “At parties, I like to be near (in physical contact with)
women/men”). To further enrich this multidimensional approach of the assessment of
sexual orientation, I also asked the participants to report their sexual orientation as well as their past sexual behaviour (dimension of time).
Table 3.1 – Past studies on creativity and risk taking in sexual minority Authors Year # LGBs
(# bisexuals) # heterosexuals Assessment of Sexual orientation Measure of creativity
Ellis 1959 66 150 Self-Identification Rating by Therapist
De Luca 1965 42 25 Past Behaviour Klopfer’s scheme for creative potential
Domino 1977 125 125 Self-Identification Remote Associates Task, Adjective Checklist, Barron-Welsh Revised Art Scale, Alternate Uses, Consequences, Associational Fluency, Franck Drawing Completion Test, Holtzman Inkblot Test, Openness to Experience Inquiry
†Lewis &
Seaman
2004 180 1938 Past Behaviour Frequency of going to art museum, classical music, dance performance; Frequency of making art, playing music or performed live
Konik & Crawford
2004 140 (40 bisexuals) 202 Self-Identification Cognitive flexibility scale (perception of options and alternatives) Ben-Zeev et al 2012 254 (132 bisexuals) 2605 Self-Identification Self-report of creative abilities
Noor et al 2013 38 34 Self-Identification Khatena-Torrance Creative Perception Inventory, Something About Myself
†Mosing et al 2016 337 4157 Past Behaviour Creative Achievements Questionnaire
Authors Year # LGBs (# bisexuals) # heterosexuals Assessment of Sexual orientation
Measure of risk taking
†Garofalo 1998 104 (81 bisexuals) 3998 Self-Identification Past behaviour (violence, suicidal ideation, illegal drug use, sexual activity, Busseri et al 2008 168(132 bisexuals) 3594 Self-reported sexual
attraction
Past behaviour (alcohol, Marijuana, tobacco, hard drugs consumption, sexual activity, delinquent activity)
†Rice et al 2013 211 1578 Self-Identification Past behaviour (sexual activity)
†Lindström et
al
2014 9572 (5591 bisexuals) 3234 Self-Identification Past behaviour (tobacco smoking)
†Hatzenbuehler
et al
2015 104 (73 bisexuals) 9431 Self-Identification Past behaviour (illegal drug use)
List of past studies investigating the relationship between a) sexual orientation and creativity, b) sexual orientation and risk taking. †Survey data based studies.
3.2 S
TUDY1
This study was conducted with an eye tracking setup in a laboratory setting in the UK.
3.2.1 M
ETHOD3.2.1.1 Participants:
Seventy-eightvolunteers (44 female, Mage = 22 years, SD = 4.13) were recruited
for this study from a paid participant pool and the study was advertised via university wide posters and focused meetings with the sexual minority groups. All participants were paid £8/hour for their participation. The study received ethical approval from the research ethics committee at the researchers’ university.
All the participants were based in the UK and majority of them were Caucasian (87.2%) while others were Black/Black British (3.8%), Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups (7.7%) and Asian/Asian British (1.3%).