Notas sobre la instalación de Perl

Although the primary predictor variables did not predict an unwanted sexual experience, it was important to examine related factors, such as participants’ perceptions of the female confederate. Indeed, previous research has indicated that individuals who perpetrate sexual aggression also report cognitions related to the female victim’s enjoyment of the act (Abbey et al., 1996). Participants in the current study had the opportunity to rate the female confederate’s distress level (i.e., her discomfort, being upset, and her dislike) in response to the video clip they watched her view. Two particular findings are notable here and may elucidate the interaction between participants’ distal alcohol expectancies and acute alcohol in- toxication on perceptions of the female confederate.

First, acutely intoxicated men who held pre-existing beliefs that intoxicated women were more vulnerable to sexual coercion were significantly more likely to perceive the female confederate as being “comfortable” while she viewed the sexually explicit video. No such effect was detected among men who watched the female confederate view the non-sexually explicit video or among men who were sober

(regardless of the video the female confederate viewed). This finding supports both AMT and Expec- tancy theory. As previously stated, according to AMT, the pharmacological properties of alcohol facili- tate attention toward the more salient cues (and away from the less salient cues) in one’s environment. Notably, the female confederate was expressionless while watching the video; thus, she did not display explicit cues of discomfort (or comfort). Therefore, inasmuch as the female’s expressed dislike of the sexual content in the media was not particularly salient to participants as they watched her viewing the video, intoxicated participants may have been less likely to attend to and/or perceive the female confeder- ate as distressed and thus rated her as being more comfortable with the selected clip. In fact, intoxicated men who watched the female view the sexually explicit video clip and who held high levels of belief that intoxicated women are vulnerable to sexual coercion essentially perceived the female confederate being just as comfortable as the men who watched her view the non-sexually explicit video clip. Indeed, sev- eral studies have demonstrated this synergistic relationship between both expectancies and pharmacologi- cal effects such that the myopic effect of alcohol may impair an individual’s ability to attend to inhibitory cues in light of the instigatory cues, especially while holding preconceived expectancies about the poten- tial victim (George et al., 2000; Seto & Barbaree, 1995).

Second, a significant interaction between participants’ pre-existing expectancy of intoxicated women’s vulnerability to sexual coercion, the female confederate’s perceived intoxication status, and ac- tual video clip selection was found on perceptions of the female confederate’s comfort post-video clip viewing. As expected, men who watched the female view the non-sexually explicit video clip (consistent with her preferences) rated her as more comfortable than those who watched the female view the sexually explicit video clip. Additionally, men who endorsed lower levels of the vulnerability to sexual coercion expectancy of women perceived the intoxicated, relative to the sober, female confederate as being more “uncomfortable” after watching the sexually explicit video clip. These men may have recognized that after subjecting the intoxicated female to an unwanted sexual experience that she was more likely to be uncomfortable or in a state of peril.

However, men who endorsed higher levels of the vulnerability to sexual coercion expectancy per- ceived the sober, relative to the intoxicated, female confederate as being “uncomfortable” when viewing the sexually explicit video. This finding may aid in understanding the role that men’s alcohol expectan- cies have in their resulting perceptions of women based on a woman’s perceived acute intoxication state. That is, men hold distal beliefs (e.g., alcohol expectancies) of women, but the more proximal factors (e.g., women’s actual intoxication status) may override these distal beliefs (especially when a woman is sober) to inform their perception of her level of discomfort when exposed to an unwanted sexual experience. Thus, it is possible that men who hold strong beliefs about women’s vulnerability to sexual coercion while intoxicated may attend to the more salient cue that the female is acutely sober, and thus are more likely to rate her accordingly when forcing such an unwanted sexual experience on her. However, this explanation may just be conjecture, and would merit further investigation in understanding these relation- ships between alcohol expectancies and perceptions of sober females.

Of note, analyses did not yield support for predictions regarding the other two distress questions (i.e., dislike of, upset by). Given the exploratory nature of this finding, it’s unclear what may have ac- counted for this discrepancy. Indeed, wording effects or question order could have influenced these re- sults, and further research may be necessary to delineate this distinction in perceptions of victims of sexu- ally aggressive behavior. Additionally, the sexual drive alcohol expectancy was not significantly related to men’s perception of the female confederate’s discomfort, upsetedness, or dislike of the video she watched. Coupled with the observed effects for vulnerability to sexual coercion, these findings support the distinctions between men’s expectancies about alcohol’s effect on women. The Vulnerability to Sex- ual Coercion expectancy more specifically assesses aspects related to views of women as being more sex- ual available and promiscuous while intoxicated (e.g., “Women are easy targets for sexual advances”), whereas the Sexual Drive expectancy focuses more specifically on sexual behavior and performance (e.g., “Women have a strong sex drive”). Further research confirming these distinctions related to overt behav- iors may strengthen this particular difference related to perceptions of a female victim.