Kay, Betty-Charlotte (2023) Subjective Pain Intensity and Duration of Hand Immersion in Water During a Cold-Pressor Test in Sexually Aroused Women Exposed to Erotic Film Clips. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Introduction. Aiming to inform interventions for genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder (GPPPD), the present study investigates the effect of sexual arousal on pain intensity and duration of hand immersion in a Cold Pressor Task (CPT) in heterosexual women. An analgesic effect of sexual arousal has previously been found in animal and human studies. Sexual arousal itself could already have the potential to create such a pain-relief. It is hypothesized that both pain measures will be better in both pornographic film conditions and secondly, that the low-disgust condition will have the best effect on pain. Method. This study uses three conditions: a previously used original-, a new low-disgust pornographic film, and a neutral train film. A CPT set at 2°C is employed to induce pain. The disgust of participants is assessed for its effect on sexual arousal. One hundred seventy-four female first-year psychology students from the University of Groningen completed the experiment. Six one-way analyses of variance were conducted examining the sexual arousal and disgust manipulations as well as their influence on both pain measures. Results. Neither pain measure was influenced by sexual arousal (p > .05). Following an exploratory analysis, sexual arousal and disgust were found to have no individual influence on pain. Discussion. Overall, the study shows that pornographic films can be used to sexually arouse women, but this arousal did not affect pain measures. Future studies may utilize the findings of this study to inform their own study designs to investigate the analgesic effect of sexual arousal. Keywords: analgesic effect, GPPPD, sexual arousal, disgust, heterosexual women, Cold Pressor Task (CPT).
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Borg, C. and Lakhsassi, L. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Psychology (CP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jul 2023 09:37 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jul 2023 09:37 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2620 |
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