| Abstract: | Tested the notion that high-sex-guilt individuals have difficulty retaining sex-related information. 28 male and 28 female undergraduates were assigned in equal numbers to a high and a low sex-guilt group. Within each group, 1/2 of the Ss were sexually stimulated by reading erotic passages, while 1/2 read neutral passages. All Ss then listened to a lecture on birth control and took an exam based on the lecture. Results indicate that high-sex-guilt Ss retained less lecture information than low-guilt Ss. In addition, sexually stimulated Ss displayed poorer lecture retention than nonstimulated Ss. Across all conditions, females retained more lecture information than males. Results support the hypothesis that guilt-generated anxiety raises arousal past the optimum level necessary for efficient recall performance. Females had a greater interest in learning about birth control than males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
