An affair to remember: The role of sexual scripts in perceptions of sexual intent

Abstract

This research investigates a proximal mechanism by which judgments of sexual intent are made: scripts. In a pilot study, scripts organized around sexual intent were elicited, with coding identifying the features of scripts relevant to casual and committed relationship encounters. Male participants and those interested in casual sexual relationships were more likely to generate the casual (vs. committed) script, thus demonstrating the scripts initial validity. In the critical study, the casual and committed scripts were activated for participants via stories. Participants later showed false memory for script-relevant information. Further, participants who were less able to discriminate between real vs. imagined script details imputed greater sexual intent to the targets. These results provide clear evidence for the use of behavioral scripts in judgments of sexual intent.