Sexual attraction modulates interpersonal distance and approach-avoidance movements towards virtual agents in males.

Robin Welsch,Daniel Turner,Heiko Hecht,Christoph Von Castell,Martin Rettenberger,Peter Fromberger,Rick K Wilson

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0231539

Abstract

How does sexual attraction alter social interaction behavior? We examined the influence of sexual orientation on locomotor approach-avoidance behavior and interpersonal distance. We immersed androphilic and gynophilic male subjects into a virtual environment and presented various male and female virtual persons. In the first experiment, subjects took a step forward (approach) or backward (avoidance) in response to the sex of the virtual person. We measured reaction time, peak velocity, and step size, and obtained ratings of sexual attractiveness in every trial. In the second experiment, subjects had to approach the virtual person as if they were to engage in a social interaction. Here, we analyzed interpersonal distance and peak velocity of the approaches. Our results suggest that sexual attraction facilitates the approach response and reduces the preferred interpersonal distance. We discuss our findings in terms of proxemics, current findings in sex research, and the applicability of our novel task in other fields of psychological research.

Highlights

We feel attraction towards stimuli that we desire and a repulsion from stimuli that we detest
One of the most important current theories on human sexuality proposes that sexual arousal depends on the individual responsiveness of two distinct neurophysiological systems: sexual excitation and sexual inhibition [4]
We examined in the interpersonal distances (IPD) Experiment whether this bias to approach attractive people results in shorter distances within social interactions

Summary

Introduction

We feel attraction towards stimuli that we desire and a repulsion from stimuli that we detest. Evaluated stimuli elicit an approach reaction, whereas negatively evaluated stimuli trigger avoidance behavior [1]. Interpersonal attraction can be described along the dimension of approach and avoidance, which in turn relates to smaller or larger interpersonal distances (IPD) in proximity tasks [2, 3]. One of the most important current theories on human sexuality proposes that sexual arousal depends on the individual responsiveness of two distinct neurophysiological systems: sexual excitation and sexual inhibition [4]. The so-called Dual Control Model (DCM) makes three further assumptions: (1) individuals vary in their propensity for excitation and inhibition, (2) these excitatory and inhibitory responses are mostly adaptive and functional, and (3) excitation causes approach behavior towards sexually arousing stimuli, whereas inhibition.

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Results

Conclusion