Recent research suggests that temporary states of sexual arousal may cause men to treat women as sexual objects, shifting their focus from psychological characteristics to sexualized physical characteristics. This change occurs independently of a person’s general personality traits, providing evidence that momentary biological states play a central role in how people perceive others. This study Journal of Sex Research.
The authors of the new study sought to better understand the immediate and short-term causes of sexual objectification. Sexual objectification occurs when a person is reduced to their sexual function and their mental and emotional characteristics are ignored. In heterosexual situations, women primarily suffer from the negative effects of this behavior, such as low self-esteem, feelings of anger, and depression.
Previous research has focused on stable personality traits to explain why men objectify women. These traits include traits such as narcissism, psychopathy, and a preference for social control. Many existing theories view objectification as primarily a tool used by men to assert power and maintain control over women.
The authors suggest that while these personality and power relationships remain relevant, current theories may be missing important pieces of the puzzle by ignoring temporary physical conditions. Arnaud Wissmann, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Kent, focuses his research on how evolutionary concepts apply to social psychology. “A central idea of my research is that sexual arousal is a relatively underappreciated driver of human motivation and cognition, perhaps because it remains a socially sensitive or taboo topic,” Wisman explained.
Researchers proposed the arousal hypothesis of sexual objectification. This hypothesis posits that humans have evolved to pay attention to physical characteristics associated with mating when sexually aroused. “However, from an evolutionary perspective, sexual motivation is fundamental to the survival of the species, so we would expect it to have a powerful influence on cognition and behavior,” Wisman pointed out.
According to this evolutionary perspective, historically, focusing on physical characteristics at moments of awakening helped our ancestors evaluate potential mates and orient themselves toward reproduction. The researchers wanted to test whether this temporary mating mindset directly promotes objectification, regardless of a man’s underlying personality. “Thus, much of my recent research has focused on how sexual arousal systematically shapes perception, judgment, and decision-making,” Wisman says.
To explore this hypothesis, Wisman and colleague Andrew G. Thomas conducted four separate experiments involving a total of 675 heterosexual men. In the first experiment, researchers recruited 154 men through an online platform. Participants first completed a questionnaire assessing their baseline mood and willingness to engage in casual sex without commitment.
The men also completed a survey measuring Dark Triad traits. The Dark Triad refers to three personality traits associated with manipulative and callous behavior: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of two visual conditions.
While sexually aroused, the men viewed 15 erotic images and 15 erotic anime images. In the neutral arousal condition, participants viewed images of people engaged in non-sexual but arousing activities, such as bungee jumping or cliff diving. This allowed scientists to distinguish the effects of sexual arousal from general arousal.
Participants then completed a task designed to measure their current state of sexual objectification. In this task, the men rated how desirable 10 physical sexual attributes, such as curvaceousness, were compared to 10 psychological attributes, such as intelligence and empathy. Researchers found that sexually aroused men preferred a woman’s sexual and physical attributes more than her psychological attributes.
This effect remained significant even when the scientists controlled for participants’ relationship status and Dark Triad traits. “One notable finding is that the effects of sexual arousal emerge even when controlling for personality traits,” Wisman explained. “This suggests that situational factors may play an important role independent of stable individual differences, which are often the main focus in this field of research.”
The second experiment aimed to refine these findings by testing whether sexual arousal makes men interested in the human body in general. The researchers recruited 160 heterosexual men and followed a similar procedure to the first experiment. In addition to sexual physical and mental features, the objectification task included neutral physical features such as knees and elbows.
The authors found that sexual arousal did not increase men’s preference for neutral physical attributes. Instead, heightened arousal specifically increased preferences for sexual physical features compared to mental features. Again, personality traits predicted higher levels of overall objectification, but the direct effects of the sexual arousal manipulation did not change.
In a third experiment, the scientists investigated the difference between temporary objectification states and stable personality traits. They also recruited 160 heterosexual men and included a measure of social dominance orientation. This concept describes a person’s preference for inequality among social groups, with some groups at the top and others at the bottom.
In addition to the task measuring momentary objectification, participants also completed a questionnaire measuring general everyday tendencies to objectify women. The researchers replicated the previous two experiments and found that viewing erotic images increased temporary state objectification. However, the manipulation of sexual arousal did not change men’s scores on the General Trait Objectification Questionnaire.
This finding provides evidence that sexual objectification is not just a fixed personality trait. Instead, it is also a dynamic state that fluctuates based on immediate motivating circumstances, such as feeling sexually aroused. “Our findings suggest that objectification, in some contexts, may reflect a shift in perceived focus on physical characteristics associated with sexual attractiveness,” Wisman said. “In this sense, it is not just a stable trait, but a state-dependent process related to underlying motivational systems such as sexual arousal.”
The fourth experiment tested whether empathy training could reduce the objectification effects of sexual arousal. Researchers recruited 201 heterosexual men. In addition to the arousal manipulation, participants were randomly assigned to either an empathic condition or a neutral control condition.
In the empathy condition, the men were asked to write about a recent situation in which the woman had experienced difficulty, focusing on how she felt. In the neutral condition, participants simply described the room in which they were currently sitting. The scientists also measured the men’s Dark Triad traits and casual sexual attitudes.
Researchers found that practicing empathy reduced sexual objectification overall. Considering Dark Triad traits, empathy appears to buffer the effects of sexual arousal. For men in the neutral writing condition, sexual arousal predicted increased objectification.
For men in the empathic state, this link between arousal and objectification disappeared. However, men who scored very high on Dark Triad traits showed high levels of objectification, regardless of their empathy training or arousal state. This suggests that while empathic interventions may be promising, their success tends to depend on a person’s underlying empathic abilities.
Although this study provides new insights, there are several potential limitations. The researchers focused only on heterosexual men because men are often the subjects of objectification in heterosexual contexts. “Importantly, the new study shows that this mechanism is not necessarily limited to men. Under certain conditions, women may also show increased attention to men’s physical characteristics,” Wisman said. “At the same time, it is essential to distinguish between the underlying perceptual process and its social influence.”
The experiment also relied on visual imagery to induce sexual arousal. Because real-world sexual arousal often involves multiple senses, future research may benefit from using audio or immersive scenarios to see if the effect is stronger. Additionally, this study relied on self-report measures of sexual arousal. Because people are not always fully aware of their own physical reactions, subjective assessments can contain bias.
When applying evolutionary concepts to human behavior, researchers caution against assuming that natural biological processes are inherently good. “It’s important not to confuse what is and what should be,” Wisman explains. “Proving that a particular perceptual tendency exists does not mean that it is desirable or acceptable. For example, just because there is an innate component to aggression does not therefore mean that aggression is good. The question of what is appropriate is determined by social norms and cultural values, not simply whether the tendency has psychological or biological roots.”
Addressing temporary arousal conditions may open new avenues for reducing sexual harm. Programs that teach emotional regulation and help individuals recognize how their attention changes with excitement may be more effective than attempting to change deep-seated beliefs. Recognizing the role of physical conditions in shaping perception will allow for more nuanced intervention strategies in the future.
“My broader goal is to further incorporate sexual arousal into our understanding of human motivation and cognition,” Wisman said. “I’m particularly interested in how sexual motives shape everyday perceptions, judgments, and behaviors, and how these state-driven processes interact with more stable individual differences.”
The researchers hope to build on these findings. “The broader aim of this study is to move toward a more integrated understanding of human mating behavior, where stable traits and temporary motivational states are seen as jointly shaping behavior, rather than as competing explanations,” Wisman concluded.
The study, “Objects of Desire: The Role of Sexual Arousal in the Sexual Objectification of Women by Men,” was authored by Arnaud Wissmann and Andrew G. Thomas.
