The formation of sexual fantasies by means of the rebound effect of suppressed thoughts.
Laura C. Sánchez-Sánchez, Carmen Luciano Soriano, Dermot Barnes-Holmes.

SUMMARY

Objectives: The effect that may produce suppression versus concentration on thoughts in the formation of sexual fantasies was explored in this study.

Design: Randomized conditions research (8 conditions, 10 participants each).

Location: The labs of Psychology at the Universities of Almería (Spain) and Maynooth (Ireland).

Participants: Eighty participants from different countries.

Interventions: The participants chose, depending on the condition, a word corresponding to a sexual or to non sexual practice considered "appropriate versus inappropriate" (by the general public). Then, they were invited to think on such a fantasy and, later, while performing a distraction task, half of the participants were instructed to suppress any thoughts related to that fantasy and the rest to concentrate on these thoughts. Assessment instruments: The different effects produced (VDs: rebound effect,level of rebound effect) by the experimental protocols (VI) used (suppression versus concentration) were evaluated by an association of word tests, in which the participants respond to a given word by saying aloud another word (from a list of 10 sexual words and 10 non sexual words).

Results: In most of the suppression conditions participants showed rebound effect, however only one of the concentration conditions showed this effect. In addition, there was more rebound effect in sexual words conditions than in non-sexual words conditions.

Conclusions: These preliminary results show the rebound effect of suppressing a thought with sexual content. As well, the role this effect might play in the formation of sexual fantasies is suggested. This study has important repercussions in the treatment of sexual offenders, where traditional treatments are aimed to reduce the frequency of fantasies.

KEY WORDS

Sexual fantasies, suppression, concentration, Wegner task, rebound effect.