Relationship between Irrationality and Sexual Arousability

Abstract

Cognitive therapies aimed at the alleviation of sexual dysfunctioning or deficits in arousal are often based on the premise that irrational self-statements and unrealistic belief systems inhibit one's capacity for sexual enjoyment (1, 2). In a test of this hypothesis the Sexual Arousal Inventory, a measure of females' sexual arousability (3), and the Rational Behavior Inventory, a measure of the rationality of one's personal belief systems (4) as defined by Ellis' system of rational emotive therapy, were administered to 102 women attending the University of Michigan (M_age = 22 yr., SD = 3.7). This was done as part of a separately reported investigation on the concurrent validity of the inventory (4). Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated between the total sexual arousal score and the over-all index of rational beliefs and its 11 sub-factors. Contrary to prediction, self-reported capacity for sexual arousal was not significantly correlated with the over-all degree of irrationality of the subject's personal belief systems. Only one subfactor of the Rational Behavior Inventory, No. 7, avoidance of unpleasant tasks, correlated with the score on sexual arousal (r = −.21, p < .05), possibly indicating that women who seek to avoid unpleasant tasks to an unrealistic extent experience a corresponding deficit in arousal during sexual activities perceived as distasteful. Since only one small but significant correlation was obtained out of 11 which were calculated, this may be a spurious finding. These results, if replicated, would question the theoretical premise underlying the rational emotive approach to the treatment of sexual dysfunction in women.