Interaction with a sex-expert system changes attitudes and may modify sexual behavior

摘要

This study investigated whether interaction with a sex-expert computer system called Sexpert affected couples' attitudes concerning computerized sexual information and modified their ongoing sexual behavior. Fifty sexually active couples were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions involving either interaction with Sexpert, exposure to a questionnaire with questions identical to Sexpert, or exposure to a computer game. Subjects in the Sexpert condition showed significant improvement in their attitudes towards computerized sexual information as measured by similarity—dissimilarity judgments and by semantic differential measures. Retrospective measures of sexual behavior change suggested that interaction with Sexpert modified sexual behavior. Daily monitoring of sexual behavior, however, did not confirm this finding. Reasons for the discrepancy between retrospective and daily monitoring measures are discussed. Overall, this study confirms that couples perceive interaction with Sexpert positively and that such interaction may change sexual behavior.