Role of Sexual Perception in Acquaintance-Initiated Sexual Aggression

Male-initiated sexual aggression toward female acquaintances is a major public-health problem on college campuses.  Theoretical models of sexual coercion and aggression between acquaintances implicate misperception of women’s sexual interest as a proximal predictor of sexually aggressive behavior.  The inclusion of misperception in theoretical models is supported by a burgeoning literature linking impoverished processing of women’s sexual interest to increased risk of sexually coercive or aggressive behavior.  For example, we have shown that high-risk men, relative to low-risk men, show less attention to, sensitivity to, and memory for women’s affective cues, and are more influenced by provocativeness of dress and other physical characteristics of women when judging women’s dating-relevant affect in full-body photographs.  

Over the past decade, we have begun developing and evaluating cognitive-training procedures designed to enhance the accuracy of men’s judgments of women’s sexual interest.  Both trial-by-trial feedback and explicit instruction about non-verbal affective indicators of women’s sexual interest have increased men’s focus on women’s affective cues and decreased men’s focus on women’s non-affective cues when judging women’s sexual interest. We also completed two NIAAA-funded studies, one of which evaluated the extent to which an enhanced training protocol fostered robust transfer to a moderate dose of alcohol and another that used eye-tracking methods to evaluate the influence of a moderate dose of alcohol on men's overt visual attention to women's faces, women's bodies, and the social envrionment while judging women's momentary sexual interest.

Currently, colleagues (Drs. Corbin at ASU and Viken at IU) and I are developing and conducting an NIH-funded preliminary evaluation of a fully computerized prevention program that targets sexual aggression, risky sex, and heavy drinking among college men.  Our prevention approach integrates traditional motivational-interviewing techniques with these promising cognitive-training methods. As a part of this work, we’re developing new measures of protective behavioral strategies targeting both risky sex and sexually aggressive behavior, and we’re investigating college men’s misperceptions of the “typical college man’s” sexually relevant attitudes and behaviors, as well as his use of protective strategies. This work also determines whether men at greater risk of exhibiting sexual aggression are more likely than their peers to underestimate other men’s use of protective strategies and overestimate other men’s attitudes and behaviors that are supportive of sexually aggressive behavior. This more basic work sets the stage for extensive use of personalized normative and risk feedback in the prevention program, within each of the three problem domains of interest.  Because our measurement-development work is conducted with fairly large sample sizes, we are also eager to address questions about sexual perception and decision making among gender and sexual minorities (e.g., persons who identify as LGBTQ+ or as BDSM practitioners). 

  • Boyd-Rogers*, C., Treat, T.A, Corbin, W.R., & Viken, R.J. (in press). Social cognitive processes underlying normative misperception of sexual judgments. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
  • Treat, T.A., Corbin, W.R., Papova*, A., Richner*, K., Craney, R., & Fromme, K. (2021). Selection and socialization effects related to fraternity membership and sexual aggression during college.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 35, 337-350. 
  • Treat, T.A., Corbin, W.R., & Viken, R.J. (2021). Protective behavioral strategies for sexual aggression and risky sexual behavior.  Aggressive Behavior, 47, 284-295.
  • Treat, T.A., McMurray, B., Smith*, J.R., & Viken, R.J. (2020).  Tracking men’s perceptions of women’s sexual interest.  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29, 71-79.
  • Yeater, E.A., Treat, T.A., Viken, R.J., & Bryan, A.D. (2020).  Risk processing and college women’s risk for sexual victimization.  Psychology of Violence, 10, 575–583.
  • Treat, T.A., & Viken, R.J. (2018).  Sexual-perception processes in acquaintance-targeted sexual aggression.  Aggressive Behavior, 44, 316-326.
  • Smith*, J.R., Treat, T.A., Farmer, T.A., & McMurray, B. (2018).  Dynamic competition account of men’s perceptions of women’s sexual interest. Cognition, 174, 43-54.
  • Treat, T.A., Church*, E.K., & Viken, R.J. (2017).Effects of gender, rape-supportive attitudes, and explicit instruction on perceptions of women’s momentary sexual interest.  Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 24, 979-986.
  • Treat, T.A., Viken, R.J., Farris*, C.A., & Smith*, J.R. (2016). Enhancing the accuracy of men’s perceptions of women's sexual interest in the laboratory.  Psychology of Violence, 6, 562-572.
  • Treat, T.A., Hinkel*, H., Smith*, J.R., & Viken, R.J. (2016). Men's perceptions of women's sexual interest: Effects of environmental context, sexual attitudes, and women's characteristics.  Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 1:8.
  • Treat, T.A., Viken, R.J., & Summers, S. (2015). Contextual influences on men’s perceptions of women’s sexual interest.  Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44, 2256-2271.
  • Treat, T.A., Farris, C.A., Viken, R.J., & Smith, J.R. (2015).  Influence of sexually degrading music on men’s perceptions of women’s dating-relevant cues. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 29, 135-141.
  • Treat, T.A., Viken, R.M., Kruschke, J.K. & McFall, R.M. (2011).  Men’s memory for women’s affective cues:  Normative findings and links to rape-supportive attitudes.  Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25, 802-810.
  • Farris, C.A., Viken, R.J., & Treat, T.A. (2010).  Perceived association between diagnostic and non-diagnostic cues of women's sexual interest: General Recognition Theory predictors of risk for sexual coercion.  Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 54, 184-195.
  • Farris, C.A., Treat, T.A., & Viken, R.J. (2010).  Alcohol alters men’s perceptual and decisional processing of women’s sexual interest. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 427-432.
  • Farris, C.A., Treat, T.A., Viken, R.J., & McFall, R.M. (2008b).  Gender differences in perception of women’s sexual intent.  Psychological Science, 19, 348-354.
  • Farris, C.A., Treat, T.A., Viken, R.J., & McFall, R.M. (2008a). Sexual coercion and the misperception of sexual intent.  Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 48-66.
  • Farris, C.A., Viken, R.J., Treat, T.A., & McFall, R.M. (2006). Heterosocial perceptual organization:  A choice model application to sexual coercion. Psychological Science, 17, 869-875.
  • Treat, T.A., McFall, R.M., Viken, R.J., Nosfosky, R.M., MacKay, D.B., & Kruschke, J.K. (2002). Assessing clinically relevant perceptual organization with multidimensional scaling techniques. Psychological Assessment, 14, 239-252.
  • Treat, T.A., McFall, R.M., Viken, R.J., & Kruschke, J.K. (2001). Using cognitive science methods to assess the role of social information processing in sexually coercive behavior.  Psychological Assessment, 13, 549-565.

Role of Affective Processing in Disordered Eating (primarily past research)

Researchers increasingly have focused on the role of cognitive factors in the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of disordered eating.  Investigations have focused to a far greater degree on deficits in the processing of information about the self, rather than others, although social-comparison processes play a critical role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders.  Furthermore, this body of work has focused almost exclusively on the processing of disorder-specific information (i.e., shape, weight, eating, and food).  Preoccupation with shape, weight, eating, and food may result in or from impoverished processing of other significant information, however, such as affective information. Many women who struggle with eating-disorder symptoms report a keen sense of social ineffectiveness and display marked deficits in interpersonal problem solving and affect regulation.  Attention to, memory for, and learning about affective information is central to effective social interactions, suggesting that examination of affective processing may prove useful. Thus, we have used tools drawn from cognitive science to investigate whether women reporting eating-disorder symptoms differentially process body-size and affective information presented in photos of other women.   

  • Treat, T.A., Kruschke, J.K., Viken, R.J., & McFall, R.M. (2011).  Application of associative-learning paradigms to clinically relevant individual differences in cognitive processing.  Associative learning and conditioning: Human and animal applications.  Oxford University Press.
  • Treat, T.A., Viken, R.J., Kruschke, J.K., & McFall, R.M. (2010). Role of attention, memory, and covariation-detection processes in clinically significant eating-disorder symptoms. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 54, 184-195.
  • Treat, T.A., & Viken, R.J. (2010).  Cognitive processing of weight and emotional information in disordered eating.  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 81-85. 
  • Viken, R.J., Treat, T.A., Bloom, S. L. & McFall, R.M. (2005).  Illusory correlation for body type and happiness: Covariation bias and its relationship to eating disorder symptoms.  International Journal of Eating Disorders, 38, 65-72.
  • Viken, R.J., Treat, T.A., Nosfosky, R.M., McFall, R.M., & Palmeri, T. (2002).  Modeling individual differences in perceptual and attentional processes related to bulimic symptoms.  Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 598-609.

Clinically Relevant Visual Attention Processes (primarily past research)

Numerous theoretical models implicate visual attention to clinically relevant information in the development, maintenance, and increasingly the modification, or a wide variety of clinical phenomena.  Clinical scientists’ conceptualization and measurement of visual attention tend to lag behind those of vision scientists, however.  We have published a critique of the theoretical and measurement models bearing on the role of attention in clinical anxiety that stressed the importance of distinguishing initial attention to a stimulus from withdrawal of attention from a stimulus, both conceptually and methodologically, which necessitates moving beyond Stroop and dot-probe paradigms to Posner cueing, visual search, and eye-tracking paradigms.  Subsequently, we have published several empirical papers that rely on more contemporary measurement approaches to examine the role of visual attention in disordered eating, depression, spider phobia, and trait anxiety.  Recently, Andrew Hollingworth and I completed an internally funded project that examines community women’s vigilance for and distraction by healthy and unhealthy food subsequent to manipulated induction of cravings for either healthy or unhealthy food.  Future research will delineate further the role of vigilance, avoidance, distraction, and disengagement processes in various clinical phenomena and evaluate the effectiveness and utility of attentional-retraining strategies that rely on more contemporary visual-attention paradigms.

  • Weierich, M.R., & Treat, T.A. (2015). Mechanisms of visual threat detection in specific phobia. Cognition and Emotion, 29, 992-1006.
  • Farach, F.J., Treat, T.A., & Jungé, J.A. (2014).  Effects of induced and naturalistic mood on the temporal allocation of attention to emotional information.  Cognition and Emotion, 28, 993-1011.
  • Gearhardt, A.N., Treat, T.A., Hollingworth, A., & Corbin, W.R. (2012) The relationship between eating-related individual differences and visual attention to foods high in added fat and sugar.   Eating Behaviors, 13, 371-374.
  • Wisco, B. E., Treat, T. A., & Hollingworth, A. (2012). Visual attention to emotion in depression: Facilitation and withdrawal processes. Cognition and Emotion, 26, 602-614.
  • Weierich, M.R., Treat, T.A., & Hollingworth, A.H. (2008).  Theories and measurement of visual attentional processing in anxiety.   Cognition and Emotion, 22, 985-1018.

Measure Development

  • Boyd-Rogers*, C., Treat, T.A, Corbin, W.R., & Viken, R.J. (in press).  BDSM proclivity among college students.  Archives of Sexual Behavior.
  • Treat, T.A., Corbin, W.R., & Viken, R.J. (2021). Protective behavioral strategies for sexual aggression and risky sexual behavior.  Aggressive Behavior, 47, 284-295.
  • Yeater, E.A., Treat, T.A., Viken, R.J., & Bryan, A.D. (2020).  Risk processing and college women’s risk for sexual victimization.  Psychology of Violence, 10, 575–583.
  • Treat, T.A., & Viken, R.J. (2018).  Sexual-perception processes in acquaintance-targeted sexual aggression.  Aggressive Behavior, 44, 316-326.
  • Rizk*, M.T., & Treat, T.A. (2018). The effects of caloric education, trial-by-trial feedback, and their interaction on college-aged women’s abilities to estimate caloric content.  Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 52, 606-612.
  • Smith*, J.R., Treat, T.A., Farmer, T.A., & McMurray, B. (2018).  Dynamic competition account of men’s perceptions of women’s sexual interest. Cognition, 174, 43-54.
  • Weierich, M.R., & Treat, T.A. (2015). Mechanisms of visual threat detection in specific phobia. Cognition and Emotion, 29, 992-1006.
  • Rizk, M.T., & Treat, T.A. (2015).  Sensitivity to portion size of unhealthy foods.  Food Quality and Preference, 45, 121-131. 
  • Morean, M.E., Corbin, W.R., & Treat, T. (2015). Differences in subjective response to alcohol by gender, family history, binge drinking, heavy episodic drinking, and cigarette use:  Refining and broadening the scope of measurement.  Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 76, 287-95. 
  • Rizk, M.T., & Treat, T.A. (2014).  An indirect approach to the measurement of nutrient-specific perceptions of food healthiness.  Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 48, 17-25.
  • Woodward, H., Rizk, M.T., Wang, S.W., & Treat, T.A. (2014).  Disordered eating links to body-relevant and body-irrelevant influences on self-evaluation.  Eating Behaviors, 15, 205-208.
  • Morean, M.E., Corbin, W.R., & Treat, T. (2013). The Subjective Effects of Alcohol Scale: Development and psychometric evaluation of a novel assessment tool for measuring subjective response to alcohol. Psychological Assessment, 25, 780-795.
  • Treat, T.A., & Viken, R.J. (2012). Measuring test performance with signal detection theory techniques.  Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology.  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Morean, M.E., Corbin, W.R., & Treat, T.A. (2012).  The Anticipated Effects of Alcohol Scale: Development and psychometric evaluation of a novel assessment tool for measuring alcohol expectancies.  Psychological Assessment, 24, 1008-1023.
  • Treat, T.A., McFall, R.M., Viken, R.J., Kruschke, J.K., Nosofsky, R.M., & Wang, S.S. (2007). Clinical-cognitive science: Applying quantitative models of cognitive processing to examination of cognitive aspects of psychopathology. In R.W.J. Neufeld (Ed.), Advances in clinical-cognitive science: Formal modeling and assessment of processes and symptoms (pp. 179-205).  Washington DC: APA Books.
  • Farris, C.A., Viken, R.J., Treat, T.A., & McFall, R.M. (2006). Heterosocial perceptual organization:  A choice model application to sexual coercion. Psychological Science, 17, 869-875.
  • Lease, A.M., McFall, R. M., Treat, T. A., & Viken, R. J. (2003).  Assessing children’s representations of their peer group using a multidimensional scaling technique.  Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 20, 707-728.
  • Treat, T.A., McFall, R.M., Viken, R.J., Nosfosky, R.M., MacKay, D.B., & Kruschke, J.K. (2002). Assessing clinically relevant perceptual organization with multidimensional scaling techniques. Psychogical Assessment, 14, 239-252.
  • McFall, R. M., Eason, B. J., Edmondson, C. B., & Treat, T. A. (1999).  Social competence and eating disorders:  Development and validation of the anorexia and bulimia problem inventory.  Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assesment, 21, 365-394.
  • McFall, R. M., & Treat, T. A. (1999).  Quantifying the information value of clinical assessments with signal detection theory.  Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 215-241.

Treatment Development, Evaluation, and Dissemination

  • Teachman, B. A., & Treat, T.A.  (2011).  Reactions to the call to reboot psychotherapy research and practice:  Introduction to special section of comments on Kazdin and Blasé (2011).  Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 475-477.
  • Treat, T.A., McCabe, E.B., Gaskill, J.A., & Marcus, M.D. (2008).  Treatment of anorexia nervosa in a specialty care continuum.  International Journal of Eating Disorders.
  • Perepletchikova, F., Treat, T.A., & Kazdin, A.E. (2007). Treatment integrity in treatment-outcome research. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75, 829-841.
  • Treat, T.A., Gaskill, J.A., McCabe, E.B., Ghinassi, F.A. , Luczak, A.D., & Marcus, M.D (2005).  Short-term outcome of psychiatric inpatients with anorexia nervosa in the current care environment.  International Journal of Eating Disorders, 38, 123-133.
  • Stuart, G.L., Treat, T.A., & Wade, W.A. (2000).  Effectiveness of an empirically supported treatment for panic disorder delivered in a service clinic setting:  One-year follow-up. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 506-512.
  • Wade, W.A., Treat, T.A., & Stuart, G.L.  (1998).  Exporting an empirically validated treatment of panic disorder to a naturalistic community setting:  A benchmarking strategy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 231-239.
  • McFall, R. M., Treat, T. A., & Viken, R. J. (1997).  Contributions of cognitive theory to new behavioral treatments.  Psychological Science, 8, 174-176.