Focusing “Hot” or Focusing “Cool”: Attentional Mechanisms in Sexual Arousal in Men and Women

Attentional focus has substantial regulatory effects on subjective sexual arousal. Taking a participant and emotion‐oriented focus rather than a spectator and stimulus‐oriented focus while viewing erotic stimuli, enhances feelings of sexual arousal. Implications for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire, sexual arousal disorder, and hypersexuality are discussed, as well as future directions for studying regulation of sexual emotion. Both S, Laan E, and Everaerd W. Focusing “hot” or focusing “cool”: Attentional mechanisms in sexual arousal in men and women.