Publication Date

2012

School

College of Arts and Sciences

Major

Psychology: Child/Adolescent Development

Primary Subject Area

Psychology, Experimental

Keywords

pornography, human trafficking

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

Each individual has different beliefs about the effects of pornography use in relation to the self, a romantic relationship, the family, and society as a whole. There is research that shows pornography tends to negatively affect these areas of life and there is also evidence for some human trafficking occurring within the pornography industry. Thus, the ultimate goal of this thesis is to not only assess what people believe about those involved in the pornography industry, but to test whether information about the pornography industry might change people’s beliefs about their personal pornography use. Human nature tends to not equate one’s personal actions with effects, especially negative results. If there were no users of pornography, then there would be no demand. Therefore, one’s actions do affect the pornography industry and human trafficking.

A survey was created that assessed beliefs about the effects of one’s personal pornography use. Then, these beliefs were assessed again after information about the pornography industry was presented. The research question was whether the information would change one’s beliefs about pornography use in relation to the family and society, with an emphasis on the negative aspects of pornography such as human trafficking. The 100 participants were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk through an online format. After being presented with statistics about sex trafficking and the pornography industry, participants did change their beliefs about personal pornography use.

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