Currently, I am most active in research focusing on the influence of alcohol on sexual behavior. My work emphasizes the view that both alcohol expectancy theory and alcohol myopia theory are useful frameworks for understanding post-drinking sexuality. Grounded in these theories, my colleagues, students and I conduct laboratory-based experiments examining the potentially disinhibiting effects of alcohol on sexual perception, sexual aggression, and HIV/AIDS related sexual risk taking. Typically, these experiments involve assessment of individual differences including alcohol expectancies, administration of beverages, presentation of sexual or sexually aggressive stimuli, and assessment of sexual outcomes, such as arousal, perception, and likelihood of risk-taking. We presently have several manuscripts in preparation or under review, reporting findings from recently completed experiments. In a series of papers, we report that acute alcohol intoxication influences sexual risk-taking decisions during a hypothetical encounter. In another series of papers, we report that acute intoxication also influences women_s reactions to a hypothetical date rape. Another primary interest area focuses on how cultural factors and racial stereotypes interact with the above topics. For example, I am interested in how racial stereotypes influence sexual perceptions and victim-blaming in alcohol-related sexual assaults. In an earlier paper (George & Martinez, 2002), we found more victim-blaming about interracial than intraracial rapes. In two papers being prepared, we report that sexual perceptions differ based on the race of the characters depicted in a first-date scenario and based on the characters_ alcohol consumption. These data have intensified my interest in racial stereotypes about sexuality and the perceptual consequences of such stereotypes. A third primary interest area concerns racism, ethnicity, and cultural factors broadly. In our edited volume (Barrett & George, 2005), Dr. Kim Barrett, chapter contributors, and I consider multicultural competence in psychological service delivery generally and especially in legal settings. In two books being prepared, Dr. Barrett and I consider the formative impact of childhood racism experiences on later adulthood adjustment (Barrett & George, in preparation; Barrett, George, & Yi, in preparation). Also, since 1998, I continue to serve as director of the UW_s Institute for Ethnic Studies in the United States. In this role, I have the pleasure of being able to review small grant applications from UW faculty members proposing scholarship related to American Ethnic groups. These applications hail from a wide variety of disciplines across the humanities, arts, and sciences; and several applications are funded each year. My secondary areas of interest include theories and therapies pertaining to addictions _ especially Relapse Prevention applications; sex offenders; couple relationships; and the adult sexuality of survivors of child sexual abuse. In 2005, we published three book chapters related to Relapse Prevention applications to sexuality; a related review paper is also in press. Recently, several colleagues and I have found preliminarily that prior child sexual abuse may affect how women respond to laboratory situations involving sexuality. We hope to investigate this possibility further. Finally, the Couple Therapy Project spearheaded by the late Dr. Neil Jacobson and UCLA_s Dr. Andrew Christensen is largely completed; current and former graduates remain involved in publishing findings from this project, which is the largest clinical trial conducted on marital therapy to date.
- George, W.H., Davis, K. C., Norris, J., Heiman, J. R., Stoner, S. A., Schacht, R., Hendershot, C. S., &Kajumulo, K. (provisionally accepted). Indirect Effects of Acute Alcohol Intoxication on Sexual Risk-Taking: The Roles of Subjective and Physiological Sexual Arousal. Archives of Sexual Behavior.
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- Davis, K.C., Hendershot, C.S, George, W.H., Norris, J., & Heiman, J.R., (2007). Alcohol_s effects on sexual decision making: An integration of alcohol myopia and individual differences. Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs. (November).
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- Hendershot, C. S, &. George, W. H., (2007). Alcohol and sexuality research in the AIDS era: Trends in publication activity, target populations and research design. AIDS and Behavior, 11, 227-237.
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- Hendershot, C. S, Stoner, S. A., George, W. H., & Norris, J. (2007). Alcohol use, expectancies and personality factors as correlates of HIV risk behavior in heterosexual young adults. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 365-372.
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- Lindgren, K. P., George, W. H., & Shoda, Y. (2007). Sexual intent perceptions: The role of perceiver experience and the "real person reduction._ Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37, 346-369.
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- Lindgren, K. P., Shoda Y., & George, W. H. (in press). Sexual or friendly? Associations about women, men, and self. Psychology of Women Quarterly.
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- Lopez, P. A., George, W.H., & Davis, K. C., (2007). Do hostile sexual beliefs affect men_s perceptions of sexual-interest messages? Violence & Victims, 22, 95-111.
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- Stoner, S. A., George, W. H., Norris, J., & Peters, L. M. (2007). Liquid courage: Alcohol fosters risky sexual decision-making in individuals with sexual fears. AIDS and Behavior, 11, 217-226.
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- Davis, K. C., Norris, J., George, W. H., Martell, J., & Heiman, R. J. (2006a). Rape myth congruent beliefs in women resulting from exposure to violent pornography: Effects of alcohol and sexual arousal. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21, 1208-1223.
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- Davis, K. C., Norris, J., George, W. H., Martell, J., & Heiman, R. J. (2006b). Men_s likelihood of sexual aggression: The influence of alcohol, sexual arousal, and violent pornography. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 581-589.
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- George, W. H., Davis, K. C., Norris, J., Heiman, R. J., Schacht, R., Stoner, S. A., & Kajumulo, K. (2006). Alcohol and erectile response: The effects of high dosage in the context of demands to maximize sexual arousal. Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology, 14, 461-470.
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- George, W.H., Stoner, S. A., Davis, K. C., Lindgren, K. P., Norris, J. & Lopez, P.A. (2006). Postdrinking sexual perceptions and behaviors toward another person: Alcohol expectancy set amanda gender differences. The Journal of Sex Research, 43, 282-292.
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- Masters, N. T., Norris, J., Stoner, S. A., & George, W. H. (2006). How does it end? Women project the outcome of a sexual assault scenario. Psychology of Women Quarterly.
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- Norris, J., George, W. H., Stoner, S. A., Masters, N. T., Zawacki, T., & Davis, K. C. (2006). Women's responses to sexual aggression: The effects of childhood trauma, alcohol, & prior relationship. Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology, 14, 402-11.
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- Wheeler, J. G., George, W. H., & Marlatt, G. A. (2006). Relapse prevention for sexual offenders: Considerations for the _Abstinence Violation Effect._ Sexual Abuse: Journal of Research and Treatment, 18, 233-248.
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- George, W.H., Zawacki, T. & Simoni, J., Stephens, K.A., & Lindgren, K.P. (2005). Assessment of sexual risk-taking behaviors. In D. Donovan & A. Marlatt (Eds.), Assessment of Addictive Behaviors, Second Edition (pp. 425-443). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
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- Wheeler, J. G., & George, W. H. (2005). Rape and Race: An Overview. In K. H. Barrett & W. H. George (Eds.), Race, Culture, Psychology, and Law (pp. 391-402). Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.
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- Barrett, K. H. & George, W. H. (Eds.) (2005). Race, Culture, Psychology, and the Law. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.
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- Davis, K. C., George, W. H. & Norris, J. (2004). Women_s responses to unwanted sexual advances: The role of alcohol and inhibition conflict. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28, 333-343.
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- Stephens, K.A., & George, W. H. (2004). Effects of anti-rape video content on sexually coercive and non-coercive college men_s attitudes and alcohol expectancies. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 34, 402-416.
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- George, W.H., & Martinez, L. (2002). Victim blaming in rape: effects of victim and perpetrator race, type of rape, and participant racism. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26, 110-119.
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- George, W.H., Stoner, S. A., Norris, J, Lopez, P.A, & Lehman, G.L. (2000). Alcohol expectancies and sexuality: A self-fulfilling prophecy analysis of dyadic perceptions and behavior. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61, 168-176.
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- George, W. H., & Stoner, S. A. (2000). Understanding alcohol and sexual behavior. Annual Review of Sex Research, 11, 125-157.
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- George, W. H., & Norris, J. (1991). Alcohol, disinhibition, sexual arousal, and deviant sexual behavior. Alcohol Health and Research World, 15, 133-138.
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- Crowe, L. C., & George, W. H. (1989). Alcohol and human sexuality: Review and integration. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 374-386.
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