Pupil Dilation and Sexual Orientation

Description

Data from an experiment relating pupil dilation to sexual orientation.

Format

A data frame with 106 observations on the following 4 variables.

DilateDiff

Difference in pupil dilation when looking at same-sex and opposite-sex nude photographs

Sex

F=female or M=male

Gay

1=gay or 0=not, based on Kinsey scale score greater than 3

SexMale

0=female or 1=male

Details

DilateDiff is, essentially, the difference in pupil dilation when looking at (a) same-sex nudes and (b) opposite-sex nude photographs. More specifically, multiple measurements of pupil size were taken under each of the two conditions, together with a third condition that involved a neutral stimulus. Within-subject z-scores were then computed, which led to the DilateDiff numbers used here.

Source

G. Rieger and R.C. Savin-Williams (2012),"The Eyes Have It: Sex and Sexual Orientation Differences in Pupil Dilation Patterns," in PLoS ONE. The full study included 325 students. Here we are analyzing a subset of the data that excludes White students.