The communication of sexual identity images in a self-presentational context

We examined the disclosure of sexual attitudes in self-presentational contexts across different levels of accountability. The results indicated that in a self-presentation situation participants expressed more reserved sexual attitudes in a low-accountability (i.e., stranger) compared to a high-accountability (i.e., friend) condition. Conversely, in a non-self-presentation situation sexual attitudes did not differ as a function of accountability conditions. Moreover, participants expressed greater accountability concerns with friends compared to strangers, a finding that heretofore has been absent from the literature. In fact, perceived accountability mediated the interactive effect of self-presentation and accountability on sexual attitudes, again a finding that has yet to be demonstrated in prior work. These findings are the first to illustrate how people convey their sexual attitudes for self-presentational purposes, and they provide a more nuanced and complete view of people's self-presentations.