Study: Porn Use Does Not Cause Porn Addiction — Here’s What Does (AVN)
Read the full article by Michael French at avn.com
A new scientific study has debunked the concept that porn viewing leads to so-called “porn addiction,” but that there is one factor that can, indeed, lead to problematic or out-of-control fixation on porn: religion. Or, as the article published earlier this month in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior refers to the issue, “Pornography Problems Due to Moral Incongruence.”
“Moral incogruence,” according to the article, refers to “the experience of having one’s behaviors be inconsistent with one’s beliefs.”
“We put forth a model of pornography problems due to moral incongruence,” the study’s authors write. “Within this model, we describe how pornography-related problems—particularly feelings of addiction to pornography—may be, in many cases, better construed as functions of discrepancies—moral incongruence—between pornography-related beliefs and pornography-related behaviors.”
What does that mean in plain English? Fortunately, clinical psychologist David J. Ley published his more accessible interpretation of the new study in the popularized magazine Psychology Today this week.
