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Samenvatting Human Psychology of Sexuality
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Chapter 1: Theoretical Perspectives on Human SexualityWHAT DRIVES US TO HAVE SEX?
Psychological influences:
Mood states, level of cognitive alertness, our attitudes toward sex and relationships, others'
expectations for our behaviour, as well as associations learned through reinforcement can promote or
inhibit our sexual behaviour. Personality and learned associations are relatively stable while mood
state is very variable. Keep in mind that these are bidirectional.
Cultural and societal influences:
Societies establish “normal” and “abnormal” sex behaviour, but this varies between societies.
Religion plays an important role in defining this. The Greeks and Romans had stories about the sexual
exploits of their Gods. Aphrodite (Greek) and Venus (Roman). The Greek had a pederasty: an
arrangement between and old men and an adolescent boy, which had sex in return. The early
Christians believed in a single deity and enforced a set of sharply defined rules that governed sexual
behaviour and the roles of men and women in society. You would be punished on earth and afterlife
if you didn’t follow the rules. Taoism: sexual intercourse is the balance between yin (female energy)
and yang (male energy). Media played an important role in showing controversial things, opened the
world of online dating, cybersex.
Biological and evolutionary influences:
All behaviour is biologically caused. Biological factor are about genes or hormone levels influences a
brain. Evolutionary influences are about animals who act the same in sex as humans do.
MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON HUMAN SEXUALITY
Psychoanalytic theory
Freud believed that human behaviour was driven by sex (libido) and death (thanatos). The id contains
the libido. Freud proposed an elaborate theory of psychosexual development: oral, anal, phallic,
latent and genital. If a child does not pass through all of the stages, it can be fixated on a stage.
Oedipus complex in boys (sexual desire for one’s mother and hatred for one’s father) and penis
envy/electra complex in girls (psychological traumatization due to the lack of a penis or sexual desire
for one’s father). The theory can’t be tested scientifically, because its based on case reports and
sexism.
Cognitive-behavioural and Learning Theories
Classical conditioning (dirty talk and touching the genitals). Operant conditioning, reinforcements are
more effective than punishments (reparative therapy is changing a sexual orientation through
punishment does not work). Social or observational learning approach is the idea that behaviour is
acquired through simple observation of other’s activities (Bobo experiment/als je ziet dat mensen
popular worden door seksueel actief te zijn of bv de media). Porno is not always normal and the bad
consequences aren’t always shown.
Exchange Theories
A relationship is about giving and taking. To determine whether outcomes are good, we hold them up
to some comparison level. The value of female sexuality is higher than male sexuality.
Personality Theories
The BIG-5 influences sexual behaviour. High openness leads to lower sexual anxiety. Low
conscientiousness is linked to unprotected sex. Low agreeableness is linked to having casual sex with
someone other than a romantic partner. High extraversion is linked to having more sexual partners.
High neuroticism is linked to risky and unprotected sex. Erotophilia and erotophobia are positive
against negative emotions toward sex. People who have fewer dopamine receptors are more
sensation seeking, which lead to more sexual risks, bedpartner and unprotected sex. Sociosexuality is
a person’s willingness to have sex in the absence of commitment and emotional connection.
Restricted people are looking for long-term relationships and unrestricted for long-term relationships.
Men are more unrestricted and woman more restricted. Genes and validity are limitations.
,Evolutionary Theory
Human beings have an inherent motivation to produce as many of their offspring as possible. This
leads to preferences for specific physical and psychological characteristics in partners that are likely to
result in successful reproduction. Heterosexual men are attracted to young hourglass-shaped woman
with long, silky hair. This indicates a healthy, fertile woman. The sexual strategies theory states that
there are different approaches to mating between men and woman. These different evolve because
of the parental investment required to produce a child. For woman is this way bigger then man, so
woman are looking for a men who will stick around and help raise the baby. A limitation is homo-
sexual, because you can’t reproduce.
THE PERSPECTIVE OF THIS TEXT
The essentialist theories view sexuality as an essential aspect of humans, rooted in evolution and
biology. Social constructionist theories view sexuality as a product of socialization and cultural
influences, that is largely learned. We will adopt a biopsychosocial perspective to take everything in.
Chapter 2: Sexology Research: History, Methods and
Ethics
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEXOLOGY
In the mid-nineteenth century, Heinrich Kaan and Richard von Krafft-Ebing, began publishing books
on sexual behaviour. In the twentieth century, Sigmund Freud began the psychoanalytic movement.
This increased the idea that a true understanding of sexual behaviour rests with an in-depth
exploration of human psychology. The Freudian approach relied on clinical patients, but this was not
satisfying enough, so sex moved into the laboratory. There was still a negative attitude on sex
research, so there was a high level of secrecy and a lack of formal oversight, which led to ethical
lapses. Kinsley made the study of human sexuality public. His study had a biological standpoint. The
popularity of Masters and Johnson's books, coupled with the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s,
moved the study of human sexuality further into the open.
SEXOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
A survey, direct observation, case report and an experiment are sexology research methods.
SAMPLE SELECTION
In a research, a researcher chooses a target population and then a sample. They can recruit a
convenience sample, which consist of individuals who are most readily accessible for research
purposes. An advantage is that you can complete a study quickly and easily, but a limitation is if the
sample is representative enough. A random selection involves identifying all members of the target
population and contacting a subset of them at random to participate.
NONEXPERIMENTAL R ESEARCH
Surveys:
People are asked to report on their own sexual attitudes and practices in a survey research. An
advantage of the survey method is that data can be collected quickly and easily from large numbers
of people. Another advantage is that there are multiple methods of administration and researchers
can choose the one that best fits their budget and needs. A limitation is nonresponse, self-selection,
socially desirable responding and finally it is important that the overall quality of a survey depends
upon the quality of the individual questions and how they are organized. Here are a few examples of
major sex surveys:
The Kinsey reports: his goal was to provide the first comprehensive examination of men’s and
women’s sexual behaviour. He collected data during face-to-face interview sessions, but had a lack of
diversity.
The National Health and Social Life Survey: the NHSLS came as a response to the AIDS crisis. The
government recognized that our knowledge of sexuality was extremely limited.
, The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behaviour: American sexuality had changed since the
NHSLS. Medications for sexual dysfunction have been introduced, online dating and hooking up have
become common and societal attitudes toward homosexuality have become more accepting.
Other prominent sex surveys: The Natsal is a British study that has taken place every ten years since
1990 as well as the Australian Study of Health and Relationships, which was administered in 2001
and 2013.
Direct Observation:
A limitation of sex surveys is not providing accurate descriptions. To get around this issue, direct
observation is used. The major strength is that it takes a number of response biases out of the
picture. Another benefit is that it can be filmed. A drawback is that not every person is willing to have
sex on camera or in front of a researcher. So self-selection is a big concern another concern is
reactivity, which refers to the idea that participants alter their behaviour when others are present.
The Research of Masters and Johson is the most famous and well-known example of observational
research. They sought to understand how bodies respond to sexual stimulation. They had subjects
engage in sexual activities in their lab while pieces of technology recorded the changes in their
bodies. A penile strain gauge was used to measure changes in penile circumference. A vaginal
photoplethysmography is used to measure female sexual arousal and works with light. Thermal
imaging is a newer technology that measures temperature changes with thermal cameras. A concern
is that while a person’s genital may shows signs of arousal, the individual may not feel aroused
psychologically. fMRI is used to see if brain areas respond when individuals are turned on or
experience orgasm. Men and women show activation of the amygdala and men in the hypothalamus.
Those are part of the limbic system, which helps regulate sexual behaviour.
Case Reports:
One participant or a small group of participants is studies in a case report. The major strength is the
depth of information about an unusual subject however, case reports are of limited value from the
standpoint that they sample either a single individual or a very small group who are not
representative of the broader population.
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
A Sample Sexperiment:
The only way an cause and effect can be established is to conduct an experiment. An example is a
study conducted by Galliot and Baumeister. They wanted to examine the link between self-control
and sexual behaviour. They wanted to see whether depletion of self-control affects how people
behave sexually. Couples were assigned to the depletion condition (watching a silent video with
words flashing for a few seconds while being asked to refrain from looking at the words) and the no-
depletion condition (there were no instructions). The dependent variable was the extent of the
couple’s sexual behaviour after watching the video. Results indicated that participant in the depletion
condition acted in sexual behaviour.
Strengths and Limitations of the Experimental Method:
A major strength of experiments is the ability to control variables and making claims about causality.
Experiment aren’t always a viable option for sexology studies because certain research questions
don’t lend themselves readily to this method.
A NOTE ON STATISTICS
Incidence and Prevalence:
Incidence refers to the rate at which new cases of a problem or disease occur. It is usually expressed
as the number of new cases that appeared in a given time divided by the total size of the population.
Prevalence is a broader measure of the total number of people who are currently afflicted with a
given problem or disease
ETHICS IN SEXOLOGY R ESEARCH
In Humphreys’ Tearoom Trade Study was the motivation to have anonymous sexual encounters with
other men in public restrooms studied. He visited a number of tearooms, where he volunteered to be
on the lookout for men who wanted to have a sexual encounter in a stall. Afterwards he followed the
men to their cars and recorded their license plate number. One year later, he tracked them town and
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