Chapter 2: Human Sexuality Theories

Egypt approx 110 B.C.

Erotic images found on carvings and papyrus. Temple prostitutes would have sex with pagan worshippers as sex was seen as a connection to the spirit

Greeks 1000-200 B.C.

Pedastery was commonly practiced, which is when an older man would mentor a postpubescent boy in his studies and in his sexual development.

Hebrews 1000-200 B.C.

Hebrew Bible outlines the rules around sexual behavior. Adultery and homosexuality between men (women are not mentioned) were both viewed as being wrong.

India 400 B.C.

The Kamasutra is an erotic text that is detailed manual meticulously containing information about any sexual position, love, family life, and moral frameworks. Sexuality and spirituality were viewed as connected.

China 200 B.C.

Balance and harmony between all parts of nature are the core of Taoist and Confucian thought. Yin (female essence) was viewed as endless, whereas yang (male essence contained in semen) needed to be controlled and maintained through prolonged contact with yin.

Sociobiology

The application of evolutionary biology to understanding social behaviors of animals, including humans

Evolutionary Psychology

The study of psychological mechanisms that have been shaped by natural selection

Evolution

Subtle changes occur over generations that influence how all living things where in the past, are in the present and will become in the future, as genes are past down from parents to offspring.

Natural selection

Evolution occurs through this process; plants and animals that are better suited for their particular environment have the greatest chance of passing on their genes.

Sociobiology and evolutionary psychology assert the following

-We are attracted to what signifies producing healthy offspring

-Parents bond emotionally because, if they stay together, their children have higher rates of survival

Sexual selection

Differences in males and females to increase competition; males will compete with other males and females will provide preferential treatment to whom they deem the most genetically fit to reproduce with

Libido

"sex energy or sex drive"

Id

Contains libido and operates off of the pleasure principle; if unchecked, would give in to all temptations and desires imaginable

Ego

reality principle; navigates between the id and superego to help us decide our final course of action

Superego

Contains the values and ideals of the society that we learned

Erogenous zones

Areas of the body that are a focus of our libidinal energy will cause us to become aroused when they are touched in certain ways

Stages of Psychosexual Development

Oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital

Oedipus and Electra Complexes

We have an innate competition with our same-sex parent and have a sexual attraction to our opposite-sex parent through adolescence

For boys (Oedipus Complex)

Castration anxiety, or a fear of having their penis cut off by their father causes them to shift from competing to identifying with their father and taking on his gender role in society

For girls (Electra Complex)

They experience penis envy in that they wish that they too could have a penis. In this realization that they cannot have a penis, they begin to desire to be impregnated by their father. Since girls have already lost their penis, women will live their lives stunted and less developed than men

Classical Conditioning

A neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus in order to produce an unconditioned response

Operant Conditioning

Certain behaviors can be "reinforced" to support that they continue or "punished" to try to make them stop

Behavior Modification

Utilizing operant conditioning techniques to influence someone's behavior

Social Learning Theory

Imitation and identification are the two main processes in this; in other words, we seek to imitate those who we identify with

Self-Efficacy

A feeling of competence when engaging in a certain behavior; we more likely to engage in behaviors we have seen others practice and that we have practiced ourselves

Social Exchange Theory

This theory believes that people are hedonistic, meaning they are pleasure-seeking.

Schema

A general blueprint, framework or map that you have for some general concept

Feminist Theory

-Seeks to call attention and analyze the inequality of power in society regarding gender, especially challenge patriarchial bias

-Assert that male control over female sexuality leads to repression and depression amongst people in these types of socieites

-Analyzes the development and continuation of restrictive gender roles

Queer Theory

-Challenges binaries, such as sexuality and gender

-Challenges heteronormativity, which is belief that being straight (or heterosexual) is what is normative and natural.

Sociological Theories

-Role Taking

-Sexual Scripts

-Sexual Fields

-Social Institutions

Role Taking

Viewing ourselves from the perspectives of others in order to predict and meet their needs and achieve our goals

Sexual Scripts

Think of this as a script you were asked to perform in a theater play, except this is a script that you believe is how you should behave sexually in your real life based on the messages you have received from the directors of the play

Sexual Fields

Context is important; invisible social boundaries exist that influence our behavior

Social Institutions

Religion, economy, family, medicine, and law; these institutions then regulate our sexuality in various ways to uphold the norms in a given society