Human Sexuality Ch.1 - Ch.4

Note that when the definition is numbered using (1) and (2), that doesn't necessarily mean completely separate definitions - usually it's because the textbook gave two definitions in which the phrasing was different enough for me to include both, or Dr. Mollie had a differnent definition in her lecture.

sex

a term referring to either sexual anatomy or sexual behavior

gender

a term referring to the state of being male, female, or some other identity

sexual behavior

a term referring to anything that produces arousal and increases chance of orgasm

Ancient Greeks

This historical group/culture openly acknowledged and participated in homosexuality and heterosexuality, and even had a myth that influenced their perceptions of gender and attraction.

15th century Christians

This historical group/culture believed that “nocturnal emissions” (wet dreams) resulted from intercourse with spirits.

Hindus

This religious group has stressed sexual pleasure and has a prominent religious text that is mostly about the philosophy of sexuality.

Muslims

This religious group has, over the centuries, believed that sexual intercourse within marriage was one of life’s finest pleasures.

19th century

When did the scientific study of sex begin?

economic significance

Why was women’s chastity so heavily protected?

Sigmund Freud

a Viennese physician that founded psychoanalysis and psychiatry; interested in sexual development in the Victorian era

Henry Havelock Ellis

a sexual reformer that believed sexual deviations from the norm were often harmless and urged society to accept sexual deviations; believed women were sexual creatures

Richard von Krafft-Ebing

German psychiatrist and author of Psychopathia Sexualis in 1892; coined the terms “sadism”, “masochism”, “pedophilia”, “homosexuality”, and “heterosexuality”

Magnus Hirschfield

German homosexual transvestite and the first researcher to begin a sex research institute; conducted the first large-scale sex survey of over 10,000 people; coined the term “transvestite”

Alfred Kinsey

American sexologist/biologist/professor who founded a sex research institute in Indiana in the 1940s; believed that heterosexuality and homosexuality were on a continuum rather than being dichotomous, and created a scale of this for his interviews

Masters and Johnson

a research team that studied the sexual response cycle

cultivation theory

the theory that people begin to think that what they see on TV and in other media really represents the mainstream of what happens in real life in our culture

agenda setting or framing theory

a theory in which the media draws attention to certain topics and not to others, suggesting how we should think about or frame the issues

social cognitive theory

a broad theory that analyzes how the media influences our behavior, thoughts, and affect (emotions) through processes such as modeling, imitation, and identification

social learning

when people mimic or imitate the behavior they see on TV or in other media; based on operant conditioning

selectivity

the principle that people select and pay attention to certain media and their messages, and not to others

reinforcing spiral theory

the theory that one’s social identities and ideologies predict one’s media use and, in turn, media use affects our identity and beliefs

differential susceptibility model

the notion that some people are more susceptible than others to certain types of media

culture

(1) a term that refers to the traditional ideas and values transmitted to a group which influence patterns of behavior

(2) the part of the environment created by humans, including the set of meanings that a group adopts, which facilitate social coordination and clarify where boundaries between groups lie

individualistic cultures

cultures that stress independence and autonomy and the individual rights of people

collectivistic cultures

cultures that emphasize interdependence and connections among people

honor cultures

cultures that stress individuals’ reputation and the respect that people show towards others

ethnocentrism

(1) the tendency to regard one’s own culture as superior

(2) the belief that its own customs are the standard by which other cultures should be judged

incest taboos

a societal regulation prohibiting sexual interaction between blood relatives

machismo

“maleness” or “virility”; Latin American cultural code which mandates that the man must be responsible for the well-being and honor of his family, but in extreme forms it also means tolerating men’s sexual infidelities

familismo

Latinx cultural value that emphasizes the importance of family (nuclear and extended) in matters such as support, loyalty, solidarity, and family honor

historical trauma

(1) a term that refers to cumulative psychological wounding over generations as a result of massive group trauma

(2) pattern of intergenerational transmission of the effects of the trauma; effects can include depression and anxiety

racial microaggressions

subtle insults directed at people of color, often done non-consciously

human uniqueness

the idea that sexual behavior is more instinctively controlled among lower species and more controlled by the brain in higher species

sexual health

a term referring to the state of physical, emotional, mental, and social wellbeing in relation to sexuality

sexual rights

basic, inalienable rights regarding sexuality; generally, these include rights to reproductive self-determination, the right to sexual self-expression, and freedom from sexual abuse and violence

negative rights

freedoms from something (i.e. from sexual violence)

positive rights

freedoms to something (i.e. to experience sexual pleasure, to express one’s sexuality with same-gender partners)

sociobiology

application of evolutionary biology to understand the social behavior of animals, including humans

evolution

the theory that all living things have acquired their present forms through gradual changes in their genetic endowment over successive generations

natural selection

a process by which animals that are best adapted to their environment are more likely to survive, reproduce and pass genes to the next generation

parental investment

behavior and resources invested by parents to achieve the survival and reproductive success of their genetic offspring

sexual selection

competition between members of one gender (usually male); preferential choice by members of one gender (usually female)

evolutionary psychology

the study of psychological mechanisms that have been shaped by natural selection; assumes that every characteristic we observe must have some adaptive significance

psychoanalytic theory

a psychological theory originated by Sigmund Freud that contains a basic assumption that part of the human personality is unconscious

libido

a term coined by Sigmund Freud that refers to the sex drive or sex energy, one of the two major forces motivating human behavior (the other being the death instinct)

thanatos

a term used by Sigmund Freud that refers to the death instinct, one of the two major forces motivating human behavior (the other being the sex instinct)

id

according to Freud, the basic part of the personality that is present at birth and operates on the pleasure principle (can thus be pretty irrational)

ego

according to Freud, the part of the personality that operates on the reality principle and tries to keep the basic, pleasure principle-based part of the personality in line; makes the person have realistic, rational interactions with others

superego

according to Freud, the conscience; the part of the personality that contains the values and ideals of society that we learn and operates on idealism; aims to inhibit the impulses of the pleasure-principle part of the personality and persuade the realistic-principle part of the personality to strive for moral goods rather than just realistic ones

erogenous zones

a part of the skin or mucous membrane that is extremely sensitive to stimulation; touching it in certain ways produces feelings of pleasure

oral stage

the 1st of Freud’s stages of early psychosexual development, lasting from birth to about 1 year of age, where the child’s chief pleasure is derived from sucking and otherwise stimulating the lips and mouth

anal stage

the 2nd of Freud’s stages of early psychosexual development, occurring approximately during the second year of life, in which the child’s interest is focused on elimination/defecation

anal retentive personality

a personality type described by Freud as a result of early or harsh potty training in the second stage of early psychosexual development; adult traits include being obsessively tidy, punctual, respectful of authority, stubborn, and possessive over their money and belongings

anal expulsive

a personality type described by Freud as a result of liberal potty training during the second stage of early psychosexual development; adult traits include oversharing, giving things away, and being messy, disorganized, and rebellious

phallic stage

the 3rd of Freud’s stages of early psychosexual development, lasting from ages 3-5 or 6, in which the boy’s interest is focused on his phallus and the girl feels cheated and suffers from penis envy

penis envy

according to Freud, when girls begins to feel envious and cheated at not having a penis during the third stage of early psychosexual development and therefore wants to have a penis

Oedipus complex

term originating from Freud referring to the sexual attraction a boy feels towards his mother during the third stage of early psychosexual development, which results in the boy’s perception of his father as a rival, becoming hostile towards him before eventually developing castration anxiety; name comes from the Greek myth of a man who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother

castration anxiety

according to Freud, a boy’s fear that his father will cut off his penis for being sexually attracted to his mother and perceiving his father as a rival for her affection; becomes so severe that the boy stops desiring his mother and begins taking on his father’s gender role and acquiring the characteristics expected of males by society

Electra complex

term originating from Freud referring to a girl’s sexual attraction towards her father during the third stage of early psychosexual development; results from her desires to be impregnated by her father to substitute for her not having a penis; name comes from a woman from Greek myth that kills her mother and her mother’s lover as vengeance for her father

latency

the 4th of Freud’s stages of early psychosexual development, lasting until adolescence, in which sexual impulses are repressed or in a quiescent state

genital stage

the 5th of Freud’s stages of early psychosexual development, occurring during puberty, in which the child’s sexual urges reawaken; sexual urges become more specifically genital, and the oral, anal, and genital urges all fuse together to promote the biological function of reproduction

classical conditioning

when a conditioned stimulus is paired with an original, unconditioned stimulus

operant conditioning

when a person is more likely to repeat a behavior if it is rewarded (reinforcement)

behavior modification

involves a set of techniques used to change a behavior

social constructionist viewpoint

a perspective that emerged in 1990 that calls our attention to the fact that the various behaviors and types or people are social constructions; categories are developed by groups and subcultures and then applied to objects in the world around them

social exchange theory

a theory based on the principle of reinforcement that assumes that people will choose actions that maximize rewards and minimize costs

comparison level for alternatives

a principle of social exchange theory in which one compares the profits one relationship provides over other relationships

equity

a principle of social exchange theory in which one believes rewards are proportionate to costs in a relationship

matching hypothesis

a principle of social exchange theory in which men and women choose mates who match them on physical and social characteristics

cognitive theory

(1) the study of the way people perceive and think

(2) the theory that what we think influences how we feel

gender schema theory

the theory that schemas predispose us to process information based on gender

gender schemas

a set of attributes that we associate with males and females

feminist theory

the theory that states the following points:

• gender signals status in a culture and is an expression of inequality

• women’s sexuality has been repressed and depressed, but rarely expressed

• gender roles restrict people

• intersectionality

• performativity

intersectionality

an approach that says we should simultaneously consider a person’s multiple group memberships and identities, including gender, race, social class, and sexual orientation

performativity

ways in which we perform gender or sexuality based on society’s norms

queer theory

a theory that:

• questions the socially determined categorization of sexuality and gender

• questions the sexual orientation binary

• questions the gender binary

• argues that sexual identities are not fixed and may display fluidity

• questions what is categorized as peculiar and what is not

• argues that social norms privilege heterosexuality and marginalize other sexual orientations

heteronormativity

the belief that heterosexuality is the only pattern of sexuality that is normal and natural

critical race theory

a theoretical framework that can be used to examine the ways in which race and racism have an impact on social structures and institutions

symbolic interaction theory

a theory based on the premise that human behavior and the social order are products of communication among people

definition of the situation

the part of symbolic interaction theory which states that in order to fit actions together and achieve agreement, people must reaffirm old meanings or negotiate new ones

role taking

the process in social interaction when an individual imagines how they look from the other person’s view point

other-directed individuals

the perspective of role-taking in social interaction that portrays humans as being concerned primarily with meetings others’ standards

script theory

the theory/idea that sexual behavior is a result of elaborate prior learning that teaches us an etiquette of sexual behavior; tells us the meaning we should attach to particular sexual event

scripts

plans that people carry around in their heads for what they’re doing and what they’re going to do; devices for helping people remember what they have done in the past

sexual field

a site populated with people with erotic dispositions that they project on the space and each other

field theory

the theory that interactions within a sexual field reflect each actor’s desires, mediated by the acceptable modes of interaction and each actor’s status in that field

self-reports

a method for measuring sexuality in which participants are asked questions about sexual behavior and attitudes through paper questionnaires, interviews, and online; the most common method for measuring sexuality

direct observation

a behavioral measure of sexuality in which scientists directly observe behavior and record it

eye tracking

a behavioral measure of sexuality in which participants wear a(n) device that measures their point of gaze over time, as they are shown pictures on a computer

police reports

a behavioral measure of sexuality used to study illegal sexual behaviors

Implicit Association Test (IAT)

a method used to measure implicit stereotypes that measures an individual’s relative strength of association between different pairs of concepts; reaction time is measured in milliseconds; the quicker the reaction, the stronger the association

genital measures

a biological measure of sexual response that assesses arousal by using devices that measure erection in males and vaginal changes in females

penile plethysmography

a test in which a flexible loop is placed around the penis that measures changes in circumference in order to assess arousal

vaginal photoplethysmograph

a test used to optically measure blood flow to the vagina in order to assess arousal

MRI

a test that looks at anatomy, such as the size or shape of specific brain regions or the genitals, by using magnets to send and receive signals that give information while participants lie in the center of the magnet (scanner); noninvasive and provides good contrast between soft tissues of the body

functional MRI

a test that looks at brain activity by measuring relative levels of blood flow; depends on contrasting the difference between two stimuli

dilate

Our pupils ______ when we look at something that is especially interesting or arousing, or that puts a big load on our brain.

sampling

the act of identifying the appropriate population of people to be studied

random sampling

a sample in which each member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample

probability sampling

a sample in which each member of the population has a known likelihood of being included in the sample