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Psychosocial = psychological + social factors
• Psychological domains = affect, behavior, cognition
• Awareness = self-awareness + other-awareness
• Socialization = learning norms and traditions
• Well-being = objective + subjective
• Well-being dimensions = physical, emotional, mental, material, social
Love – a complex emotional, cognitive, and social experience that promotes closeness or
cohesion toward someone.
• Intimacy – deep personal knowing and emotional closeness.
• Passion – the emotional and physical component of love associated with attraction and desire.
• Commitment – the decision to enter and maintain a loving relationship.
• Relationship – a social bond formed through communication and interaction
A. Psychodynamic view – highlights unconscious motives, eros and thanatos, and the influence of
early childhood attachment on later relationships.
• B. Color Wheel of Love – primary types: eros, philia, storge; secondary types: pragma, agape,
philautia.
• C. Triangular Model of Love – Sternberg’s three components: passion, intimacy, commitment.
• D. Romantic and Companionate Love – romantic love centers on intense passion, while
companionate love centers on deep intimacy and emotional closeness.
• E. Love Languages – ways people express and receive love: words of affirmation, touch, time,
gifts, acts of service.
Passion -infatuation
Intimacy only – liking
• Commitment only – empty love
• Passion + Intimacy – romantic love
• Passion + Commitment – ludic love
• Intimacy + Commitment – friendly love
• Passion + Intimacy + Commitment – consummate love
Stages of Intimate Relationships
• 1. Acquaintance – people meet and attraction begins.
• 2. Buildup – interaction becomes more frequent; people share more activities and test
boundaries.
• 3. Consolidation or Continuation – people formalize commitment through exclusivity, domestic
partnership, or marriage.
• 4. Decline or Deterioration – commitment weakens due to changing priorities, infidelity, or
irreconcilable differences.
• 5. Ending or Termination – the relationship is dissolved informally or formally.
Sensorium – the totality of the human senses and perception.
• Olfaction – sense of smell.
• Tactile – anything related to touch.
• Pheromone – a substance believed to influence social behavior.
• Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) – a set of protein molecules associated with the
immune system and attraction in some studies.
Fight – confronting the danger directly.
• Flight – escaping from danger.
• Freeze – becoming unable to act for a moment.
Behavior may be overt (observable) or covert (not easily seen)
• Autoerotic behavior – self-directed sexual behavior, such as masturbation or self-stimulation.
• Homoerotic behavior – sexual behavior directed toward the same sex.
• Heterosexual behavior – sexual behavior directed toward the opposite sex.
• Copulatory behavior involves coitus, or penis-vagina penetration.
• Ventral-ventral position – male and female face each other.
• Ventral-dorsal position – male is behind the female.
• Non-copulatory behaviors include hugging, kissing, caressing, fellatio, cunnilingus, and anal
sexual activity
Sexual Response Cycle – Masters and Johnson
• 1. Excitement – males develop erection and elevated testes; females develop lubrication and
swelling of the clitoris and labia; both show increased heart rate.
• 2. Plateau – stimulation intensifies; in males the glans and corona enlarge and redden; in females
the vaginal walls expand and the orgasmic platform forms.
• 3. Orgasm – climax stage; in males ejaculation occurs through muscular contractions; in females
the vagina, uterus, and sphincters contract.
• 4. Resolution – the body returns to resting state.
Kaplan’s Model
• Desire – psychological interest in sexual activity.
• Arousal – physiological bodily changes due to sexual stimulation.
• Orgasm – completion of the response
Sexual Response Dysfunctions
• Sexual desire disorder – very low desire or aversion to sexual activity.
• Sexual arousal disorder – difficulty reaching the physical state needed for sexual activity.
• Orgasmic disorder – difficulty reaching orgasm.
• Sexual pain disorders – pain during sexual activity, such as dyspareunia or vaginismus.
Basic chain = belief attitude action