This is a summary for the course “Psychology of Sexuality”! It includes the lectures, all additional information of the exam-relevant book chapters, and a summary of the chimpanzee / bonobo video.
I created this summary when I took the course last year and finished the exam with an 8.5. ...
College aantekeningen Psychology of Sexuality (SOW-PSB3FE10E) The Psychology of Human Sexuality
All for this textbook (2)
Written for
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (RU)
Psychologie
Psychology Of Sexuality (SOWPSB3FE10E)
All documents for this subject (22)
Seller
Follow
alinaf
Content preview
Lecture 1 - Introduction | Chapter 1
Three perspectives on sexuality
• Biological
→ We all have a body
• Social and cultural
→ We all grow up in a cultural and social setting
• Psychological
• Stable
→ Remains same most of the time (personality, learned associations & attitudes)
• Fluctuating / transitory
→ Can change from moment to moment (mood, cognitive distraction)
Applied Clinical
→ A sexual relationship can go wrong and cause certain mental issues
Different associations with the word sex
→ Love, intimacy are the top runners, followed by pleasure and fun, and then after a wider gap
with passion, gender, intercourse, reproduction and orgasm
Positive associations
• At age 25, 81% of dutch youngsters has had a sexual experience (with 90% of the young
women and 94% of the young men enjoying it)
What is sex?
• Wikipedia:
Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behavior is the manner in
which humans experience and express their sexuality
• Oxford dictionary:
Sex = Sexual activity, including specifically sexual intercourse. Sexuality = Sexual activity
• YourDictionary:
Sex = Any function or behavior involved with reproduction
• Go Ask Alice:
Sex = The birds and the bees. Getting it on
1 of 88
,Definition of Sex(uality)
Sexuality is about all sensory perceptions, emotions and cognitions that someone associated with
physical sexual arousal, and that leads to sexual desire and / or behavior
How do people have sex?
• Not at all:
• Asexuality (no sexual desire at all)
• 1% of the population
• Sexual orientation
• Masturbation for instance only directed at non-sexual goals
• Sex only to e.g. please partner
• Voluntary celibacy (complete or partial)
• Wait till marriage
• Wait until they are in a stable relationship
• Involuntary celibacy
• Partner is in military and not physically present
• Physical disability
• Psychological disorder
• Partner has no desire for sex anymore but you do
• Incel: exclusively male, want to have sex but cannot find a sex partner, misogynistic,
not rarely act out in aggressive behaviors, feel entitled to have sex
• Solitary sexual behaviors:
• Sexual fantasy → any mental picture that comes to mind when you’re awake and that
ultimately turns you on
• Sensual masturbation fantasy (Freud): masturbate on something over and over again
• Freud also hypothesized that only unhappy people fantasize = wrong!
• Most common:
• Multipartner sex
• BDSM: bondage, discipline, submission, sadism, and masochism
• Novelty, adventure and variety
• Men more likely to have fantasies about group sex
• Women slightly more likely to have fantasies containing romance
• BUT gender differences are very small / might also be simply of cultural nature
• Masturbation
•Masturbation more common in
men
•Also more common in higher
educated folks
• Partnered sexual behaviors
• Sex is only sex if all partners consent. No consent = sexual assault or rape
• Kissing
• Seen especially in western culture (most highly respected form of sexual display)
2 of 88
, • Some tribes see it as disgusting
• Touching (tribadism)
• Tribadism: rubbing genitals against one another
• Oral sex (fellatio/cunnilingus)
• More popular among younger people
• Not universal = some cultures consider it as unclean
• Anal sex (intercourse or anilingus)
• Often associated with gay men even though they rely more heavily on mutual
masturbation and oral sex
• Vaginal intercourse (coitus)
• Amazon or Coital Alignemt position = most likely orgasm for woman
How do people have coitus?
• Four/Five basic positions (most popular, best known)
→ Missionary, cowgirl, CAT, doggystyle, spooning
• There is more, but is that considered sex as well?
• (US) Baseball metaphor → Base 1 (kissing), Base 2 (touching above waist), Base 3 (touching
below the waist), Base 4 (sex)
How do heterosexual people define having sex?
• Sex is more often defined as sex when it involves penile penetration (e.g. anal intercourse,
penile-vaginal intercourse)
• Dutch College students already define e.g. mutual stimulation or oral stimulation as sex while
US students mostly define the actual “intercourse” as sex
How do homosexual people define having sex?
• Homosexual men mostly define sex as actions including penile and/or oral stimulation
• Homosexual women define sex more widely, e.g. including manual genital stimulation
Former Beliefs about sex
For centuries the idea has been that sex is:
• Hetero sexual penis-vagina coitus
• An act in which the man has an orgasm (and the woman does not)
• Within a monogamous relationship (preferably marriage)
• With the aim of reproduction
What is sex?
• According to Queen Victoria (1819-1901) → An act in which the woman should just lie back and
think of England = Nothing pleasurable, just something that has to be done
• Bill Clinton claimed to not have had sex with Monica Lewinsky because he “just” received a
blowjob
→ If that statement is truthful depends on the definition of sex and which action is set as “cut-
off” point
3 of 88
,Theories (Book)
Cognitive-Behavioral & Learning Theory
• Behavior is learned through experience
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant conditioning
→ Often used in conversion therapy
• Social learning
Exchange Theories
• Relationships are based on the exchange of goods between partners
• When these exchanges result in high profits and low losses, it’s more likely that the
relationship will be maintained
• female sexuality has more value than male sexuality because
• There are more men who are interested in sex at that moment than women
• Women also tend to be less interested in casual sex
• Female sexuality is in limited supply (reflected in prostitution)
• “Sex is aced upon in a heterosexual social exchange, the women is more inclined to
offer it than the man”
• Major limitation: Not all relations are based on cost-benefit ration and there is not room
for altruism here
Personality Theories
• Deals with the relatively stable intrapsychic factors that generate consistent patterns of
behavior
• Big five
• High openness → lower sexual anxiety
• Low conscientiousness → unprotected sex and combining alcohol and drugs with sex
• Low agreeableness → casual sex and combining alcohol and drugs with sex
• High and low levels of interpersonal warmth → many sexual partners
• High extraversion → more sexual partners and sexual risk taking
• Distinction between Erotophilia and Erotophobia
• Erotophilia → Tendency to experience strong positive emotions and attitudes towards
sex
• Erotophobia → Tendency to experience strong negative emotions and attitudes
towards sex
• Sensation seeking
• Tends to involve exciting and risky activities
• Sensitivity to dopamine is important
• High score: more sexual risks, more sexual partners, more unsafe sex
• Sociosexuality
• Willingness to have sex without commitment or emotional connection with the sex
partner
4 of 88
, • Restrictive sociosexuality → people need a connection with the partner during sex and
more likely seek long term relationships
• Men are more unrestrictive and women are more restrictive
Evolutionary Theory
• People tend to produce as many offspring as possible
• To help us with this goal, we have gradually developed preferences for certain physical
and psychological characteristics which increase the chance of successful
reproduction
• Can often be unconscious signs which prove that a person is healthy
• men and women have different approaches towards reproduction
• Men → the more the merrier (kids and partners)
• Women → less, and rather have a reliable partner which increases the chances for the
offspring to survive
5 of 88
, Lecture 2 - Views on Sexuality | Chapter 1 & 2
Why humans have sex
• Procreation: Sex for reproduction
• Sex is heterosexual coitus, aimed at passing on genes
• Recreation: Sex is for pleasure
• Sex is any behavior - solo or with partner - focused on satisfying sexual desire
• Relation: Sex to confirm an intimate relationship
• Sex is any behavior with a partner focused on creating or strengthening an emotional bond
• Scare research: 2007 study found 237 reasons
The differences for men and women are small
• Slight differences indicate:
• Men: Slightly (!) more directed towards the physical arousal part
• Women: Slightly (!) more directed towards the emotional component
6 of 88
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller alinaf. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $6.51. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
