Chapter 2 - Theoretical perspectives on sexuality Flashcards
What are the evolutionary theories of sexuality? (+ who developed them)
Sociobiology (E.O. Wilson)
Evolutionary Psychology (Buss)
Gender-Neutral Evolutionary Psychology (Gowaty)
What are the psychological theories of sexuality? (+ who developed them)
Psychoanalysis (Freud)
Learning Theory (Skinner)
Social Learning (Bandura)
Social exchange theory (Cook & Rice)
Cognitive Theory (Beck)
Gender Schema Theory (Bem)
What are the critical theories of sexuality? (+ who developed them)
Constructionist (Thomas Kuhn)
- Feminist Theory
- Perfomativity
- Symbolic interaction Theory
- Queer Theory
What are the sociological theories of sexuality?
Sexual Scripts
Social Institutions
What is sociobiology?
Some social and individual behaviours are partly inherited & affected by natural selection (genes)
Just like animals in the wild.
Courtship - prowess
Selection of healthy mates
pair bonding & attachment - (things that increase child survival)
males compete, females select
*Ignores cultural influences
What is Evolutionary psychology?
Psychological mechanisms are evolutionary. (mental dispositions change, not genes)
Just like sociobiology but:
- Motives change for short VS Long term relationships
- gender/personality differences (women more likely to compete/degrade among themselves)
Comparisons to ancient civilizations suggest that the psychological mechanisms involved in choosing mate change through time (aka, evolved to accommodate to environment)
What is gender-neutral evolutionary psychology?
Like evolutionary psychology but men will look for in women what women look for in men etc.
What is psychoanalytic theory?
Parts of the human personality is unconscious (ID, Ego, Superego) And that these aspects are what decides sexual partners.
^ motivated by Libido: sex energy/sex drive
- Endogenous zones
- Psychosexual stages of development
determinants of sexual preferences are made during childhood
What are endogenous zones?
part of skin or mucous membrane extremely sensitive to stimulation (fondling of which leads to pleasure)
ex. lips, mouth, genitals, rectum, anus…
What are the psychosexual stages of development
Oral (0-2)
Anal (2-3)
Phallic (3-7) - discover gender identity (oedipus and Electra complex: wanting to be with own mother/father respectively)
Latency (7-11)
Genital (11-adulthood)
Criticisms of the psychoanalytic theory
Can not be empirically researched (it’s all theoretical understandings of cognitive processes)
The data was mostly collected from Freud’s patients (therefore probably more descriptive of discrepancies than the general public)
did not put enough emphasis on environment and learning
What is learning theory?
Adds onto the idea that a lot of sexual behaviour is biologically controlled.
Classical conditioning of preferences and fetishes (if you have positive sexual experiences while smelling a cologne you may grow to get horny when you smell it)
Operational conditioning (if women frequently experiences pain during sex they may want to have less sex)
- Liking habituates
- Wanting sensitizes
Sexual behaviour can be learned at any point in life.
What is social learning?
We learn through imitation of others (ex. most young girls will imitate their mothers at a young age)
Try romance techniques you observe and stop using if they don’t work.
All of this is motivated by self-efficacy (to get what you want, as sense of self-fulfillment)
What is social exchange theory?
Based on principle of reinforcement: ppl will choose actions that maximize rewards and minimize costs
We are hedonistic (want the most out of it) so we are trying to get the best deal
Equity (my input = my output)
Equality (we get equal benefit)
What are some criticisms of the social exchange theory?
there can be economic limitations (even if it’s unbalanced people might be economically obligated to remain together)
Does not take into consideration love (which could make a relationship work even if the exchanges are uneven)
