Lecture 10 - Sexual Behaviour Flashcards

Question

Sexual Desire around ovulation

Answer 1

● Do females have higher sexual desire around ovulation? ● Used saliva to measure hormones ● Looked at self-reports of sexual desire and self-reports of sexual behavior ● Increase in progesterone → occurs after ovulation, moving out of receptive period ● As progesterone increases, sexual desire decreases ○ Sexual desire is reduced with progesterone which is indicative of the luteal phase ● Increase in estradiol might increase some sexual behavior ○ But data is not super clean ○ Sexual activity increases 24-48 hours following a peak in estradiol ○ Why the delay? Estradiol has relatively slow genomic effects ■ E has to change protein production in order to have effects (think about the direct mechanism of action that steroid hormones use) -must change protein production via gene expression and this takes time

Answer 2

● 18 women working at strip club ● Within subject design, women were the control for themselves ● Study lasted 60 days ● Women self-reported menstrual cycle and daily tips ● Looked at the amount of money earned per shift across the cycle ○ During most fertile period: women made more money ● Split women into 2 groups: naturally cycling vs those using oral contraceptives ○ Much less variability in those who use oral contraceptives (don’t have the same fluctuations in ovarian hormones, birth control works by preventing the peak in estradiol which causes ovulation) ● Authors suggested that men may be able to detect a receptive period ○ They tip more during this phase so maybe they find women more attractive during it ● However, it could be that women behave differently at different points in the cycle and not that men can detect ovulation Because this was a within participant design, it is not confounded by individual differences such as attractiveness

Answer 3

● Measure how the smell of a women’s t-shirt might alter male’s testosterone levels ● Debate over whether human pheromones exist ○ Pheromones: olfactory cues that indicate info to another member of the same species, present in rodents and other mammals ○ Not sure if humans are able to detect scent cues and pass information to other humans using them ● Had four women wear t-shirts for 2 nights during different phases of their menstrual cycle ○ 13-15 days after menstruation (approximately the time of ovulation) → follicular phase ○ 20-22 days after menstruation → beginning of luteal phase ● Control: t-shirts not worn by anyone ● Methods ○ All t-shirts were new and washed in odorless soap ○ T-shirts were put in the freezer in an odor-protecting ziplock bag ○ Women had to wash their bed covers in odorless soap each night ○ Given odorless shampoo and body wash to use ○ Were not supposed to smoke, wear perfume, or use deodorant ○ Were not supposed to have someone else sleep in the bed with them nor engage in any sexual activity ● Had 37 men come into lab ○ All men self-reported as heterosexual ○ Took initial testosterone levels ○ Had men smell the t-shirts ○ Took another testosterone measurement ● Observed greater levels of testosterone in men who smelled shirts worn by women when they were ovulating ● Observed a rise and fall in testosterone elicited by t-shirts based on when women were ovulating ● Suggests that smell/pheromones contribute to men’s abilities to determine ovulation in females ● Men also rated the odor from t-shirts worn by women who were ovulating as more pleasant

Answer 4

- If males respond to female pheromones (axillary odours) do females respond to males? - 4,16-androstadien-3-one (AND) and estra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol (EST) - PET scans of blood flow – women + AND increased flow to ventromedial and preoptic, men + EST increased paraventricular and dorsomedial - Other studies: women rate higher T men as more attractive - Male axillary smell increases LH release

Answer 5

- Homo males respond similarly to AND as Hetero females - Homo females respond similarly to EST as Hetero Males -No observable increase in hypothalamic blood flow to EST in Homo Males or AND in Homo Females

Answer 6

- Female sexual desire changes across the month - More desire and activity when estrogen levels are high - Altered voice and dress (attractivity) - Males are more attracted to women when fertile - Partially based on smell - T levels increase, linked to consummatory sexual behavior -Suggests that there is a human version of estrus! - Do not confuse biological increase in sex drive as consent - Human psychological capacity greater than other mammals so sexual behavior less governed by biological drive - Why sex occurs across the cycle