Psych Unit 1 and 2 Flashcards
Gender Definitions from Textbook:
Gender: being male or female or some other gender as trans
Sex: refers to sexual autonomy and sexual behavior
Gender Binary: the idea that there are only 2 genders (male and female)
Non-binary, Genderqueer, Genderfluid: use these terms to identify people beyond the gender binary
Sexual Behavior: behavior that produces arousal and increases the chance of orgasm
Gender Definitions from Lecture:
Gender: social identities and terms like woman, man, trans woman, genderqueer
Sex: biological characteristics and terms like female, male, AFAB, intersex
Gender Binary: idea that there are only 2 genders (male and female)
Sexual Behavior: behavior that produces arousal and increases the chance of orgasm
Etnocentricity
starts with the problem of ethnocentrism: when you think that your culture is superior to others and believe that your standards/customs are the right ones that other cultures should follow
- we want to avoid ethnocentrism
- we need to be mindful that we don’t add to stereotyping by examining other cultures
Examples of other culture’s sexuality
Inis Beag: island off the coast of Ireland
- one of the most sexually repressed countries in the world
Many people grow up having no knowledge of sexuality, sexual behavior, kissing…
Mangia: island off the South Pacific
They think sex is really important
- at age 13, boys are given a sexual partner and taught how to be good at sex
Girls get taught sex from older woman and are encouraged to have many sexual partners by their parents
The US on Sexuality
- tends to be conservative when it comes to sexuality
- this may be caused by the media
1950s and 60s:
- production code governed what shows could/couldn’t talk about
- ex: I Love Lucy - show
- until the show, people didn’t see someone on-screen who was pregnant
- they couldn’t say the word “pregnancy” - they had to say “expecting”
Race/Ethnic Group Variations in the US
- black women are less likely to engage in oral sex before intercourse than white women
- in general, each racial group engages in a similar amount of oral sex
Gender in other Cultures
Hijra: South Asia
- they aren’t in the 2 binary categories (male or female)
- they are in a third category
Fa’afafine: Samoa
- people who are male at birth choose to take on female identities when they grow up
2 Spirit: Indigenous North American Cultures
- they celebrate people who are 2-spirited (they have both masculine and feminine spirits)
- they don’t conform to traditional gender
Cross-Cultural and Theoretical Perspectives on Sexuality: Cultivation Theory
the more you are exposed to media, the more you think the content is right
- to what extent people can distinguish what is real and what isn’t real
ex: when people watch reality TV, they know the shows are scripted
ex: sometimes teenagers don’t know porn isn’t real
ex: people who watch a lot of crime shows start to think that the world is dangerous and there’s so much crime – they do this because they have watched so many crime shows
Cross-Cultural and Theoretical Perspectives on Sexuality: Framing Theory
the media picks which topics to cover and which topics to not cover
- the “framing” tells the public what is important and what’s not
ex: the media reports that intercourse has become casual hookups
- it makes people think that the majority do this, but in reality people are in relationships and don’t do this
Cross-Cultural and Theoretical Perspectives on Sexuality: Social Cognitive Theory
we try to imitate things we see in the media
Cross-Cultural and Theoretical Perspectives on Sexuality: Reinforcing Spiral Theory
social identities and ideologies predict what the media shows (selectivity) and that media shown affects our identity and beliefs
ex: if you’re black, you may follow more black influencers - they can shape your beliefs
- watching certain media causes certain behavior
ex: boys playing violent video games can cause them to be aggressive – also can be true that aggressive boys choose to watch violent video games
Cross-Cultural and Theoretical Perspectives on Sexuality: Differential Susceptibility Model
some people are more susceptible to media effects than others
ex: people who are high on the aggressive trait are more susceptible to/and influenced by violent media than other people
Evolutionary Theories: Sociobiology
explores evolutionary biological basis of behavior
evolution (Darwin): theory that all living things have acquired present changes in their genetic endowment over successive generations
- natural selection
- certain traits are better suited for survival and thus reproduction (camoflauge..)
sexual selection: organisms choose mates that they are attracted to based on the potential of having a successful offspring
ex: female birds pick the male bird with the longest tail
sexy sons hypothesis: females choose sexy mates to have an offspring with so their sons are sexy and thus have lots of options for mates
Evolutionary Theories: Evolutionary Psychology
focuses on psychological mechanisms that have been shaped by evolution
sexual strategies: BUSS
- men and women face different problems when they think about short-term mating and long-term mating
ex: a woman has problems so she picks short-term dating – someone with immediate resources like money
ex: a woman wants a long-term mate – someone with resources for the future
Evolutionary Theories: Gender Neutral Evolutionary Theory
responds to sexism in sociobiology and evolutionary psychology
- argues that the environment that people are in can vary throughout their lifetime
- instead of having fixed behaviors from evolution, it’s better to be flexible in their behaviors so they can survive in different social contexts
Criticisms of Evolutionary Approaches
- we can’t study it directly empirically (observe it)
- the research is very heteronormative (promotes sexism…)
- a lot of the data comes from undergrads or WIRED (western, Industrialized, Rich, Educated, and Democratic)
Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud)
focuses on unconscious drives and early childhood experiences
- helps us understand early developments of sex
libido: term for sex energy or sex drive
unconscious: human personality operates mostly unconsciously
- id: contains the libido and is seeking pleasure
- ego: helps people have a more realistic behavior and reactions to things
- superego: tries to limit some impulses of the id and persuade the ego to strive for more moral/ethical goals
ex: you’re in a public place and want to kiss someone
- id says do it
- ego says no you’re in public
- superego says if it’s moral to do it or not
Psychoanalytic Theory: Erogenous Zones
regions of the body that are especially sexually sensitive
stages of psychosexual development:
1. Oral stage (0-1) pleasure derived from the mouth
2. Anus stage (1-3) pleasure from anus
- kids are getting potty trained – focus on bowel movement
- Phallic stage (3-6) pleasure from genitals
- Electra complex: girls are less valuable bc they don’t have a penis
- girls realize they don’t have a penis and start to desire their father
- Oedipus complex: the boy is attracted to the mom and competes with his father
- the boy has anxiety from the father being violent so he starts to take on some of the father’s behaviors to resolve the issue
- Latency stage (7-12) sexual dormancy (nothing happening)
- Genital stage (13-on) kids hit puberty and explore their sexuality, engage in mature sexual relations
Psychoanalytic Theory Criticism (Freud)
- can’t be tested scientifically - it’s happening unconsciously so you can’t test it
- the participants were his own patients
- theory is sexist because it prioritizes the male
- overemphasis on what determines behavior and instincts
Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)
a stimulus can trigger a conditioned response
ex: a dog salivates to food – the dog starts salivating once it sees the trainer, before it gets the food
food = US
salivation = UR
trainer = CS
salivation = CR
*we can use this to see how people acquire fetishes
Operant Conditioning (Skinner)
people perform the behavior (operant) and the behavior is followed by a reward or punishment
- if reward (positive reinforcement) they’re likely to repeat the behavior to get the reward
- if punishment, they’re likely to not repeat the reward
**rewards/punishments are more effective when they follow right after the behavior takes place
ex: getting an STI from having sex
- they don’t find out for awhile so they continue to have sex
ex: sneaking out – getting grounded right after so you don’t get grounded again
Social Learning Theory (Bandura)
people imitate others
ex: a son watches his dad lift weights so the son starts lifting weights
**people are more likely to imitate the behavior they see if the person doing it is getting rewarded
Social Exchange Theory
views social relationships as transactions where people weigh the cost and benefit
*we’re trying to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs
*people want their relationships to be equitable
Cognitive Theories
examines how what we think influences how we feel
- importance of perceiving and evaluating events
ex: a man can’t get an erection
- he may perceive this as a result of old-age
- another man might perceive this as there’s something wrong with him and he needs to take meds
