Psychology of Sexuality
Docentgegevens
Staff: Dr. M. Prins
Examination (20 juni):
40 Multiple choice vragen (80%) & 2 open vragen (20%)
1
,Inhoudsopgave samenvatting boek
Chapter Content Page
s
Chapter 1 Theoretical Perspectives on Human Sexuality 3
Chapter 2 Sexology Research: History, Methods and Ethics 5
Chapter 3 Human Sexual Anatomy 8
Chapter 4 Human Sexual Response: Understanding Arousal and Orgasm 13
Chapter 5 Gender and Gender identity 17
Chapter 6 Sexual Orientation 20
Chapter 7 The Laws of Attraction 22
Chapter 8 Intimate Relationships: Sex, Love and Commitment 24
Chapter 9 Sexual Behavior 27
Chapter 10 Lifespan Sexual Development 29
Chapter 11 Sex Education, Contraception and Pregnancy 31
Chapter 13 Sexual Dysfunction and Sex Therapy 32
Chapter 14 Variations in Sexual Behavior 35
Chapter 15 Sex Laws Victimization, and the Sexual Marketplace 38
Definitions 40
Inhoudsopgave Colleges
Lectures Content Page
Lecture 1 Introduction & How and why do people have sex? 59
Lecture 2 Sex & Culture 60
Lecture 3 Psychology of the male physiology 63
Lecture 4 Psychology of the female physiology 64
Lecture 5 Orgasm gap, ovulation, sexual behavior, pregnancy, partner preference 66
Lecture 6 Clinical sexology 67
Lecture 7 Gender 70
Lecture 8 Sexual Orientation 72
Lecture 10 Pornography, Social Media and Body Image 77
2
,Chapter 1: Theoretical Perspectives on Human Sexuality
What Drives Us to Have Sex?
Psychological influences
There are a lot of psychological influences that can affect sexual behavior: mood, level of cognitive
alertness, attitude towards sex and relationships, others’ expectations for our behavior. Some of these
can change from time to time, while others remain stable. Regardless of the stability all variables are
able to excite or inhibit sexual behavior. Thinks about the following 4 examples
(green excites/red inhibits):
Example 1 Personality Extravert Vs Introvert
Example 2 Association Sex is pleasurable Vs Sex leads to STD’s
Example 3 Mood state Negative mood Vs Positive mood
Example 4 Cognitive alertness Distracted Vs Not distracted
It is important to understand that all effects are bidirectional and create a feedback loop together.
Cultural and Societal Influences
Sexual norms are different amongst countries. Every country have “normal” and “deviant” (sexual)
behavior.
The most common force of variation in sexuality is religion. Science and media play an important role
in opening up the mind about sexuality.
Biological and Evolutionary Influences
All (sexual and nonsexual) behavior is biologically caused. With biological influences we mean
hormones and a person’s genes. Sexuality (attraction to gender) is somewhat hereditary. Also gender
roles seem to be influenced by hormones.
Major Theoretical Perspectives on Human Sexuality
Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychoanalytic theory on sexuality is credited to Sigmund Freud. He believed that human behavior
was driven by sex and death. He termed our sexual and life instincts libido. Freud also said that a
personality consists out of three distinct parts:
Id Basic part of the personality (contains libido) Unconscious
Ego Keeps the id in check Conscious
Superego Our consciousness (Un)conscious and preconscious
These 3 aspects work together to create behavior across all situations.
Cognitive- Behavioral and Learning Theories
Psychoanalytic theory fell out of favor when behaviorism emerged. Behaviorism states that behavior
are learned through experience. Major types of learning from this are: classical conditioning, operant
conditioning and social observable learning.
Classical conditioning Repeated pairing of a neutral stimulus with one that produces certain
Pavlovian conditioning behavior will lead to the neutral stimulus eliciting the behavior.
Operant conditioning Reinforced behaviors increase in frequency (reward and punishing)
Social or observational Behavioral tendencies are acquired through simple observations of
learning others’ activities.
3
, Exchange Theories
Exchange theory primarily helps us understand how social relationships are formed, maintained and
terminated. Specifically, the main idea advanced by the social exchange perspective is that the way we
feel about a given relationship and behave toward our partner depend upon the type of outcomes we
receive in return for what we have put into the relationship. People tend to compare relationship to
others or their own past relationships.
It is also notable that women can get more goods out of sex than men. Since men tend to like casual
sex more than women like it.
Personality Theories
After the rejection of psychoanalytic theory, most research focused on the study of behavior, because
it was observable and measurable. But cognitive processes came back in favor which paved a away for
a rebirth of personality psychology, the study of relatively stable intrapsychic factors that generate
consistent patterns in behavior. Important in personality psychology is the Big five personality traits.
Besides the big five there are additional traits for sexual behavior. Erotophilia and erotophobia.
Another trait that should be named is sensation seeking, a tendency to pursue thrilling and risky
behavior. It has a correlation with the neurotransmitter dopamine. One other personality trait is
sociosexuality it refers to a person’s willingness to have sex in the absence of commitment and
without an emotional connection to one’s partner.
The personality theory is very appealing for people who study sexual behavior, but it has its
limitations, like some of the scales used to measure personality actually measure attitudes.
Evolutionary Theory
The most recent theory is the evolutionary theory. In this theory is stated that humans have an
inherent motivation to produce as many offspring of their own. We do this by developing preferences
in physical and psychological aspects we look for in partners. Another key element is sexual
strategies theory, an idea that men and women have developed different approaches to mating. The
differences evolved because the parental investment required to produce a child.
There is some controversy in this theory since it can not explain differences in sexual orientation.
4
Docentgegevens
Staff: Dr. M. Prins
Examination (20 juni):
40 Multiple choice vragen (80%) & 2 open vragen (20%)
1
,Inhoudsopgave samenvatting boek
Chapter Content Page
s
Chapter 1 Theoretical Perspectives on Human Sexuality 3
Chapter 2 Sexology Research: History, Methods and Ethics 5
Chapter 3 Human Sexual Anatomy 8
Chapter 4 Human Sexual Response: Understanding Arousal and Orgasm 13
Chapter 5 Gender and Gender identity 17
Chapter 6 Sexual Orientation 20
Chapter 7 The Laws of Attraction 22
Chapter 8 Intimate Relationships: Sex, Love and Commitment 24
Chapter 9 Sexual Behavior 27
Chapter 10 Lifespan Sexual Development 29
Chapter 11 Sex Education, Contraception and Pregnancy 31
Chapter 13 Sexual Dysfunction and Sex Therapy 32
Chapter 14 Variations in Sexual Behavior 35
Chapter 15 Sex Laws Victimization, and the Sexual Marketplace 38
Definitions 40
Inhoudsopgave Colleges
Lectures Content Page
Lecture 1 Introduction & How and why do people have sex? 59
Lecture 2 Sex & Culture 60
Lecture 3 Psychology of the male physiology 63
Lecture 4 Psychology of the female physiology 64
Lecture 5 Orgasm gap, ovulation, sexual behavior, pregnancy, partner preference 66
Lecture 6 Clinical sexology 67
Lecture 7 Gender 70
Lecture 8 Sexual Orientation 72
Lecture 10 Pornography, Social Media and Body Image 77
2
,Chapter 1: Theoretical Perspectives on Human Sexuality
What Drives Us to Have Sex?
Psychological influences
There are a lot of psychological influences that can affect sexual behavior: mood, level of cognitive
alertness, attitude towards sex and relationships, others’ expectations for our behavior. Some of these
can change from time to time, while others remain stable. Regardless of the stability all variables are
able to excite or inhibit sexual behavior. Thinks about the following 4 examples
(green excites/red inhibits):
Example 1 Personality Extravert Vs Introvert
Example 2 Association Sex is pleasurable Vs Sex leads to STD’s
Example 3 Mood state Negative mood Vs Positive mood
Example 4 Cognitive alertness Distracted Vs Not distracted
It is important to understand that all effects are bidirectional and create a feedback loop together.
Cultural and Societal Influences
Sexual norms are different amongst countries. Every country have “normal” and “deviant” (sexual)
behavior.
The most common force of variation in sexuality is religion. Science and media play an important role
in opening up the mind about sexuality.
Biological and Evolutionary Influences
All (sexual and nonsexual) behavior is biologically caused. With biological influences we mean
hormones and a person’s genes. Sexuality (attraction to gender) is somewhat hereditary. Also gender
roles seem to be influenced by hormones.
Major Theoretical Perspectives on Human Sexuality
Psychoanalytic Theory
Psychoanalytic theory on sexuality is credited to Sigmund Freud. He believed that human behavior
was driven by sex and death. He termed our sexual and life instincts libido. Freud also said that a
personality consists out of three distinct parts:
Id Basic part of the personality (contains libido) Unconscious
Ego Keeps the id in check Conscious
Superego Our consciousness (Un)conscious and preconscious
These 3 aspects work together to create behavior across all situations.
Cognitive- Behavioral and Learning Theories
Psychoanalytic theory fell out of favor when behaviorism emerged. Behaviorism states that behavior
are learned through experience. Major types of learning from this are: classical conditioning, operant
conditioning and social observable learning.
Classical conditioning Repeated pairing of a neutral stimulus with one that produces certain
Pavlovian conditioning behavior will lead to the neutral stimulus eliciting the behavior.
Operant conditioning Reinforced behaviors increase in frequency (reward and punishing)
Social or observational Behavioral tendencies are acquired through simple observations of
learning others’ activities.
3
, Exchange Theories
Exchange theory primarily helps us understand how social relationships are formed, maintained and
terminated. Specifically, the main idea advanced by the social exchange perspective is that the way we
feel about a given relationship and behave toward our partner depend upon the type of outcomes we
receive in return for what we have put into the relationship. People tend to compare relationship to
others or their own past relationships.
It is also notable that women can get more goods out of sex than men. Since men tend to like casual
sex more than women like it.
Personality Theories
After the rejection of psychoanalytic theory, most research focused on the study of behavior, because
it was observable and measurable. But cognitive processes came back in favor which paved a away for
a rebirth of personality psychology, the study of relatively stable intrapsychic factors that generate
consistent patterns in behavior. Important in personality psychology is the Big five personality traits.
Besides the big five there are additional traits for sexual behavior. Erotophilia and erotophobia.
Another trait that should be named is sensation seeking, a tendency to pursue thrilling and risky
behavior. It has a correlation with the neurotransmitter dopamine. One other personality trait is
sociosexuality it refers to a person’s willingness to have sex in the absence of commitment and
without an emotional connection to one’s partner.
The personality theory is very appealing for people who study sexual behavior, but it has its
limitations, like some of the scales used to measure personality actually measure attitudes.
Evolutionary Theory
The most recent theory is the evolutionary theory. In this theory is stated that humans have an
inherent motivation to produce as many offspring of their own. We do this by developing preferences
in physical and psychological aspects we look for in partners. Another key element is sexual
strategies theory, an idea that men and women have developed different approaches to mating. The
differences evolved because the parental investment required to produce a child.
There is some controversy in this theory since it can not explain differences in sexual orientation.
4
