What is Behavioral Theory and what is it used for?
Only observable behavior should be studied
Used in sexual therapy
Behavioral Theory
Only observable behavior should be studied. Objectivity only exists if we analyze what we see
How is conditioning used in Behavioral Theory?
- *Operant conditioning:** learning through rewards and punishment
- *Classical conditioning:** neutral stimulus is paired with one that causes a reaction until those things become linked.
How is Behavioral Theory used?
It is used for sexual therapy to help people change unwanted sexual desires
EX: Aversion Therapy: type of behavioral therapy that reduces frequency of maladaptive behavior by associating it with unpleasant stimuli.
Cognitive Theory
- Created in response to the backlash from behavioral theory
- Proposes that our thoughts influence how we feel and act
- Cognitive therapists help people change the way they interpret and evaluate sexual experience
According to cognitive theory, what is the most important sexual organ? Why?
- Brain
- How we perceive and evaluate sexual events has a large impact on our feelings and future behaviors
How does Sociological Perspectives view sexuality?
- Interested in how other people and society influence sexual attitudes and behavior
- Must look outside the individual
- Ex: family, religious group, political groups, media, law, medical community
- Many different groups shape how people behave sexually, gender roles, and what they are willing to accept.
- These different influences are often interrelated and influence each other as well.
Social Learning Theory
- The belief that we learn through identification and imitation of other people
- We often see ourselves through/ as like another person in some way so we imitate them to learn social roles or norms
- Whether we continue imitation depends on whether we are reinforced or punished for it.
- Ex: a young girl who puts on mom’s makeup might be reinforced with people thinking she is cute, but a young boy might be told it isn’t ok to wear makeup because “boys don’t do that”
Social Script Theory
- Everyone is governed by social scripts: a set of rules/ norms or expectations about particular events, behaviors, and relationships.
- Social scripts are typically learned through culture or society, mostly through observation not explicitly taught
Feminist theory
- Examines how gender operates in our society and how power is used to oppress and create and maintain inequalities.
- Typically examines issues related to inequality based on gender
Queer Theory
- Challenges normative assumptions about the nature of gender and sexuality
- Assumes gender is a social construct, not innate, and not binary.
Where does Freud suggest our mental energy comes from? What does this give rise to?
Libido- energy we gather from survival and sexual instincts
Gives rise to attachments, compulsions, and neuroses
How do Freud’s three structures of psyche interact?
The Id is the pleasure component driven by libido. It was the pleasure NOW. The Superego is very controlling and regulating. It says no, sort of like a parent. The Ego moderates the two and is what we present to the world.
How does the iceberg concept work with Freud’s three psyche? What is unconscious? What is preconscious? What is Conscious?
Most of our personality is unconscious (Id). Our preconscious is where things are debated without our knowledge (Ego and Superego). Our conscious is what is presented to the world and what we think about (Ego and Superego).
What occurs when we fail to have a successful resolution for one of Freud’s phases of psychosexual development?
We will not pass peacefully through this stage and take on the bad characteristics
Why would someone have an Oedipus complex?
Suggests that the child is in conflict or identifies with the same sex parent because they are competing for the attention of the opposite sex parent. This happens at an unconscious level.
How old are you in:
Oral Stage
Anal Stage
Phallic Stage
Latency
What are some critiques and notes of Freud’s?
Critiques:
- Women suffer from Hysteria
- Only proper way to orgasm is vaginal, clit is immature
- Strong male bias and lacks understanding of women
- Theories lack empirical evidence
Benefits:
* Opened the dialogue around sex and how it contributes to our lives
What did Donald Symons’ (1979) book The Evolution of Human Sexuality argue?
- Argued that patterns of mating, orgasm, anatomy, homosexuality, and rape can all be explained through evolutionary concepts
What does the Sexual Strategies theory- proposed by Buss and Schmitt (1993) suggest?
- There are distinct gender differences between men and women in mate selection because offspring require different investments from parents to be successful
- Women must be fertile and men must be able to provide resources
- Through mating we have evolved as a species in both a physiological sense and a psychological sense.
- Sexual preference is viewed as an adaptation mechanism related to our evolution as a species.
- According to evolutionary psychologists, our bodies tell us to be attracted to immune systems that are different from ours to strengthen our offspring’s immune systems. (major histocompatibility complex)
What did the 2005 study: cross-culturally facial symmetry discover?
Facial symmetry discover represents fertility.
- Discovered that men and women who were more attractive than their peers were more successful at employing their “preferred” mating strategies.
- Explained standards of beauty through fertility, reproduction potential, and security for offspring
What are the critiques with the evolutionary perspective?
- Limitations on our knowledge of how non-heterosexual people’s mating practices are affected by adaptations.
- It has a difficult time explaining sexual practices that are not associated with mating.
- Gender roles that the theory suggests are a constant actually vary across time and culture.
