Sexual communication test #1
Intersexual selection
Female choice- selective and discriminating in male choices, select males perceived to provide strong offspring, prefer males with high parental investment
Relationship between fertility, age, and physical appearance in terms of women's attractiveness to a male
Fertility tied to age- age is tied to physical appearance
Biophysical communication
Form of nonverbal communication, subconscious cues to potential mates (we cannot control this communication)
Impression formation
General and global impression of a person that is either positive or negative- formed rapidly, require little mental or communicative effect
Liquid love
In our generation, it's much easier to get into relationships and also to leave them
Intelligence and attraction for women:
Intelligence is an important quality in a partner, ability to "pick out" a smart guy as most attractive Conclusion: beneficial for women to partner up with someone smart
Consensual non-monogamy
Open relationships with consent from partner
Sex drive
Our sexual desires, urges to engage in sexual activity, in the moment (changing)
Non-physical characteristics that are related to social attraction
Personality influences perceptions of social attraction, interpersonal warmth
Libido
Physiological and emotional energy associated with sex drive- it's a trait everyone has, it's constant, the way we think about sex and feel
Socialization
Process of inheriting social norms, customs, and ideologies- provide the skills and habit necessary for participating within our own society
Social exchange theory
Rewards>costs, reciprocity (what we want in relationships, deal breakers)
Social norms
Rules that a group used for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors
Sexual communication
The process through which people use messages to generate meaning about sex-related topics within and across contexts, cultures, channels, and media
Sexual orientation
The unique pattern of sexual and romantic desire, behavior, and identity that each person expresses
Sex differences for virginity loss
-Women: virginity as a gift -Men: virginity as stigma -Both: virginity as rite of passage
Kinsey scale
Heterosexual-homosexual rating scale
Micro-culture
"subculture".... group of people living within a larger society who share values, beliefs, behaviors, status, or interests different from rest of society.
Oxytocin
"the hug drug", helps to explain why you may feel closer to your mate after sex- women are more sensitive to this, men who are in long-term relationships feel this way
Non-binary categories for sexual orientation
-Androphilia: sexual attraction to masculine individuals -Gynephilia: sexual attraction to feminine individuals
Important rules for friends with benefits
-Emotional attachment -Communication -Sex
Sex drive differences exist because of:
-Gender socialization -Biological responses
"Let's Talk About Sex" documentary
-Point of the video was to see the affect sex culture has on teenagers -Language of sex: something that is scary, but in other parts of the world people are not afraid to talk about it
What is social attraction linked to?
-Sexual attraction -Relationship formation, maintenances, and satisfaction -Fulfilling certain human needs
Shortcomings of impression formation (3)
1) Halo effect: more likely to form positive impressions 2) Horn effect: emphasis on negative information received 3) Primacy effect: emphasis on the first information we receive about a person
Identity development (4 parts)
1) Sensitization: a realization of some sort of attraction 2) Exploration: when we start to act on those feelings ex: dating 3) Acceptance: when we realize our sexual identity ex: start getting into a relationship 4) Integration: part of our every day life
3 ways that people interpret virginity loss
1) Virginity as gift/gift-giving: find a person who would appreciate this "gift", giving virginity would increase commitment, safe sex, communication with partner 2) Virginity as stigma: an undesired state, less likely to tell first sexual partner, less likely to practice safe sex, more likely to find first sexual experience unsatisfying 3) Virginity as rite of passage: transition from one social status to another, more knowledgable about sexuality and themselves, more likely to practice safe sex
Outcomes for friends with benefits
61% stayed friends, 29% ended friendship, 10% led to romance
Pheromones
A chemical signal, that when released in the air, triggers specific behaviors in other members of the same species -part of the MHC- helps avoid people who are similar to us
Culture
A system of knowledge, beliefs, values, customs, behaviors and artifacts that are acquired, shared, and used by members of a social group
Cheating and scent
There is no cheating gene, the more MHC variants a women shares with a partner: the less sexually attracted, the more she rejects his sexual advances, the more she fantasized about other guys, and the less arousal when having sex with him
What is sex?
Any activity that involves being intimate in an erotically arousing or stimulating way with someone else (between consenting adults)
Uncertainty management theory
Appropriate levels of disclosure are positively associated with social attraction- increases in uncertainty often reduces liking but too much predictability
Filter theory
Attraction is important in the beginning to sustain, need more
Ovulatory cycle effect
Attraction varies across ovulatory cycle, normally ovulating women (non-pill users) close to ovulation (peak fertility) seek out: deep masculine voices, rugged masculine looks, more confident ment
Algebraic impressions
Carefully evaluating each new thing we learn about someone- compare/assess positives and negatives, modify impression based on new information, more effective and accurate but less efficient
Intercultural
Communication between people from different countries
Sexual norms
Cultures have social norms for sexuality, to determine sexual social norms: legal sex acts, relatedness, social role, age, race/ethnicity, status
Friends with benefits
Engaging in sexual activity without romantic attachment or the desire for romantic attachment Reasons: not a lot of commitment, need to satisfy sexual desires, turbulent life style (doesn't have time for a relationship)
Intelligence and attraction for males
Males report they want a smart mate, but are less likely to follow through Conclusion: men are intimidated by smart women
Intrasexual selection
Males- competition within sex, struggle to win over female, social hierarchies, intelligence
Monogamy
Marriage to only one person at a time
Sex drive differences
Men and women differ in sexual stimuli and organization of attraction Men- polarized sexual attraction Women- Increased attraction to both sexes- regardless of sexual orientation
Women's scent: fertility
Men are not as good as women when detecting scent, men can sense when women are ovulating and identify as smelling better, women give off signals or cues of their fertility status, medicinal birth control eliminates cycle scents
Mate guarding
Men are sensitive to female partner's cycles, attractiveness plays a role and so does fertility, men are more likely to mate-guard, less attractive men guard more during ovulation, less-attractive women are most likely mate-guarded during ovulation while more-attractive women are mate-guarded all of the time
Male's scent: sweat
Men's hormones can change a women's body chemistry, when women smell these hormones they have marked increase in sexual arousal, positive emotion, memory, and attention
Excitation transfer
Neural pathways engaged in arousing stimulus overlap with those of sexual arousal ex: fear
Generation now
Sex can be an "out of body experience", shift in who the experts are, divide in sex for reproduction vs. sex for fun, shift towards leveling of gender playing field
Liberation of sexual communication
Sex is fun, sex as a lifestyle-mainstream female figures, reject low class characteristics, display of self-care, style, and taste
Co-culture
Share a similar nationality but have a different co-culture
Pornographication
Society has re-packaged erotic material and feed it back to the public, sophisticated form of presentation
Social attraction
Tendency to evaluate another person in a consistently positive way, expressed as dichotomous (like/dislike), not the same as sexual attraction, most people need to achieve social attraction before a sexual attraction
Sexual communication competence
The ability to choose a communication behavior that is both appropriate and effective for a sex-related situation
Ethnocentric
The belief that one's culture is the standard
Food and sexual communication
There is no universal scent that is an aphrodisiac, research shows that some food scents are a turn on for men- libido raisers for men are junk food, pumpkin pie, etc., men with a heavy meat diet is less attractive
Heteronormativity
We assume that everyone is heterosexual until told otherwise- attraction to the other sex is normative
Generation of sexual revolution
Youth of 1950s-1970s: Information limited to science magazines/books, men exchanged sex stories
Generation of gender equalization
Youth of 1970s-1990s: Ideas of generation sexual revolution realized and utilized, free information exchange-beginning of sexual education, males and females exchanged sex stories
Generation of sexual restraints
Youth of the 1930s-1950s: talk of sex not allowed, lack of tenderness, touching, sexual expression, no information exchange