Katlyn Mayer Phys 101 Sexual Attraction My topic is on sexual attraction. Sexuality is the ways people experience and express themselves as human beings. Sexual attraction can consist of many different factors. Physical attributes can be a very common reason people attracted to one another even though sexual attraction is not only sight. All senses have a role in sexual attraction. “Attraction depends not just on the way another person looks, but also how that person smells, how their mouth tastes, the pitch of their voice, and so forth.” [1] Sexual attraction is a Firestarter in helping us choose a possible mate. We are designed to reproduce and carry on our genes. Sexual attraction can lead to sexual arousal which then can lead to intercourse …show more content…
When a male sees a desirable mate, dopamine lights up areas in the brain, triggering feelings of pleasure, motivation, and reward. Which is the same reaction when cocaine is put into the body. The brain stem also has a reaction releasing the chemical, phenylethylamine (PEA), which speeds up the flow of information between nerve cells. Men are bursting with testosterone. The Y chromosome that is given at conception from the father triggers two burst of testosterone. The first boost will trigger an interest in objects, actions, and competition. The left lobe of the brain is filled with testosterone which helps men see objects in three dimensions and boosts aptitude in math. Testosterone is also helps increase your hypothalamus (located on the lower part of the top end of the brain stem), which is the area of the brain that helps interests you in sex. The hypothalamus is twice as large in men as it is in women, which could explain why some men have such a higher sex drive than some women. The second testosterone boost in males is during adolescence, when a male goes into puberty. When males go into puberty they will have 20 times more testosterone in their body than women will. “A study of more than 4,000 men found that men with high testosterone levels were 43 percent more likely to get divorced and 38 percent more likely to have extramarital affairs than men with less of the hormone.” …show more content…
Men preferred women with high pitched voices and women preferred low pitched voices. Touch is also very crucial in the ways of sexual attraction. A study was done where people were not aware it had already been done, were handed a cup of coffee either warm or iced. They were then read a story about a hypothetical person. They were asking to rate the individual in the story. The people holding the warm coffee said the person was, “happy, social, generous, and better natured”. The people holding the cold cup said the individual was, “cold, stoic, and unaffectionate”. The last sense is taste. The first kiss. The first kiss between two individuals is a large factor in if they will continue to see each other. People have reported losing their attraction to someone because they had a bad first kiss with that
Critical Evaluationg of Psychological Theories of Interpersonal Attraction Interpersonal Attraction suggests as attraction between people, and although it may not in terms of a romantic relationship scenario as the phrase suggests, it nethertheless suggests an important attraction to create a relationship with a particular person. It may by that we are attracted to a particular person or a social relationship because we find them pleasant or because we find life alone unpleasant or unrewarding. Schacter (1959) conducted a study in which female participants were told that they were going to receive an electric shock in a following experiment. Half of the subjects were told it would be painful and the other half were told it would not be painful. Each group were given the option to wait with another person or on their own for the experiment.
Reproduction in Homo sapiens, as in all animals, is a primary driving force and has been elaborated upon since the beginnings of society. Humans must take part in sexual reproduction to produce offspring, thus initiation behaviors can be studied. Commonly, the male makes advances and the female is the selector, or chooses the mate. For humans, this holds true and behavior is modified to maximize competitive receptability. This phenomenon carries across all cultural boundaries and is deeply rooted in the overall behavior patterns in the people of the culture. People try to refine their natural appearance to maximize mating opportunity. The males attempt to enhance features for success in initiation and females compete for receptability completeness.
Masters and Johnson were a pioneering team in the field of human sexuality, both in the domains of research and therapy. William Howell Masters, a gynecologist, was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1915. Virginia Eshelman Johnson, a psychologist, was born in Springfield, Montana in 1925. To fully appreciate their contribution, it is necessary to see their work in historic context. In 1948, Alfred C. Kinsey and his co-workers, responding to a request by female students at Indiana University for more information on human sexual behavior, published the book Sexual Behavior in the Human Male. They followed this five years later with Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. These books began a revolution in social awareness of and public attention given to human sexuality. At the time, public morality severely restricted open discussion of sexuality as a human characteristic, and specific sexual practices, especially sexual behaviors that did not lead to procreation. Kinsey's books, which among other things reported findings on the frequency of various sexual practices including homosexuality, caused a furor. Some people felt that the study of sexual behavior would undermine the family structure and damage American society. It was in this climate - one of incipient efforts to break through the denial of human sexuality and considerable resistance to these efforts - that Masters and Johnson began their work. Their primary contribution has been to help define sexuality as a healthy human trait and the experience of great pleasure and deep intimacy during sex as socially acceptable goals. As a physician interested in the nature of sexuality and the sexual experience, William Masters wanted to conduct research that would lead to an objective understanding of these topics. In 1957, he hired Virgina Johnson as a research assistant to begin this research issue. Together they developed polygraph-like instruments that were designed to measure human sexual response. Using these tools, Masters and Johnson initiated a project that ultimately included direct laboratory observation and measurement of 700 men and women while they were having intercourse or masturbating. Based on the data collected in this study, they co-authored the book Human Sexual Response in 1966. In this book, they identify and describe four phases in the human sexual response cycle : excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. By this point in time, the generally repressive attitude toward sexuality was beginning to lift and the book found a ready audience.
In the article the researchers were trying to challenge the sexual strategies theory. It seems as though sexual strategies theory is different genders having different preferences when choosing a mate, in the case of long and short term relationships. The hypothesis at first was that both boys and girls felt that attractiveness was important. Girls would be more inclined to date someone because of social status and that boys would be the complete opposite. They also expected that social status would only become important when the person is attractive and social status would be important no matter if the person is attractive on no for girls. The last thing that was tested was according to Ha (2009) “the potential moderator effects of self-perceived mate value on adolescents desire to date with an attractive person.” Also according to Ha (2009) “They hypothesized that boys and girls preference for attractiveness and high social status would be independent of their own perceived mate value.” The information used to come to result of the theory has been known to be collect using surveys ...
The psychoanalytic theory says that our childhood experiences and unconscious desires influence behavior (Sigelman & Rider, 2009; pg.36). Our personalities have memories, beliefs, urges, drives, and instincts that we are not always aware of, and make up the unconscious. The major driving force behind Freud’s instinctual theory is the concept of Libido. Libido is a natural energy source that fuels the mechanisms of the mind. When this libidinal energy is stuck or fixated at various stages of psychosexual development, conflicts can occur that have lifelong effects.
Research indicates that culture has an impact on individuals’ preferential behaviors. These preferential processes are quite often involved in mate selection and mate attraction. One’s personality traits, ethnicity, and physical appearances are just a few of the ways that perceptions of attraction differ across cultures. Not only do these perceptions of attraction vary by culture, but these perceptions also vary by gender and play a huge role on what men and women deem as attractive. Because the concept of attraction is universal, it is understood that all cultures have the concept of attraction (Glazer, 2014). Research in evolutionary psychology indicates that there may be an innate, biological drive that underlies cultural differences in attraction between male and females. This current paper seeks to review literature on culture and gender as a function of an individual’s attraction to individuals of the opposite gender. In an effort to explain the function of both culture and gender in relation to attraction, it will be explained how evolutionary theory underlies heterosexual sexual attraction.
Attraction theory essentially posits that people are more likely to be attracted to those who have similarities to themselves, on the other hand, there are some who attract the opposite personality to theirs. Key concepts of this theory are that it is typified by various characteristics that a person has, as well as components of their personality and overall being. They may have similarities such as” hones/ethical” or their appearance is attractive to the person. (DeVito 2016) Another, is personality traits as self-esteem, shyness and optimism are likely to be shared and exhibited between people who have some form of relationship between them. The central strength of this theory is that it is people often prefer sharing
Testosterone is produced by the testes of men and the ovaries of women, as well as the adrenal glands of both sexes. Correlational studies have found that higher testosterone is associated with more sexual activity, more alcohol, more aggression and more competitive ness amongst other social behaviours that humans participate in. However the investigation of testosterones influences on social behaviours has only really just begun and hence we do not know a lot about the definitive effects of testosterone.
The term sexual orientation is known as the preference of one’s sexual partners, whether the same sex, opposite sex, or both sexes. Sexual orientation occurs when a child reaches the adolescent stages in life (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). Adolescents activate their sexual orientation within four steps that create their identity. Adolescents are unaware of their identity at the beginning stages of sexual orientation. They work their way into the exploration stage by learning their preference of sexual partners. Once they are aware of their sexual identity, they will start the process of acceptance. Once acceptance is achieved, they will begin to integrate their sexual orientation into their lives (Gallor & Fassinger, 2010).
Sexuality is defined in many ways, for the sake of this papers clarity sexuality will be defined as, sexual feelings and interactions that are defining features of romantic intimacy. (Fering 2009) Child sexual abuse (CSA) is defined in the International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences as "any [sexual] action that is inflicted upon or must be tolerated by a child against their own will or any [sexual] action about which the child cannot make a decision due to their physical, emotional, mental, and verbal inferiority." Statistics for the prevalence of CSA range from anywhere from 15 to 25 percent of women to 5 to 10 percent of men according to Deegener. (2002)
Mass media has evolved over the years and is heard to have many effects on body image. Does mass media have an effect on body image? To answer this question, I have explored academic articles for different social science disciplines. This particular discipline is Psychology. The discipline of psychology will show how body images affect people and what causes them to be affected. The articles being reviewed are Barlett, Christopher P., Christopher L. Vowels and Donald A. Saucier. “Meta-Analyses of the Effects of Media Images on Men’s Body Image Concerns.” Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology. 27.3 (2008) : 279-310., Hayes, Sharon and Stacey Tantleff-Dunn. “Am I too fat to be a princess? Examining the effects of popular children’s media on
According to an MSNBC survey, 53% of single people find a great smile to be the most attractive feature in a potential mate. Another percentage of single people surveyed that flattery is the best was to attract someone (Dating/Relationship Statistics). Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania studied data from over 10,000 speed daters and found that most people make a decision regarding a person’s attraction within three seconds of meeting (Penn New ).
Bio-Psychologists study the principles of biology as it relates to the comprehension of psychology in the field neuroscience that underlies ones emotions, ideology, and actions (Brittanica). Based upon the conduction of research, the relationship between the brain and ones behavior extends to the physiological process in one’s intellect. Scientists are cognizant that neurotransmitters function as a significant role in mood regulation and other aspects of psychological problems including depression and anxiety. A biological perspective are relevant to psychology in three techniques including: the comparative method, physiology, and the investigation of inheritance (Saul Mc. Leod).
Sexual attraction is an everyday part of life that has different effects on each person. In the following paper I am going to discuss the different types of sexual attraction for adolescences ages 12-20, early adulthood ages 20-30, mature adulthood 30-65, and older adults age 65 and older.
A fundamental step for understanding the links between human nature and intimate relationships is by understanding human sexuality. Alfred Kinsey, in his pioneering study on human sexual behaviour, illustrated the degree to which individuals differ in their sexual attitudes, beliefs and preferences (Kinsey, Pomeroy & Martin, 1948). In particular, a marked difference was highlighted in individuals’ sociosexual attitudes and behaviours. Following this, many of the sociosexual features individuals differ in, including preferred frequency of sexual intercourse, the number of different sexual partners they predict to have in the future, and their willingness to engage in uncommitted relationships, have shown to covary (Eysenk, 1976, as cited in Barnes, Malamuth & Check, 1984). Considered together, these features compose an individual difference dimension named sociosexuality (Snyder, Simpson & Gangestad, 1986). Sociosexuality reflects the tendency to engage in uncommitted, casual sexual encounters (Simpson & Gangestad, 1991). Those with a restricted sociosexual orientation typically prefer closeness and commitment from their romantic partner before engaging in sex (Simpson & Gangestad, 1991). Such individuals claim they rarely have one-night stands, and require emotional intimacy within a romantic relationship before feeling comfortable with sex (Simpson & Gangestad, 1991). Conversely, unrestricted individuals require little or no emotional bond with a partner in order to have sex. These individuals are more likely to be involved in extra-marital relationships (Seal, Agostinelli & Hannett, 1994), and exhibit more frequent displays of sexual assertiveness such as flirting (Simpson, Gangestad & Nations, 1996).