Myers EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY 6th Edition in Modules

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Myers EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY (6th Edition in
Modules)

• Module 27
• Sexual Motivation
• James A. McCubbin, PhD
• Clemson University
• Worth Publishers

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Sexual Motivation

• Sex is a physiologically based motive, like
  hunger, but it is more affected by learning and
  values.

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Sexual Motivation

• Sexual Response Cycle
• the four stages of sexual responding described by
  Masters and Johnson
• excitement
• plateau
• orgasm
• resolution

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Sexual Motivation

• Refractory Period
• resting period after orgasm, during which a man
  cannot achieve another orgasm
• Sexual Disorder
• a problem that consistently impairs sexual
  arousal or functioning

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Sexual Motivation

• Estrogen
• a sex hormone, secreted in greater amounts by
  females than by males
• in nonhuman females, levels peak during
  ovulation, promoting sexual receptivity

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Sexual Motivation

• Testosterone
• most important of the male sex hormones
• both males and females have it, but the extra
  testosterone in males stimulates growth of sex
  organs in the fetus and development of the male
  sex characteristics during puberty

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Forces Affecting Sexual Motivation
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Sexual Motivation

• Births to unwed parents

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Sexual Motivation

• Sexual Orientation
• an enduring sexual attraction toward members of
  either ones own sex (homosexual orientation) or
  the other sex (heterosexual orientation)

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Brain Differences

• On the average (the evidence is strongest for
  males), various biological and behavioral traits
  of gays and lesbians fall between those of
  straight men and straight women.

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Brain Differences

• One hypothalmic cell cluster is larger in
  straight men than in women and gay men, same
  difference is found in male sheep displaying
  other-sex versus same-sex attraction.
• Anterior commissure is larger in gay men than in
  women or straight men.

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Sexual Motivation

• Genetic Influences
• Shared sexual orientation is higher among
  identical twins than among fraternal twins.
• Sexual attraction in male fruit flies can be
  genetically manipulated.

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Sexual Motivation

• Prenatal Hormonal Influences
• Altered prenatal hormone exposure may lead to
  homosexuality in humans and other animals.
• Men with several older brothers are more likely
  to be gay.

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Brain differences and prenatal influences may
contribute to observed gay-straight differences
in childrens

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Sexual Motivation