Objectives Learning and Study Guide for Test 3
At the conclusion of Chapter 7, students should be able to:
1. Define friendship, noting its affective, communal, and sociable aspects. Differentiate
friendship from love using the five components of rewarding intimacy (respect, trust,
responsiveness, capitalization, and social support) with special attention to the
complexity of social support in close relationships.
3 themes of friendships:
1) Affective the sharing of personal thoughts and feelings (i.e., self disclosure) and
other related expressions of intimacy, appreciation, and affection. Additionally,
friends are described as providing encouragement, emotional support, empathy, and
bolstering ones self-concept, all of which are made possible by an underlying sense
of trust, loyalty, and commitment
2) Communal
3) Sociable
Differences between friendship and love:
Less passionate, less exclusive, less confining (less obligations)
Frienships routinely involve: (5 components of rewarding intimacy)
Respect we usually admire our friends and hold them in high esteem
Trust we are usually confident that our friends will behave benevolently
Responsiveness friends provide attentive and supportive recognition of our
needs and interests
Capitalization friends usually respond eagerly and energetically to our happy
outcomes, sharing our delight and reinforcing our pleasure.
Social support this comes in various forms, including affection, advice, and
material assistance. Some people are better providers of social support than
others are, and the best support fits our needs and preferences. Invisible support
that goes unnoticed by the recipient is sometimes very beneficial, but perceived
support is very important; its not what people do for us but what we think they do
for us that matters in the long run
** Emotional support in the form of affection and acceptance
**Advice support in the form of information and guidance
**Material support in the form of money and goods
Emotional support in the form of affection and acceptance
Men dont show much emotional support
Advice support in the form of information and guidance
Most likely provided by men because they cannot provide
emotional support
Material support in the form of money and goods
Attachments and support
People with secure attachments provide more support because they
are more comfortable about it
People in avoidance feel that they shouldnt give support because
they wont need it in return
Anxious ambivalent people use support and they give it to
manipulate their friends. When they are fearful of loosing someone, they
give extra support.
2. Identify the rules of friendship and reflect on how likely we are to follow them and
whether they are linked to relationship success.
The Rules of Friendship:
-:shared beliefs among members of a culture about what behaviors friends should or
should not perform. ---involve equity, trust, self-disclosure, support, care, and
desirable aspects of intimacy
Volunteer help in time of need
Respect the friends privacy
Keep confidences
Trust and confide in each other
Stand up for the other person in their absence
Dont criticize each other in public
Show emotional support
Look him/her in the eye during conversation
Strive to make him/her happy while in each others company
Dont be jealous or critical of each others relationships
Be tolerant of each others friends
Share news of success with the other
Ask for personal advice
Dont nag
Engage in joking or teasing with the friend
Seek to repay debts and favors and compliments
Disclose personal feelings or problems to the friend
3. Highlight a few aspects of infants relationships.
Infancy- toddlers play together cooperatively and take evident pleasure in each others
company
4. Describe Selmans model of friendship development and identify the stages of
Buhrmester and Furmans socioemotional framework. Know the perspective-taking
capacity associated with Selmans model and understand whether the key concepts of
this cognitive model complement or clash with Buhrmester and Furmans model.
Childhood- childrens friendships gradually become richer and more complex as they
age. One important change involves childrens cognitive developmentas they age,
children are increasingly able to appreciate others perspectives and to understand
their wishes and points of view. The development of this ability led Selman to suggest
that childhood friendships go through several stages that are increasingly
sophisticated.
Robert Selman recognized 3 stages of childhood friendship:
-fair-weather cooperation (before age 10): starting to understand friends points of
view & recognize that conflicts are more easily resolved when both interests are
served, but they see friendship as serving self-interests rather than mutual interests
-intimate-mutual sharing (middle school): friendship is seen as a collaboration that
serves everyones interests, but it is also seen as an exclusive and possessive
relationship: children will be hurt and offended if an invitation to a friend is rejected
because the friend is already playing with someone else.
-autonomous interdependence(teen years): recognize that a particular friendship
cannot fulfll all emotional and psychological needs, and friends are allowed to
develop independent relationships with others. Also believe that relationships are
dynamic rather than fixed; as the people involved change, so does their friendship
Buhrmester & Furman
- changes in interpersonal needs that are preeminent as children age: acceptance in the
early elementary years and intimacy in preadolescence, and sexuality in teen years.
5. Portray relationships in the adolescent period of life including evidence from
experience sampling and attachment studies on the shift from parents to peers, the
stages in the social organization of adolescents peer relationships, and the key
functions of adolescent peer relationships.
Adolescence
Different interpersonal needs may be preeminent at different times
-Acceptance during elementary school (teachers pets and cliques start to emerge.)
-Intimacy during middle school (Children start to share secrets and have sleepovers and
share clothes etc. Also when loneliness starts to emerge)
-Sexuality during high school (The people you go to for attachments start to change. You
leave your family to look for other sorts of attachments)
Teens spend less and less time with their families and more with their peers.
therefore they are more influenced by them
They increasingly turn to their friends for satisfaction of important attachment
needs
Their social networks change over time, as same-sex cliques are gradually
replaced with romantic partners.- at 14 and 15, boys and girls start to hang out
with each other and then they start hanging out alone
Peer pressure reaches a peek around 14-15.
~4 components of attachment:
Proximity Seeking: involves approaching, staying near, or making contact w/an
attachment figure
Separation Protest: people resist being separated from a partner and are distressed
by separation from him/her
Safe Haven: turning to an attachment figure as a source of comfort and support in
times of stress
Secure base: using a partner as a foundation for exploration of novel
environments and other daring exploits
-all of these components of attachment can be found in the relationships young
children have with their parents, but as they grow older, adolescents gradually
shift their primary attachments from their parents to their peers in a componentby-component fasion
Their social networks change over time, as same-sex cliques are gradually
replaced with romantic partnerships
Peer pressure reaches a peak around the age of 15
6. Comment on intimacy in the relationships of young adulthood and discuss how it
might change during the transition to college.
Young adulthood is the development of intimacy versus isolation according
to Eriksonwe learn how to form enduring, committed intimate relationships
After college, people tend to interact with fewer friends, but they have deeper,
more interdependent relationships with the friends they have.
7. Explain the nature of dyadic withdrawal with friendships in midlife and detail how it
affects men and women.
Midlife
A pattern of dyadic withdrawal occurs when people settle into romantic
relationships; as they see more of a lover, they see less of their friends, but a lot
more for their in-laws
Midlife: Theres a pattern of dyadic withdrawal: When people decide to settle for
one person. They start to see more and more of one person. Studies show that the
woman hang out more with the guys friends. You tend to stick with those people
that youve been friends with for many many years. These are friends that
survive.
8. Review evidence that seniors have smaller social networks and noting factors that
may contribute to this trend (barriers, disengagement, and socioemotional selectivity).
Identify reasons why the socioemotional selectivity position currently fares well as an
interpretation.
Elderly people have smaller social networks than younger people do: they have
just as many close friends, but they spend less time with casual friends.
Best explaination for this comes from socioemotional selectivity theory, which
holds that seniors have diff. interpersonal foals they are focused on the present
instead of the future, so they seek quality, not quantity in their friendships.
o Elderly people who have close friends live longer, they go out more,
socialize more, and they stay active more. Therefore, they live the longest.
9. Reflect on why womens same-sex friendships are more intimate than mens. Explain
the role culture plays in inhibiting intimacy in North American men.
Womens friendships are characterized by emotional sharing and self-disclosure
Mens friendships revolve around shared activities, companionship, and fun
**Women typically have partners outside their romantic relationshis to whom they
can turn for sensitive, sympathetic understanding and support, but men often do not.
**Most men are not willing to be as expressive as women (even though they are
capable of it) because such intimacy is less socially acceptable among men/ cultural
pressures
-There are a lot of social scripts that are followed and social norms. Homophobia can
discourage intimacy in male friendships. Being uncomfortable by the social norms can
make friendships really focused around the society.
10. Describe the role of individual differences in friendships. Identify the qualities that
differentiate the social networks of high and low self-monitors, list the positive life
outcomes for high need for intimacy (Nint) people, and characterize the behaviors and
beliefs that depressed individuals exhibit that are detrimental to forming and
maintaining friendships.
Individual differences in friendship
-self-monitoring
-need for intimacy
-depression
Low sef-monitors have fewer friends than high self-monitors do, but their
friendships are typiclly more intimate.
Need for intimacy is a social motive that prompts individuals to seek out warm,
close contact with others. Tend to look for more friendships and look for more in
their friendships.
Relational self-construals (describes the extent to which we think of ourselves as
interdependent rather than independent ppl) lead people to emphasize their
relationships rather than their independence
The friendships of people high in need for intimacy involve higher levels of selfdisclosure and loyalty than those found in the friendships of people with lower
need for intimacy
Men who are high in need for intimacy at age 30 tend to be especially welladjusted when they reach middle age
Depression: Tend to push people away, especially when they need them the most
11. Explain that men and women can be close friends even though barriers complicate
these cross-sex friendships. Describe the complexities of sexual attraction within a
cross-sex friendship.
Of course. However once they leave college, most people no longer maintain intimate
cross-sex friendships because
-men and women become friernds for the same reasons they grow close to their same-sex
friends: companionship, good times, conversation, and laughter. The same respect,
trust and social support are involved.
-men are often more open and expressive with their femail friends
-men with high expressiveness and women with high instrumentality are more likely to
become close
-problems cross-sex friendships face that same-sex do not: determining whether the
relationship is a friendship or a romance. Women usually underestimate how much
their male friends would like to sleep with them
-sex among friends can cause confusion and complicate the partnership
-most cross-sex friendships never become sexual. Most of the time people do not want to
turn their friendships into romances and they actually strive to keep their partnerships
platonic. Why? Because sometimes people do not want to risk losing a rewarding
relationship by changing it into something else, but in other cases a sexual spark is
missing and there is insufficient desire, and in other instances there are third parties
involved (such as romantic partners) who would object.
-married people are less likely to have a close cross-sex friendship (because close friends
who provide companionship and caring outside of ones marriage can reduce the
emotional burden placed on ones spouse. Another reason: spouse may be threatened
even if no sex is involved) which is why such relationships become less common
after people finish college.
12. Discuss conceptual and empirical difference between friendship and kinship.
Kin (family members): We have almost repulsion with having sex with a Kin.
People who are also raised with others, also see each other as kin, even though
theyre not related to them.
Both friends and kin can be treated at communal relationships. They can both
provide emotional support. This is why friends have been referred to as
psychological Kin.
15. Describe the major elements in the shyness syndrome. Indicate the characteristics that
distinguish shy from non-shy individuals and describe the way shy people are in their
interactions and social life. Summarize research evidence on how excuses for poor
interactions affect the anxiety levels of shy people, and indicate what implications
these findings have for whether shyness is a deficit in skills or a deficit in performing
skills that one has mastered.
Shyness: social reticence; inhibited interactive behavior; nervous discomfort in social
settings
When shy people have an excuse for an interaction to go badly, they remain relatively
relaxed and do no act shy, so they need greater self-confidence instead of better social
skills.
Shy people fret about social disapproval and manage small talk poorly, behaving in a
timid manner that often makes the negative impressions that they were hoping to
avoid.
Shy behavior makes negative imrpssions on others, often creating the unfavorable
evaluations that shy people fear.
3 characteristics that distinguish chronically shy from people who are less shy: 1.) people
who are routinely shy fear negative evaluation from others. The possibility that
others might dislike them is rarely far from their minds, and the threat of derision or
disdain from others is more frightening to them than to most people. They worry
about social disapproval more than the rest of us do. 2.) they tend to doubt
themselves. Poor self-regard usually accompanies chronic shyness, and shy people
tend to have fairly extensive problems with low self esteem. 3.) they feel less
competent in their interactions with others, and sometimes with good reason.
Overall, they have lower levels of social skill than most people.
16. Distinguish social loneliness from emotional loneliness.
Dissatisfaction and distress occur when we want more, or more intimate,
connections with others, and both social isolation and emotional isolation may be
involved.
Loneliness results from genetic influences, certain personalities, insecure
attachment, low self-esteem, and low expressivity.
It is associated with negative attitudes and drab interactions that are unappealing
to others
It can be overcome, however, and hopeful attributions and reasonable
expectations are helpful in this regard.
Social isolation:People are dissatisfied because they lack a social network of
friends and acquaintances
Emotional isolation: People are lonely because they lack a single intense
relationship
17. Briefly describe the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the three themes that would produce
high loneliness scores.
Measuring loneliness
The UCLA Loneliness Scale contains 3 diff themes that produce high loneliness scores.
-Isolantion from other- how often do you feel alone?
-Lack of close connection to others: How often do you feel that no one really knows you
well?
-Too little social connection to people in general: how often do you feel that there is no
one you can turn to?:
Four diff sets of feelings that are common in loneliness: desperation, impatient boredom,
self-deprecation, and depression
Problems loneliness is associated with:
-running away from home
-crime and delinquency
-
Poor grades
-
Sleep disturbances
-
- poor mental health
-
Poor physical health
Whos Lonely?
Americans are more lonely, on average, than people in many other countries are.
Education and income are negatively correlated with loneliness.
Married people are less lonely than those who are unmarried, and cohabitating
partners are less lonely than singles
People with secure styles of attachment tend to be less lonely than those who are
insecure.
Those with an identical twin who is lonely tend to be lonely, too.
Unmarried men tend to be more lonely than unmarried women.
18. Describe the cycle of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that seems to solidify or
intensify loneliness. Discuss how loneliness and shyness appear similar but differ in
several key ways (e.g., interpersonal behaviors).
Men who have a close partnership with a woman tend to be much less lonely than are
men who are between partners.
Loneliness Across the Lifespan
Children of divorce are also prone to loneliness.
adolescents and young adults
Possible causes and moderators of loneliness
Inadequacies in Our Relationships
Changes in What We Want from Our Relationships
Causal Attributions
Interpersonal Behaviors
Adaptive ways to cope with school
Address your pessimistic passivity. Consider that going to social
gatherings offers more benefits than risks.
Look for situational influences instead of blaming yourself.
Watch out for sour attitudes. Stay positive.
Concentrate on solid friendships instead of seeking a
romantic soul
mate.
19. Suggest ways of counteracting the self-defeating thoughts and behaviors associated
with loneliness.
Peoples responses to loneliness (4 types)
2 active and constructive:
-
Active solitude- finding enjoable tihings to do alone
-
Social contact- taking action to seek out others
-
3 other potentially selfdefeating:
-
-Distractions- such as going shipping
-
Sad passivity- doing drugs or drink or nothing at all
At the conclusion of Chapter 8, students should be able to:
1. Describe perspectives on love in Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, 18th century
England, and contemporary North America in terms of four dimensions: the
desirability of love, the enactment of sex in love relationships, the sexual
orientation of the lovers, and marital status of the partners.
In ancient Greece: passionate attraction to another person was considered a form
of madness that had nothing to do with marriage or family life.. instead greeks
admired platonic love, the nonsexual adoration of a beloved person that was
epitomized by love between two men.
In ancient Egypt: people of royal blood often married their siblings
In ancient Rome: the purpose of marriage was to produce children, make
favorable alliances, and establish a bloodlineit was hoped that husband and
wife would be friends and get on amiably. Happiness was not part of the deal nor
was pleasure. Sex was for creating babies
Middle ages: marriage was not expected to be romantic. It was a deadly serious
matter of politics and property. Passionate, erotic desire for someone was thought
to be dangerous, a trapdoor leading to hell, which was not even to be condoned
between husband and wife.
17th and 18th century: Europeans, especially the English, began to believe that
romantic passion could occasionally result in a happy ending. Still the notion that
one ought to feel passion and romance for ones husband or wife was not a
widespread idea.
North America: acceptance of and enthusiasm for marrying for love. The notion
that individuals instead of families should choose marriage partners beause of
emotional attachments not economic concerns
2. Know the three components of love identified by Sternberg (intimacy, passion,
commitment) and how these components combine to form eight different kinds of
love. Know whether empirical evidence supports Sternbergs model.
Intimacy: includes the feelings of warmth, communication,
support, understanding, and sharing that often characterize love relationships.
Passion: characterized by physical arousal and desire. Passion often takes the
form of sexual longing, but any strong emotional need that is satisfied by ones
partner fits this category. The heat in loving relationships is assumed to come
from passion, and the warmth from intimacy ; in contrast, commitment reflects a
decision that may not be emotional or temperamental at all.
Commitment: includes the decisions to devote oneself to a relationship and to
work to maintain it. It is mainly cognitive in nature, whereas intimacy is
emotional and passion is a motive, or drive
In Sternbergs Triangular Theory of Love each of these three components is said to be
one side of a triangle that describes the love two people share. Each component can
vary in intensity from low to high so that triangles of various sizes and shapes are
possible.
*Liking/friendship= Intimacy
*Infatuated love= passion
*Fatuous love= Passion+commitment
*Empty Love= Commitment
*Romantic Love=Intimacy+Passion
*Companionate= Intimacy+commitment
3. Understand the role of excitation transfer and misattribution in Hatfield and
Berscheids view that love is a function of arousal plus the belief that another
person caused the arousal. Know whether the evidence supports excitation
transfer and misattribution or other factors (i.e., rewards or response facilitation)
as the crucial reason why fear elicits passionate attraction.
Excitation transfer occurs when arousal caused by one event fuels stronger
emotional reactions to a second, unrelated event.
Our combined feelings are then thought to be caused only by the second event,
which seems more influential than it really is.
Misattributions: mistakes in interpreting our feelings and theryeby feel attraction
to others that is exaggerated or misplaced.
4. Describe the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral
experience of
passionate love, indicating whether it is an all-positive
experience. Discuss the importance of PEA.
Proposal that passionate attraction is rooted in 2 factors: physiological arousal
such as a fast heart beat and the belief that another person is the cause of your
arousal. With this, romantic love is produced or at least intensified. ---the
exhilaration and euphoria of high arousal, and various events that excite us may
increase our feelings of love
Thought: our judgments may also be linked to romance, with lovers thinking
about each other in way that differ from the way they think of their friends.---the
Love Scale portrays romantic love as a multifaceted experience that involves both
giving(i.e. caring) and taking(i.e. dependence).
The arousal and cognition that characterize romantic, passionate love involve
surging emotion, imagination and idealization, and occasional obsession. And it is
the presence of this complex, hectic state that leads most of north America to
consider marriage.
5. Know about the interplay of love and thoughts including (a) the implications of
Rubins Liking and Loving scales for how we think about friends versus lovers,
(b) the relationships between the frequency of thoughts about our partners and our
love for them, (c) evidence that we hold rosy views of our romantic partners, and
(d) how love alters our thoughts about ourselves.
a.)Implications for Rubins Liking and Loving scales for how we think of our
friends vs lovers:
b.) Themes in the items on the Love Scale:
-Intimacy: I feel that I can confide in my partner about virtually anything
-Attachment: If I could never be with my partner, I would be miserable.
-Caring: I would do almost anything for my partner.
c.) evidence that we hold rosy views of our romantic partners: love is blind:
people underestimate or ignore their lovers faults. They hold idealized images of
their lovers that may differ in meaningful ways from the concrete realities they
face. In fact, a major difference between love and friendship may be our
imaginations-our lovers are fascinating, mysterious, and appealing in ways our
friends are not. when men expected to date a woman, they thought her lousy
work was much better than it really was.
d.) Even our thoughts about ourselves can change when we fall in love. Arthur
and Elaine Arons self-expansion model suggests that love causes our selfconcepts to expand and change as our partners bring us new experiences and new
roles, and we graduatlly learn things about ourselves that we didnt know before.
Describe companionate love and differentiate it from compassionate love and
romantic love.
Companionate love: intimacy and commitment combine to form love for a close
companion. Here, closeness, communication, and sharing are coupled with
substantial investment in the relationship as the partners work to maintain a deep,
long-term friendship. It does not depend on passion. This type of love is
epitomized by a long, happy marriage in which the couples youthful passion has
gradually died down. This type of love seems to endure longer than passionate
love for most people. Has a physiological foundation that differs from that of
romantic love. The neuropeptide oxytocin, which promotes relaxation and reduces
stress, seems to be involvedthe production of this may provide a biological
basis for feelings of companionate love.
Passionate love: an intense state of longing for union with another. Can come in
the form of both exstacy and anguish
7. Identify Lees six different styles of loving and discuss how they could incorporate
into Sternbergs model.
Sociologist did a cluster analysis to see the different types of themes in love and
looking at the different ways people describe their types of love. This scheme
describes 6 types of love experiences. It brings back concepts that were developed
in Greek civilization
Styles of loving:
o Eros- erotic love with a strong physical component. A lot of strong
physical attraction
o Ludus- Playful and uncommitted; love is a game. Playful in love and it is a
game. Not long term
o Storge- Love that emphasizes friendship and commitment. Friendship
love. Prefers slow developing type of attachment that is more long term.
o Mania- possessive, obsessive love that is full of fantasy. Very demanding
and possessive. Can also bring negative emotions. Gives that feeling of
out of control
o Agape- altruistic, selfless, dutiful love. You want to do things for the other
person without receiving anything in return
o Pragma- Practical and Pragmatic, dispassionate love. Logical and
practical, regarding job, ethnicity, race, etc.
** On average, men tend to score higher on Eros and Ludus.
Women tend to endorse more Pragma, Storge, and Mania. This could be more societal
because they dont have as much control in relationships, therefore, they become more
possessive.
-Most appealing: Agape and Storge
-Less appealing: Ludus
8. Explain some of the cultural differences related to love and marriage.
After two years of marriage, average spouses express affection for each other only
half as often as they did when they were newlyweds .
Divorces occur more frequently in the fourth year of marriage than at any other
time.
It takes a little more reminding and more effort to show love to each other and tell
the other how you feel about them. By the fourth year, marriages are most likely
to be doomed than ever.
It is important to keep saying I love you and to remind that person how important
they are in your life.
9. Know about how bipedalism may be related to the development of love in humans.
10. Know how the obstetric dilemma may be related to the development of love in
humans.
11. Does Love last and why or why not.
In general, romantic love decreases after people marry, sometimes quite rapidly.
Romance and passion involve fantasy, novelty, and arousal, and each fades with time.
Companionate love is very satisfying and is more stable than romantic love is. If
lovers are good friends and work to battle boredom, they may improve their chances
for a long, contented relationship.
At the conclusion of Chapter 9, students should be able to:
1. Report on attitudes toward casual sex and how it varies between men and women
and across cultures.
Peoples attitudes about sex have become more permissive over time. Today, most
people tolerate unmarried sex if the partners care for each other, but a sexual
double standard may still lead us to judge womens sexuality more harshly than
mens.
Sexual attitudes in the U.S. are relatively conservative compared to those of
people in many other countries.
These days, fewer than 25% of us think the premarital sex is always or almost
always wrong. Most people now feel that sex outside marriage is permissible but
the circumstances matter.
2. Describe attitudes toward premarital sex, indicating how these attitudes are a
function of historical time period, gender and the intimacy of the relationship
involved. Provide a synopsis of permissiveness with affection and double
standards, indicating which seems to have the greatest empirical support.
Almost all of us have sex before we marry, and the first time usually involves a
steady close relationship. If the partners arent close, regret typically follows.
People have sex for diverse reasons, and their relationship status, age, and sexual
orientation all influence the frequency with which sex occurs.
Most of us still disapprove of sex between people who are not committed to each
other.
Thus, we endorse a permissiveness with affection standard: we believe that sex
between unmarried partners is acceptable as long as it occurs in the context of a
committed relationship.
There is clearly an accepted prerequisite of relational attachment and affection as
the most appropriate context for sexual activity.
Men hold more permissive sexual values and attitudes
Men are more likely than women to enjoy sex without intimacy, whereas women
prefer sexual activities to be part of a psychologically intimate relationship
Men have more permissive attitudes towards extramarital sex than women do
Most Americans strongly disapprove of a married person having sex with
someone besides his or her spouse.
Sexual double standard: men who have multiple sexual partners may be admired
as studs women with the same number of partners may be dismissed as sluts
men and women who are promiscuous both tend to be evaluated negatively by
others.
However a woman with a sexually transmitted infection is judged more harshly
than a man is.
So, a strong sexual double standard no longer seems to exist, but a persons sex
can still influence peoples evaluations of his or her sexual experiences.
3. Report trends in attitudes toward homosexuality and reasons to believe the trend
of the end of the 20th century may continue. Place the attitudes of North
Americans in cross-cultural perspective.
Americans do not consider homosexuality to be an acceptable lifestyle if they
think sexual orientation is a choice. Nevertheless, there is no empirical basis for
denying gays and lesbians the legal benefits of civil unions.
Sexual attitudes in the U.S. are relatively conservative compared to those people
in many other countries.
People consider homosexuality to be an acceptable lifestyle when they believe
that sexual orientation results from biological influences that occur before we are
born.
People find homosexuality unacceptable if they believe it is learned or chosen as a
result of ones upbringing.
The more contact people have with gays and lesbians, the more favorable their
feelings toward them tend to be.
The number of people who believe that ones sexuality is already set at birthday
has been gradually increasing over recent years, so that more people now believe
that homosexuality is born rather than made.
The sexual attitudes of Americans look surprisingly conservative when compared
to the opinions expressed by people in many other countries.
Denmark has been registering gay and lesbian relationships as civil unions since
1989
Norway have been doing so since 1993
Sweden since 1995
Agreements across all cultures: all countries tended to disapprove of extramarital
sex, but the US was consistently among the most conservative countries with
regard to beliefs about sex before marriage, sex before 16, extramarital sex, and
same-sex relations.
Canada was more permissive than the US on all the measures, so countries that
are close neighbors do not necessarily share the same sexual attitudes.
Historical, religious, and political influences contribute to these cultural
differences, but things may be changing but Americans still hold relatively
conservative sexual attitudes.
4. Specify the average age of first intercourse among American youth, indicating the
trend in the virginity rate. Identify the reasons youths give for having or not
having sex and empirical predictors of their activity.
The average age of first sex is now 17 for both men and women. By age 20,
rather few of us (15%) have not had sex yet.
American teens are more responsible than they used to be
Most adolescents use some form of birth control when they first have sex, and
the teen birth rate is much loer than it was 15 years ago
American teen though are not being careful enough: more than one out of four
femal teens in the US has and STI.
When sex follows love and commitment, positive result
When it doesnt, sex typically turns out to be an unwelcome development that
results in uncertainty and regret.
Men are more likely than women to regret NOT having had sex with
someone. Men regret not pursuing a sexual opportunity more often than
women do.
5. Spell out how relationship status, age, and sexual orientation influence how often
committed partners desire and actually have sex. Indicate how gender, sexual
orientation, sociosexuality, relationship quality, and equity predict the likelihood
of sexual infidelity.
Four themes underly the list of reasons for sex:
Emotional component as a communication of love and commitment
Physical aspect invludes the physical pleasure to be gained from sex and
the physical attractiveness of a potential partner.
Pragmatic reasons involving the wish to attain some goal or accomplish
some objective that could range from making a baby to making someone
jealous
Insecure reasons involving the desire to boost ones self-esteem or to keep
a partner from staying.
The frequency with which people have sex is influenced by the nature-and
duration-of their relationships.
Another important factors associated with sexual frequency is a persons
age: Older people generally have less sex than younger people do.
Final factor associated with sexual frequency is sexual orientation. When
their relationships are young, gay men have more sex with their parnters
than lesbians or heterosexuals do.
When their relationships are young, gay men have more sex than lesbians
or heterosexuals.
After then years together, everybody has sex less often, but the drop in
frequency is greater for gays and they end up having sex less frequently
than heterosexuals do.
Infidelity
Most people strongly disapprove of someone who is in a
committed relationship and engaging in extradyadic sex (having
sex outside the dyad, or couple, with someone other than ones
partner)
21% of women and 32% of men had been sexually unfaithful to
their romantic partners at least once. ]most husbands and wives
never have sex with other people after they mary, but about 1/5
wives and 1/3 husbands do.
Men are more likely to cheatthey hold more positive attitudes
towards casual sex and often pursue extradyadic sex for the sake of
sexual variety (whereas women are seeing an emotional
connection)
Men and women who are cohabiting are more likely to have sex
with other people than married people
The different styles of the sexes are visible in the same-sex
relationships of gay and lesbian couples, where male and female
fidelity operate free of the influence of the other sex.
Gay men have a lot more extradyadic sex than both lesbian women
and heterosexual men, but they may not be cheating on their
partners.
Men cheat more than women do, and they are more likely than
women to have an unrestricted sociosexual orientation (the traitlike collections of beliefs and behaviors that describe our
feelings about sex)
Individual differences in sociosexuality were discovered by
Simpson and Gangestad (1991), who measured the respondents
sociosexual orientations.
They found that the people who were generally willing to have sex
only in the context of a committed and affectionate relationship
were said to have a restricted sociosexual orientation; whereas
those who did not seek much closeness or commitment before
pursuing sex were said to have unrestricted sociosexuality.
People with unrestricted orientations-those who get high scores on
the Sociosexual Orientation Inventory in rhe box- tend to be
dynamic, flirtatious who are always on the prowl for new partners,
drink a lot of alcohol, more commen for men.
Sociosexuality is associated with the likelihood that people will
have extradyadic sex.
Unrestricted people have more sexual partners and more likely to
cheat
Sociosexuality is a meaningful characteristic that distinguishes
those who are likely to cheat from those who are not
Evolutionary perspective argues that extradyadic sex can have
reproductive benefits for some women, and in response to such
challenges, men have adapted.
Unhappy lovers who have tempting alternatives available to them
are less likely to remain faithful. If they do cheat, women are more
likely to break up and begin a new long-term relationship with the
new mate. Women are more likely to switch mates as a result of
an affair.
Both men and women are more likely to pursue extradyadic sex
when the sex they have with their current partners is boring or not
frequent with their tastes. Women are especially likely to cheat
when they want more sex than their partners do.
6. Discuss the effectiveness of AIDS education and safe sex programs in three
populations: younger men, older men, and intravenous drug users. Discuss hookups.
Specify how specific attitudes towards condoms, alcohol, illusions of invulnerability,
and general attitudes toward sex influence use of condoms.
Hookups: sexual interactions with nonromantic partners that usually last one night
and that do not involve any expectation of a lasting relationship
Most college students have had sexual interactions with casual partners that last
only one night.
About half of these interactions involve intercourse or oral sex, and when
intercourse occurs, condoms are used only half the time
Some people dont carry condoms because they find it awkward or embarrassing.
Some people also forget to put it on when they are intoxicated from alcohol.
7. Indicate how the frequency of sex is associated with sexual and relational
satisfaction and note the complexities in the basic patterns as a function of such
factors as the match between ideal and actual sexual frequency, frequency of
arguments in the relationships, and the partners participation in non-sexual
activities together. Use the Interpersonal Exchange Model and equity
propositions to predict sexual satisfaction; discriminate between the impact of
being over - versus underbenefited and the note the role of equity in sexual
expression.
(Nicole: This is all I have on anything to do with Frequency)
Lesbians have the lowest frequency of sex
Gays have the highest frequency. This could be due to the fact that men are more
opportunistic.
Two highly avoidant partners will have the lowest frequency of sex
Two people who are anxious will feel the more pressures- both have the highest
rate of frequency
8. Identify the patterns, including gender differences that can be found in
communicating sexual desire, agreeing to sexual initiations, and discussing
specific sexual issues. Cite evidence that clear communication is linked with
sexual satisfaction. Indicate gender differences in the perception of possible
sexual situations.
Men have higher sex dives than women do. They experience more frequent and
more intense sexual desires and are routinely more motivated to engage in sex
than women are.
Men masturbate more often. Almost half of all men who have a regular partner
still masturbate more than once a week whereas only 16 percent of women do as
frequently.
9. Discriminate among different forms of sexual aggression, reporting incident data
and three general conclusions that can be drawn from it. Discuss the role of
communication in sexual aggression.
13% of women and 3% of men have been victims of rape
22% of women and 14% of men have been victims of sexual assault
Men are more likely to engage in sexual behavior, and women are more likely to
be victims
Antioch Colleges sexual consent policy- when student enroll, they have to sign a
contract showing they understand when yes means yes and no means no
10. Know the prevailing theories of Human Sexuality.
11. Know some of the historic developments on the study of human sexuality.