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Quizlet

Are there differences between males and females in their experience of love?
- Neither sex loves more than the other
Males and females respond similarly to:
- Love at first sight
- Passionate love
- Companionate love
- The heartbreak of unrequited love
- Secure and insecure attachment
- The pain of breaking up
However, the expression of love often differs between men and women
- Men express love by doing
- Women express love by saying
- Differences reflect adherence to gender roles and norms about masculinity and femininity
Differences between men and women may also reflect historical social, economic, and cultural influences
- “Marrying for love” is a new idea
- Women married for status or security; men had more flexibility
- Women entering the workforce produced greatest norm changes

Historically neglected topic of study
- “People have it, right?”
Pioneering research by Alfred Kinsey
- Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948)
- Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953)
- Brought to light the previously undiscussed sexual lives of American women
Masters and Johnson
- Bodily processes involved in sex and orgasm
- Four stages of sexual response cycle:
- Desire, arousal, orgasm, resolution

Do men and women differ in their biologically-based drive for sexual experiences?
Base-rates differ
- Men have higher rates of almost every sexual behavior (e.g., masturbation, fantasizing, casual sex)
Differences may be due to differing roles and experiences
- Causal sex may not be as gratifying to women
- Greater risk of harm and unwanted pregnancy
- Social stigma
Taking a balanced perspective may be most accurate

Differences between males’ and females’ behavior is due to species’ survival needs
For males: adaptive to mate with as many females as possible
- Increases likelihood of genes passing to future generations
For females: adaptive to select best genetic offer
- Can only produce a limited number of offspring; each pregnancy is major biological investment
- Pick the healthiest, strongest mate possible to ensure success
- Audio 0:13:52.663790
Other adaptive aspects of sex
So what does this mean for our behaviors today?
- Audio 0:16:13.172836
- Males more promiscuous, females more faithful
- Males attracted to novelty, females attracted to stability
- Males are undiscriminating, females more particular
- Males are more competitive, females less so
Theory doesn’t hold up completely
- Actual behaviors differ from stereotypes
  - For one thing, females aren’t only having sex when ovulating
  - Men don’t go live on a mountain by themselves after impregnating as many women as possible
- Cultural differences
  - polygamy vs monogamy
  - permiscuity
    - in some cultures, severely punished
- People’s responses don’t reflect behavior
  - Audio 0:19:58.650961
  - People tend to say things that the evolutionary theory predicts, but they end up marying people because they think they’re funny or things like that.

Dispelling myths
Bringing the knowledge into our lives
Appriciate the ways that the study of psychology has shaped and continues to shape our psyche and modes of thinking
Recognize that almost all phenomena are caused by a complex interaction of factors and understand that there is rarely a straight-forward cause and effect to things
Realizing that psychology is much more than psychiatry
- It’s also knowledge of the brain
- How do we learn
- Why do we conform?
- What are our morals?
  - Audio 0:26:07.178449
End of the semester

Term	Definition
Alfred Kinsey	Pioneered research on sexual behavior in males and females
Masters and Johnson	pioneered research on bodily processes involved in sex and orgasm
False (sort of… men have a higher rate of masturbation and sex, but this might be due to factors such as social stigma)	T or F men and women have different sex drives
male sex evolution theory	Idea that it is adaptive to mate with as many females as possible
female sex evolution theory	Idea that, for females it is best to select the best genetic offer from mates