FRHD 2100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Sexual Arousal, Strain Gauge, Naturalistic Observation

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Family Relations and Human Development
• Course: FRHD 2100
• Professor: Robin Milhausen

Document Summary

Unit 1: using theory and research to understand. Set of ideas/concepts used to explain a set of observed facts. Provides a framework for explaining/predicting sexual thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours. Species have evolved through the process of natural selection. Better adapted members are more likely to survive, reproduce, and transmit traits. Genetic basis to social and sexual behaviour. Humans today carry traits that helped ancestors survive and reproduce. Women and men have different biological roles which results in different mating strategies. Men: short term, attracted to cues of fertility. Women: long term, attracted to cues of resources and commitment. Social and cultural forces shape levels/expression of sexual drive. Women are more responsive than men to cultural permissiveness/restraint. Men"s behaviours are more consistent with attitudes than women"s. Human behaviour represents the outcome of clashing inner forces. We are born with biologically-based sex drives, channelled through socially approved outlets. The ego protects the conscious mind through defense mechanisms (ex. repression)