Functional and Dysfunctional Sexual Behavior (eBook)

A Synthesis of Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology

Anders Agmo (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2011 | 1. Auflage
512 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-0-08-054938-5 (ISBN)

Infos

Functional and Dysfunctional Sexual Behavior explores the full consequences of the dissociation between sexual behaviors and reproduction. Among the themes covered is the difference between the stereotyped sexual behaviors in non-human mammals and the astounding variety of human sexual behaviors. The role of learning in shaping sexual behaviors is explained, and it is shown how particular sexual experiences may be at the origin of common human sexual dysfunctions. Chapters on sexual incentives and a summary of the endocrine and central nervous control of sexual behaviors are included. - Analyzes the origin and foundations of some of the myths surrounding sexual behaviors - Highlights how learning shape human sexual behaviors - Provides an overview of the endocrine and neural regulation of mammalian sexual behaviors - Presents a comprehensive analysis of human sexual desire disorders - Employs many entertaining examples for illustrating main points - Written by a scientist thoroughly familiar with the research literature - Presents examples of translational sex research

Inhalt

Front Cover 1
Functional and Dysfunctional Sexual Behavior 4
Copyright Page 5
Contents 6
Preface 12
Introduction 16
Chapter 1 On the purpose of sex and some notes on scientific explanations 24
1 On the definition of sexual behavior 24
2 The relationship between biological function and the causation of behavior 26
2.1 Teleology 26
2.2 Cause–effect relationships 29
3 The coincidence between Darwinian and Judæo-Christian views on human sexual behavior 33
3.1 The biological analysis of sexual behavior in the context of evolution and natural selection 33
3.2 Saint Augustine and sex: the poena reciproca and the role of love 36
4 If sex is not for reproduction, what is it for? 41
5 The high cost of the imposed association between sexual behavior and reproduction 42
6 Differences and similarities between sex and other primary needs like food and drink 45
Chapter 2 An incentive motivational framework and the description of sexual behaviors 53
1 Sexual motivation: theoretical framework 53
2 Copulatory behaviors 58
2.1 On the importance of the distinction between approach behaviors and the execution of copulatory reflexes 59
2.2 Male copulatory behavior 62
2.3 Female copulatory behavior 70
2.4 Copulatory behavior in men and women 77
2.5 The relationship between sexual desire (motivation) and excitation (arousal) 91
Chapter 3 The stimulus control of sexual incentive motivation: non-human mammals 100
1 Introduction 100
2 Detection of a potential mate and the activation of sexual incentive motivation: behavioral considerations 101
2.1 The incentive stimulus 101
2.2 Auditory sexual incentive stimuli in rats and mice 104
2.3 Conclusions concerning auditory sexual incentive stimuli (ultrasonic vocalizations) in rodents 122
3 Olfactory sexual incentive stimuli 127
3.1 The accessory olfactory system 128
3.2 The main olfactory system 143
3.3 Other potentially chemosensitive structures in the nose 151
4 Visual incentive stimuli 154
5 General conclusion concerning sexual incentive stimuli in non-human animals 156
Chapter 4 The stimulus control of sexual incentive motivation: the human 170
1 Introduction 170
2 Human sexual incentive stimuli: visceral reactions 175
2.1 General comments 175
2.2 Endocrine responses to sexual incentives 176
2.3 Enhanced genital blood flow 177
3 Human sexual incentive stimuli: approach behaviors 183
3.1 Visual incentive stimuli 183
3.2 Chemicals as human sexual incentives 185
4 Human sexual incentives outside of the laboratory 194
4.1 General 194
4.2 Dorothy Tennov's concept of limerence as an approximation to sexual incentive motivation 195
4.3 Human sexual incentives and social learning 197
5 An unkind note on sociobiology or evolutionary psychology 201
Chapter 5 Endocrine control of sexual behavior 214
1 Males 214
1.1 The importance of testicular hormones in men 214
1.2 The importance of testicular hormones in non-human males 218
1.3 The role of testosterone metabolites in non-human males 219
1.4 The role of aromatization in men 221
1.5 Conclusion concerning the role of aromatization 223
1.6 Studies on knockout mice 223
1.7 Studies on men with spontaneous gene deletions 227
1.8 Conclusions concerning the hormonal control of male sexual behavior 229
2 Females 230
2.1 The role of ovarian hormones in non-primate female mammals 230
2.2 The role of ovarian and adrenal hormones in female primates 232
2.3 Hormones and sexual behavior in women 237
2.4 Variations in women's sexual behavior during the menstrual cycle 239
2.5 Changes in women's sexual behavior at menopause 241
2.6 The role of androgens in women 242
3 General conclusion 244
Chapter 6 Neural control of sexual behavior 254
1 The male 254
1.1 Introduction 254
1.2 The medial preoptic area: motivation or execution 255
1.3 A note on lordosis in male rats and the influence of the medial preoptic area and of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus 256
1.4 The potential role of the prefrontal cortex 257
1.5 Effects of other brain lesions on male sexual behavior 258
1.6 A comment on the importance of lesion size 259
1.7 Indirect estimations of nervous activity in association with sexual behavior 259
2 The female 262
2.1 Introduction 262
2.2 The ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus 263
2.3 The preoptic area 265
2.4 On the importance of other brain sites inferred from studies of copulation-induced brain activation 266
2.5 Conclusion concerning the neural control of female sexual behavior in non-human mammals 268
2.6 A reciprocal inhibitory relationship between the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus and the preoptic area: neural circuits forming the basis for the bisexual potential 269
2.7 Central nervous control of sexual behavior in the human female 270
3 General conclusion 272
Chapter 7 Learning and sex: Sexual activity as reinforcement and reward 280
1 An ultrashort introduction to the principles of learning 280
2 Habituation of sexual responses 283
2.1 Studies in non-human mammals 283
2.2 Studies in humans 287
2.3 A note on habituation in long-term relationships 288
3 Sensitization of sexual responses 290
4 Classical conditioning of sexual responses 292
4.1 Non-human studies 292
4.2 Human studies 295
5 Sexual activity as reinforcement for operant learning 298
5.1 Studies in non-human mammals 298
5.2 Studies in humans 305
6 Social learning of sexual responses 305
7 Conclusions regarding sexual responses and learning 307
8 The sexual reward 308
8.1 The positive affect: behavioral data 308
8.2 The positive affect: neurotransmitters 311
9 General conclusion 314
Chapter 8 Preference for same sex partners: Basic concepts and its occurrence in non-human mammals 321
1 Concepts 321
1.1 The concept of preference 321
1.2 The concept of homosexual behavior: a source of much confusion 322
1.3 Another confusing concept: sexually dimorphic behaviors 323
1.4 Preferences for sexual motor patterns 327
1.5 Beyond dimorphisms and homosexual behaviors 329
2 Preference for a particular sex: non-human mammals 329
2.1 Introduction 329
2.2 Studies in intact mammals 330
2.3 Search for experimentally induced same-sex preferences 340
2.4 Endocrine events during puberty and their possible importance for sexual preferences 353
Chapter 9 Preference for same sex partners in the human 359
1 The search for a biological foundation for preferences for the same sex 359
1.1 The homosexual gene 360
1.2 The homosexual brain 363
1.3 The homosexual scalp and hand 366
2 Preference versus orientation: the role of will and other issues 368
3 Acceptability of same-sex behaviors and the role of willfulness 372
4 Problems with the use of the concept of homosexuality and the category of homosexual in scientific research 375
4.1 Uncertainties associated with classification and the notion of stability 375
4.2 Homosexual behaviors: a lesson from history and some observational data pertinent to the issues of classification and stability 377
5 Sexual preferences can be explained by incentive motivation theory without any reference to the concept of homosexuality 382
6 Empirical support for an explanation of same-sex preferences in incentive motivational terms 385
7 The human is not simply another mammal 396
8 A note on homosexual identity 398
Chapter 10 Some comments on the concepts of 'normal' or 'functional' sexual behavior 403
1 Introduction 403
2 The notion of normal versus abnormal 403
3 Sexual function and dysfunction 409
4 A short note on non-human mammals 412
Chapter 11 Hypoactive sexual desire disorder 415
1 Introduction 415
2 Diagnostic criteria 416
3 Epidemiology 418
4 Etiology 420
4.1 General 420
4.2 An incentive motivation/learning account of the origin of hypoactive sexual desire disorder 422
4.3 Some rat data supporting the incentive motivation/learning model and a note on the relationship between desire and motivation 424
4.4 Potential endocrine causes of hypoactive sexual desire disorder 428
4.5 Other potential causes 430
4.6 A curious observation of some consequence 431
4.7 Conclusion 432
5 Treatment 432
5.1 Psychotherapeutic procedures 432
5.2 Pharmacological treatments 437
6 General conclusion concerning hypoactive sexual desire disorder 444
Chapter 12 Hyperactive sexual desire and the paraphilias 453
1 Introduction 453
2 Hyperactive sexual desire 454
2.1 The search for diagnostic criteria 454
2.2 A proposal for diagnostic criteria 460
2.3 Epidemiology and etiology 461
2.4 Treatment 466
3 The paraphilias 467
3.1 General 467
3.2 Exhibitionism 467
3.3 Fetishism 476
3.4 Pedophilia 481
4 General conclusion 491
Chapter 13 On the omissions 499
Index 504
A 504
B 504
C 504
D 505
E 505
F 505
G 505
H 506
I 506
K 507
L 507
M 507
N 507
O 508
P 508
R 509
S 509
T 511
U 511
V 511
W 512

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 18.4.2011
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Biopsychologie / Neurowissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Klinische Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sexualität / Partnerschaft
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Test in der Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Medizinische Fachgebiete ► Innere Medizin ► Endokrinologie
• Themenwelt: Studium ► 1. Studienabschnitt (Vorklinik) ► Biochemie / Molekularbiologie
• ISBN-10: 0-08-054938-1 / 0080549381
• ISBN-13: 978-0-08-054938-5 / 9780080549385