Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

358 Chapter 
11 
Sexuality and Gender
Physiological Aspects 
of Sexual Excitement: 
What Turns People On?
If you were to argue that the major human sex organ is the brain, in a sense you 
would be right. Much of what is considered sexually arousing in our society has 
little or nothing to do with our genitals; instead, it is related to external stimuli 
that, through a process of learning, have come to be labeled as erotic, or sexually 
stimulating. 
For example, there are no areas of the body that automatically produce sexual 
arousal when touched. Areas of the body, called
 erogenous zones, 
that have an 
unusually rich array of nerve receptors are particularly sensitive not just to sexual 
touch but to any kind of touch. When a physician touches a breast or a penis, the 
information sent to the brain by the nerve cells is essentially the same as that sent 
when a sexual partner touches that spot. What differs is the interpretation given to 
the touch. Sexual arousal is likely only when a certain part of the body is touched 
in what people defi ne as a sexual manner and when a person is receptive to sexual 
activity (Gagnon, 1977; Goldstein, 2000).
Although people can learn to respond sexually to almost any stimulus, there is 
a good deal of agreement within a society or culture about what usually represents 
an erotic stimulus. In many Western societies breast size is often the standard by 
which female appeal is measured, but in many other cultures breast size is irrelevant 
(Rothblum, 1990; Furnham & Swami, 2007). 
Sexual fantasies also play an important role in producing sexual arousal. Not 
only do people have fantasies of a sexual nature during their everyday activities; 
about 60% of all people have fantasies during sexual intercourse. In fact, such fanta-
sies often include having sex with someone other than one’s partner of the moment 
(Hicks & Leitenberg, 2001; Trudel, 2002; Critelli & Bivona, 2008). 
Men’s and women’s fantasies differ little from each other in terms of content or 
quantity, although men seem to fantasize about sex more than women do. But both 
men and women wish they kissed more, engaged in more oral sex, and had vaginal 
intercourse more frequently than they actually do (Hsu et al., 1994; Shulman & 
Horne, 2006; Santtila, et al., 2008).
The Phases of Sexual 
Response: The Ups 
and Downs of Sex
Although the kinds of stimuli that produce sexual arousal are to some degree unique 
to each individual, we all share some basic aspects of sexual responsiveness. Accord-
ing to pioneering work done by William Masters and Virginia Johnson (1966), who 
studied sexual behavior in carefully controlled laboratory settings, sexual responses 
follow a regular pattern consisting of four phases: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and 
resolution. Although other researchers argue that sexual responses proceed some-
what differently (e.g., Kaplan, 1974; Zilbergeld & Ellison, 1980), Masters and John-
son’s research is the most widely accepted account of what happens when people 
become sexually excited (Masters & Johnson, 1994).