Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

R E T H I N K
1.
Why do you think humans differ from other species in 
their year-round receptivity to sex and in the number and 
variety of stimuli they perceive as sexual? What evolution-
ary purpose might this difference serve in humans?
2.
From the perspective of a sex counselor : How do people learn 
to be aroused by the stimuli that their society considers 
erotic? When do they learn this, and where does the mes-
sage come from?
 Answers to Evaluate Questions 
1.
1-b, 2-a, 3-c, 4-d; 
2.
r
efractory;
3.
false; women ar
e receptive 
throughout their cycle 
androgens p. 356
genitals p. 356
estrogens p. 356
progesterone p. 356
ovulation p. 356
erogenous zones p. 358
excitement phase p. 359
plateau phase p. 359
orgasm p. 359
resolution stage p. 359
refractory period p. 359
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362
A boy who practices this habit can never be the best that Nature intended him to be. 
His wits are not so sharp. His memory is not so good. His power of fi xing his attention 
on whatever he is doing is lessened . . . A boy like this is a poor thing to look at . . . 
[He is] untrustworthy, unreliable, untruthful, and probably even dishonest (Schofi eld & 
Vaughan-Jackson, 1913, pp. 30–42). 
The cause of this condition: masturbation—at least according to the authors of the 
early 1900s sex manual What Every Boy Should Know . The consequences of masturba-
tion for women were considered no less severe. In the words of one 19th-century 
physician, “There is hardly an end to the diseases caused by masturbation: dyspep-
sia, spinal disease, headache, epilepsy, various kinds of fi ts . . . impaired eyesight, 
palpitation of the heart, pain in the side and bleeding at the lungs, spasm of the 
heart, and sometimes sudden death” (Gregory, 1856). 
Such views may seem as bizarre and far-fetched to you as they do to contempo-
rary experts on human sexual behavior. However, at one time they were considered 
perfectly sound by quite reasonable people. Indeed, trivia buffs might be interested 
to learn that corn fl akes owe their invention to a 19th-century physician, J. W. Kel-
logg, who believed that the enjoyment of tasty food provoked sexual excitation so 
an alternative of “unstimulating” grains was needed. 
Clearly, sex and sex-related behavior are infl uenced by expectations, attitudes, 
beliefs, and the state of medical and biological knowledge in a given period. Today 
we know that sexual behavior may take diverse forms, and much of what was once 
seen as “unnatural” and “lewd” is often more likely to be accepted in contemporary 
society. Similarly, sexual behavior that is commonplace in one culture is seen as 
appalling in others. For instance, seven societies are known in which kissing never 
occurs (Ford & Beach, 1951; Mason, 1995). In sum, distinctions between normal and 
abnormal sexual behavior are not easy to draw. This reality certainly hasn’t pre-
vented people from trying to draw them, however.