Love and Sexual Issues

 There are psychological theories that would explain why

people fall in love
1. Behavioral Reinforcement Theory – when someone
receives a reward, a positive feeling may be experienced.
The better the feelings associated with the behavior, the
more that the behavior is repeated.
Ex: attention, gifts, other favors
2. Physiological Arousal Theory – our bodies experience a
physiological change then we assign an emotion to that
change.
Ex: a girl who sees her crush would experience heart and
respiratory elevation but we would interpret it as ‘love’ or
‘crush’. But if a spider falls in front of us the same heart and
respiratory elevation may happen but we would interpret it
as ‘fear’
3. Evolutionary Theories – male seeks a female who is
physically attractive to carry their offspring while female
seeks a male who can support her and their offspring
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LOVE
 Physical attractiveness (though beauty is
in the eye of the beholder)
 Reciprocity (liking those who also like us)
 Proximity (being around anytime,
physically or virtually)
 Similarities (age, religion, education, race,
both physically attractive, intelligence,
socio-economic class, etc.)

Factors to determine with whom

people fall in love
 Human sexual behavior is an activity
either solitary, by pair or by group which
induces sexual arousal.
 But not all sexual arousal lead to sexual
activity.
 Humans are constantly exposed to sexual
stimuli, either through an attractive
person, an advertisement, movies and
shows with sexual themes. Thus, it should
be regulated. There should be a balance
on when and where to properly express
and suppress it.

DIVERSITY OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

1. Sociosexual behavior – involving more than
one person. It is generally expressed in
heterosexual and homosexual behavior.
2. Solitary behavior – self stimulation or self-
masturbation
-while it may relieve stress, improve fertility,
and lower the chance of getting prostate
cancer, if it begins to interfere with your life
such as frequently missing work or social
engagements, then it is a sign of a problem.
*Erotic dreams, nocturnal emission or wet
dreams

DIVERSITY OF SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

 Exhibitionism
 Voyeurism
 Sexual
sadism and
masochism

Sexual behaviors considered

wrong or deviant
- A person’s predisposition or inclination
regarding sexual behavior, emotional
attachment or physical attraction to one
or both sexes (Rosenthal, 2013)

Orientation vs. Preference

SEXUAL ORIENTATION
1. HOMOSEXUAL – a person whose sexual
orientation is toward another of the same
sex.
a. Lesbian – a woman whose sexual
and romantic attraction is toward women.
b. Gay – a man whose sexual and
romantic orientation is towards other men

SEXUAL ORIENTATION
2. HETEROSEXUAL - a person whose
sexual orientation is toward others of the
opposite sex.

3. BISEXUAL – a person who may be

sexually orientated to both men and
women.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION
4. PANSEXUAL – a new sexual orientation
of persons who are sexually attracted to
people regardless of their sex or gender
identity.

Pan – greek word for ‘all or every’

-also called gender blind , more ‘fluid’

-aside from men and women, they may
also be attracted to transgender,
transsexuals, androgynous, and other
gender categories

SEXUAL ORIENTATION
5. TRANSGENDER – broad spectrum of
individuals who persistently identify with a
gender different from their natal gender.
-most go through Sex Reassignment
Surgery.

- gender dysphoria – distress that may

accompany the incongruence between
one’s expressed gender or gender identity
and one’s assigned gender.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION
- Diseases contracted though
sexual contact with an
infected individual. It is an
increasing health problem.

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS

1. GENITAL HERPES – caused by a large
family of viruses of different strains. These
strains also produce other non-sexually
transmitted disease such as chicken pox.

2. GENITAL WARTS – caused by human

papillomavirus. They are very contagious
and are commonly acquired in the US in
15-24 age group.

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS

3. GONORRHEA – thrives in the moist
mucuous membranes linings of the mouth,
throat, vagina, cervix, urethra, and the anal
tract.
Symptoms:
Males – discharge from the penis and
burning sensations during urination
*complication may lead to prostate,
bladder, and kidney problems as well as
sterility.
Females – irritating vaginal discharge
*complication may lead to infertility

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS

4. SYPHILIS – if left untreated, it may
progress through 4 phases:
1. Primary - Sores appear
2. Secondary - General skin rashes occur
3. Latent – no overt symptoms which may
last for several years
4. Tertiary – cardiovascular disease,
blindness, paralysis, skin ulcer, liver
damage, mental problem and death

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS

5. CHLAMYDIA – the most common
urinary tract and bladder infection as
well as vaginal yeast infection

6. HIV AND AIDS (separate slides)

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS