Biophysical Perspective ● How do we define sex? ○ Any activity that involves being intimate in an erotically arousing or stimulating way with someone else. ■ Between consenting adults Definition of sexual communication ○ The process through which people use messages to generate meaning about sex-related topics within and across contexts, cultures, channels, and media ■ Verbal and non verbal ■ Mediated and face-to-face (interpersonal, small group, etc) ■ Dynamic ● definition of sexual communication competence ○ The ability to choose a communication behavior that is both appropriate and effective for a sex-related situation. ● What does biophysical communication mean? ○ Nonverbal, Subconsciously leaked cues to potential mates -Cannot be controlled or stopped ● Intersexual selection ○ females choice ■ look for someone who can provide for their offspring ■ selective & discriminating in mate chouses ■ Select mates perceived to provide strong offspring ■ Prefer mates with high parental investment ■ Looking for the best possible mate ■ Looks ■ Genes ■ Personality ■ Smart ● Intrasexual selection. ○ males choice ■ engage in competition ■ struggle to win over female■ Social hierarchies, Intelligence ■ Competing to be chosen "ooh ooh pick me!" ■ Show off muscles ■ Act masculine ■ Try to come off smart ● Know the relationship between fertility, age, and physical appearance in terms of a woman’s attractiveness to a man. ● According to lecture, what are women looking for in a potential mate? ○ men who can provide for their offspring ■ Considerate ■ Honest ■ Dependable ■ Kind ■ Understanding ■ Fond of children ■ Sense of humor ■ Good earning capacity ■ Ambitious ■ Good family background ■ Tall ● What are men looking for in a potential mate? ○ Physically attractive ○ Good looking ○ Frugal ○ Intelligent ● Know what pheromones are and why they are important. ○ A chemical signal, that when released in the air, triggers specific behaviors in other members of the same species. ○ Pheromones are part of the immune system's histocompatibility complex (MHC) ● Pheromones may help you choose a partner ○ Women are more sensitive to smell. ● Our desire and ability to reproduce is transmitted through pheromones ● Women are attracted to men whose genes (MHC) are most different from their own ○ Attraction has to do with sexual selection● Know the relationship between attraction and a woman’s ovulatory cycle and the influence medical birth control has on that process. ○ Attraction varies across ovulatory cycle ○ Normally ovulating women (non-pill users) close to ovulation (perk fertility) seek out: ■ Deep masculine voices ■ Rugged masculine look ■ More confident men ■ Competitive make behaviors ■ Medicinal birth control can diminish the signals that attract men ■ Can compromise biological instinct ● Know the definition of mate guarding and the relationship between mate guarding and attractiveness and fertility. ○ Definition: Being protective over your significant other ○ men engage in behaviors to show that they are dating that woman ○ Men are sensitive to female partners' cycles ■ Engage in mate-guarding behaviors ● Attractiveness plays a role, and so does fertility ○ Less-attractive men guard more during ovulation ○ Less-attractive women are mostly mate guarded during ovulation ○ More-attractive women are mate-guarded all the time. ● Know the relationship between cheating and scent. ● There is NO cheating gene ● The more MHC variants a women shares with a partner: ○ The less sexually attracted she is to him ○ The more she rejected his sexual advances ○ The more she fantasized about other guys ○ The less aroused she felt when having sex with him ● There is NO universal scent that is an aphrodisiac. ○ Research shows some food scents are a turn on for men ● What is oxytocin and what does it do? ○ The 'hug drug' ○ Helps to explain why you may feel closer to your mate after sexSocial Attraction ● Know the definition of social attraction, how it relates to sexual attraction, and why it’s important. ○ Tendency to evaluate another person in a consistently positive way. ○ Expressed as dichotomous: Like/Dislike ● - Social attraction and sexual attraction NOT the same thing ○ Importance : ○ Closely linked with: ■ Sexual attraction ■ Relationship formation, maintenance, and satisfaction ■ Fulfilling certain human needs ● What are some ways that people form impressions? ○ Social attraction influences impression formation & judgment ■ Picture of who people are and how we feel about them ● Can vary in ○ Speed of formation ○ Form they take ● What are some shortcomings of gestalt impression formation? ● Gestalt impression formation ○ General and global impression of a person that is either positive or negative ■ Formed rapidly ■ Require little mental or communicative effort ● Shortcomings: ○ Halo Effect: more likely to form positive impressions. ○ Horn Effect: emphasis on negative information received. ○ Primacy Effect: emphasis on the first information we receive about a person. ● What are some non-physical characteristics that are related to attraction? ● Personality ○ Influences perceptions of social attraction ● Interpersonal warmth ○ Attractiveness ○ Friendliness○ Self-assuredness of facial expressions ● Competency ○ Competent -- Not competent ○ Competent -- Highly competent ■ Not attracted to people "smarter than us" ● Proximity ○ We like people close to us ○ Proximity can also breed contempt ● What is the Filter Theory of relationship development? ○ When you first meet someone, you may put more emphasis on the way they look first, but as the relationship develops over time, non-physical attributes start to become more important. ○ Or even, as the relationship develops over time, you may start to find this person to be more physically attractive ● What is Social Exchange Theory? ○ Rewards -- Costs ■ Reciprocity ■ Our secret checklist ● What is Uncertainty Management? ○ Appropriate levels of self disclosure are positively associated with social attraction ○ Increases in uncertainty often reduce liking, but too much predictability can too. ● difference between libido, sex drive,