THE EXPERIENCE CYCLE AND THE SEXUAL RESPONSE CYCLE: CONCEPTUALIZATION AND APPLICATION TO SEXUAL DYSFUNCTIONS

Abstract

The sexual response cycle as a heuristic for understanding sexual responding has emerged from sexuality literature. Another cyclic heuristic, the experience cycle, has been developed in Personal Construct Psychology (PCP) literature to conceptualize how persons anticipate, encounter, and then evaluate experiences in terms of validation/invalidation and potential need for construct system change. The present article maps these two cycles onto each other to offer a PCP framework for understanding sexual responding, sexual dysfunctions, and therapy targeting sexual function.     

THE PARTICULARITY OF ANIMALS AND OF JESUS CHRIST

Clough's theological account of animals critiques the familiar negative identification of animals as not‐human. Instead, Clough highlights both the distinctive particularity of each animal as created by God and the shared fleshly creatureliness of human and nonhuman animals. He encourages Christians to recognize Jesus Christ as God enfleshed more than divinely human, and consequently to care for nonhuman animals as those who share with human animals in the redemption of all flesh. This move risks downplaying the possibilities for creaturely specific forms of redemption; limiting the cosmic efficacy of salvation in Christ; and losing the particularity of Christ's divine and human natures. Another, possibly less risky, direction to take Clough's insights about creatureliness and well‐formed theological ethics might attend to the perverse ways that humans assess the worthiness of human and nonhuman animals by substituting particularities of use and abuse for the particularities of creation and salvation.     

SEXUAL ASSAULT HISTORY AND WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE AND SEXUAL HEALTH

Associations of sexual assault history with reproductive and sexual symptoms were evaluated in 3,419 women randomly selected from two communities. Sexual assault was associated with excessive menstrual bleeding, genital burning, and painful intercourse (whether or not attributable to disease or injury), medically explained missing two menstrual periods, and medically unexplained dysmenorrhea, menstrual irregularity, and lack of sexual pleasure. Physically violent assaults and those committed by strangers were most strongly related to reproductive symptoms. Multiple assaults, assaults accomplished by persuasion, spouse assault, and completed intercourse were most strongly related to sexual symptoms. Assault was occasionally associated more strongly with reproductive symptoms among women with lower income or less education, possibly because of economic stress or differences in assault circumstances. Associations with unexplained menstrual irregularity were strongest among African American women; ethnic differences in reported circumstances of assault appeared to account for these differences. Assault was associated with sexual indifference only among Latinas.     

THE EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL MESSAGES ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE WOMEN'S ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

To clarify the relationship between sexual communication and sexual behavior, multiple components of sexual messages recalled from child hood were examined in a community sample of 248 African-American and White women. Respondents were matched on a predesignated set of demographic variables and were interviewed using the Wyatt Sexual History Questionnaire. We anticipated that women's recollections of messages from parents and television would differ both individually and across ethnicity, and that messages recalled from parents would be multidimensional, varying in tone (positive vs. negative) across time (childhood vs. adolescence) and form (verbal vs. nonverbal). We also expected that the presence and tone of specific types of messages re called would be associated with risk-related sexual behavior. Results confirmed predictions concerning differential interpretations of messages, and ethnicity emerged as a strong mediating variable. The implications of the specific types of parental messages influencing behavior are discussed.     

THE THREE ESSAYS AND THE MEANING OF THE INFANTILE SEXUAL IN PSYCHOANALYSIS

Freud's Three Essays on Sexual Theory (1905a) are still today highly significant because of their novel way of considering the human sexual dimension. The author intends to show that a close reading of the Essays, combined with the reintroduction of the seduction theory by Jean Laplanche, provides a specific and foundational sexual theory for psychoanalysis.     

CONTRACTUALISM AND ANIMALS

Philosophical Studies -     

SEXUAL MORES,ETHICAL THEORIES,AND THE OVERPOPULATION MYTH

Some of the causes of the ‘sexual revolution’ during the past few decades are widely known: The development of relatively safe and reliable contraceptives, especially the birth‐control pill; the ‘morning after’ pill; antibiotics to relieve or cure sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, herpes, and syphilis; the increased social acceptance of pre‐marital sex, homosexuality, and other behaviors that formerly were considered deviant; and the legalization of abortion as the ultimate ‘contraceptive’. But little attention has been paid to two rather cerebral factors relevant to these developments – namely, ethical theories, and theories of overpopulation. In this paper I will argue that these two less well‐known and more subtle factors have been at least as powerful as the more obvious factors mentioned above, in bringing about sea‐changes in sexual mores. More specifically, I will argue that some implicit approaches to ethical theory are more conducive than others to bringing about the present status quo in sexual mores, and that the widespread belief in world overpopulation has not only changed the moral climate regarding sexuality, but has helped to redefine what is moral and what is immoral.     

DEVELOPMENT AND PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION OF THE INTERPERSONAL SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION SCALE

This study reports on the development and psychometric evaluation of the Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Scale (ISOS). Data from 576 college women were collected in three studies. Exploratory factor analysis uncovered two factors: Body Evaluation and Unwanted Explicit Sexual Advances; confirmatory factor analysis supported this factor structure. ISOS scores were internally consistent and stable over a 3-week period. Supporting its construct validity, ISOS scores were (a) strongly related to sexist degradation; (b) slightly to moderately related to other sexist events, self-objectification (i.e., body surveillance and internalization of the thin-ideal), and body shame; and (c) unrelated to socially desirable responding. The relationship between ISOS scores and body shame was fully mediated by self-objectification, providing additional evidence for its construct validity. Furthermore, the ISOS garnered incremental validity, as it predicted self-objectification above and beyond the variance accounted for by sexist events.     

SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND ASSAULT

An extensive body of literature has documented the widespread and damaging nature of sexual harassment and assault on college campuses, yet little research has investigated the impact of such victimization on the academic climate. This study examined experiences of sexual harassment and assault among 1,037 female undergraduate and graduate students, with a particular focus on educational outcomes. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed significant negative effects of harassment and assault on perceptions of academic climate. We also investigated the extent and effects of double victimization (i.e., experiences of both harassment and assault), as well as the relationships among sexual harassment types, incidence rates, and frequencies. Issues of sexual orientation and race/ethnicity are explored throughout the article, with membership in different groups affecting victimization incidence rates as well as harassment labeling.     

THE SEXUAL DOUBLE STANDARD

To explore the operation of the sexual double standard, 111 men and 143 women evaluated either a male or female target, described in a fictitious interview as involved in either monogamous or multiple heterosexual relationships and depicted as engaged in either above average, average, or below average levels of sexual activity. Targets described as involved in multiple relationships or depicted as engaged in above average levels of sexual activity were evaluated less positively than targets in other conditions. Women presented as more sexually active were seen as more liberal and more assertive than other female targets. In this study the sexual double standard was not operating in the formation of overall evaluations of individuals, but it did exert influence on other judgments that people make about men and women.     

THINKING ANIMALS AND EPISTEMOLOGY

We consider one of Eric Olson's chief arguments for animalism about personal identity: the view that we are each identical to a human animal. The argument was originally given in Olson's book The Human Animal . Olson's argument presupposes an epistemological premise which we examine in detail. We argue that the premise is implausible and that Olson's defense of animalism is therefore in trouble.     

A META-ANALYSIS OF THE ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Sexual harassment (SH) has been identified as one of the most damaging and ubiquitous barriers to career success and satisfaction for women. This study meta-analyzed data from 41 studies, with a total sample size of nearly 70,000 respondents, to examine several negative consequences of workplace SH as well as how situational factors may play a role in facilitating these occurrences. SH experiences are associated with negative outcomes such as decreased job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, withdrawing from work, ill physical and mental health, and even symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, organizational climate for SH figured prominently in facilitating these occurrences.     

AN ANALYSIS OF AND INTERVENTION IN THE SEXUAL TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE

Sexually transmitted diseases are a serious threat to the public health. Indeed, when an individual seeks medical treatment for a sexually transmitted disease, health authorities frequently attempt to identify, procure, and treat that individual's sexual contact(s). We conducted a comparative analysis of three alternative approaches to tracing the sexual partners of individuals diagnosed as having a sexually transmitted disease. The first approach involved counseling individuals (n = 27) infected with either gonorrhea or nongonococcal urethritis and exhorting them to procure their sexual partners for treatment. In addition to counseling, the second and third approaches involved distributing “occasion cards” for patients to use when informing sexual contacts of the need for treatment. Moreover, in the second approach, the counselor (a nurse or physician) informed infected patients (n = 19) that they and their partners could waive the $3 clinic fee contingent upon the partners seeking treatment within 1 week. In the third approach, the counselor asked infected persons (n = 19) to accept a follow-up telephone contact if their sexual partners failed to seek treatment within 1 week. The third approach was most effective. Ninety percent of the partners identified through this approach sought treatment, versus only about 60% of the partners in the other two conditions. The third approach was also the least expensive, costing about $2.95 to procure each partner for treatment.     

BREACH AND FULFILLMENT OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT: A COMPARISON OF TRADITIONAL AND EXPANDED VIEWS

Breach and fulfillment in a psychological contract has traditionally been studied with approaches that are conceptually and methodologically limited. We compared predictions derived from the traditional view to predictions from an expanded view that maintains the distinction between promised and delivered inducements and examines their joint relationship with employee satisfaction. The traditional and expanded views were compared using longitudinal data and polynomial regression analysis. Results provided little support for the traditional view. In contrast, results supported the expanded view and revealed that relationships for breach and fulfillment are more complex than previously suggested. Specifically, satisfaction depended on whether breach represented deficient or excess inducements and the particular inducement under consideration. Moreover, satisfaction was more strongly related to delivered inducements than promised inducements. These results question basic tenets of psychological contract research and indicate new avenues for research that build on the expanded view developed in this article.     

石杉碱甲对动物行为和脑皮层电图的影响

石杉碱甲是我国首先从石杉科植物中提取出的一种新生物碱。它是胆碱酯酶抑制剂,它的作用和毒扁豆碱相似,但其毒性较小。本文观察了石杉碱甲对大鼠暗回避反应和家兔脑皮层电图的影响。其主要结果如下: 1 石杉碱甲可对抗东莨菪碱所致的记忆障碍,主要表现为石杉碱甲可使动物进入暗箱的潜伏期延长,并使暗回避反应的错误次数明显减少。 2.石杉碱甲能使家兔皮层区的脑电波均持续出现低振幅快波,并使海马区出现持续的且有规则的θ节律。脑皮层电图的结果表明,石杉碱甲和东莨菪碱相互不但有颉顽作用,而且,进一步证实了石杉碱甲对东莨菪碱的颉顽主要是通过中枢作用来调制的。