Analysis of book of study on the psychological mechanisms of why and how people choose, keep & disregard their mates. Author's use of evolutionary theory.
2,250 words (approx. 9 pages), 2 sources, 2001, $ 79.95
From the Paper "In The Evolution of Desire, (BasicBooks, 1994), David Buss presents us with the results of a study involving over 10,000 people from 37 cultures and uses evolutionary theory to explain the psychological mechanisms behind how and why people choose, keep, and discard their mates. The result is a mixture of common sense and science, although certainly other perspectives could be invoked to explain his findings.
Mating, according to Buss, is not a sentimental activity: it is, rather, as competitive and manipulative on the human level as it is among the insects. To provide for themselves and their offspring, women seek good providers -? men with money, power, maturity, ambition, stability, commitment, health, and cooperative natures. Men, for similar reasons, invest their time, resources, and sperm in young..."
From the Paper "n Borrowed Time: an AIDS Memoir, Paul Monette grounds his political and ethical arguments in a profoundly personal and painful story about the last year and a half of the life of his lover Roger Horwitz, after Roger is stricken with AIDS. The love of the two men for one another, and the suffering they endure together and separately, are the cornerstones of the author's efforts to expose the political and ethical realities of the wider, social, and global struggle against AIDS.
Monette clearly knows that human beings as individuals and in groups are moved to political action not by a recitation of ethical theory or statistical analysis but rather by emotional involvement, by compassion and empathy. He knows, and demonstrates in this book, that the injustices involved with the AIDS crisis can be expressed best through personalizing the..."
From the Paper "Except for a few refugees from Haiti and Castro's Cuba, the vast majority of Latino men entering the U.S.-- legally or illegally -- come for economic reasons. They come, perhaps somewhat naively, expecting the streets to be paved with gold, or, at the very least, opportunities galore for making money and either sending it back "home" or enough to bring their families Northward. Latino men flee their countries because of warfare, or rebellion which causes numerous casualties. They also come because of natural disasters- floods, earthquakes, drought, hurricanes, volcano eruptions, etc. They come with one goal: to safeguard themselves and their families and to take advantage of all they have heard about opportunities for them in America."
From the Paper "The personality is defined as referring to a unique style of behavior or thought; a kind of self or inner agent. Psychologists differ in their views of the personality, they use different terms to refer to the concept, such as types, traits, and social learning. Each of the terms is associated with a different personality theory; each theory offers its own definition of personality and human behavior (Gatchel & Mears, 1982). Gender differences in aggression have been found; Bandura's social learning model of the personality can be used to explain the development of these differences.
Gender Differences In Aggression
Research demonstrates that men view aggression as a functional interpersonal act aimed at imposing control over other..."
From the Paper "This research examines the issue of women in the occupation of corrections officer. The objective of this research is to offer theoretical explanations for the disparity in numbers between female and male position holders in this occupation.
The labor participation rate in the United States is 61.5 percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1995, pp. 55-91). For males, the participation rate is 72 percent, while for females, the participation rate is 51.8 percent. Women comprise 43.0 percent of the total American workforce; however, women represent only 15.3 percent of American corrections officers. Currently, a little more than 27,000 of the nation's 180,000 corrections officers and 1,200 adult-prison wardens are women..."
From the Paper " ABSTRACT
This paper examines existential therapy for victims of childhood sexual abuse. The paper begins with a brief report on the incidence and effects of childhood sexual as well as a short overview of the basic objectives and strategies of the existential theory of therapy. This is followed by a delineation and discussion of various interventions utilizing existential principals and theory as their conceptual foundation. The paper ends with a formulation of conclusions based on the reviewed literature.
Existential Theory For Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Incidence and Effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse
According to Allgeier and Allgeier (1992) between fourteen and twenty-one percent of Americans (mostly women) have suffered.."
From the Paper " This paper is a study of the current understanding about homosexuality, the state in which an individual is sexually attracted to members of his or her own gender instead of to members of the opposite sex. Estimates vary regarding the percentage of the population that can be defined as homosexual; some experts believe it may be as high as 10 percent but acknowledge that the precise number is impossible to determine since cultural and societal stigmas continue to make an openly homosexual lifestyle difficult and painful. While as recently as the early 1970s homosexuality was classified as a psychological disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, the majority of scientists now agree that sexual orientation is determined primarily by an individual's genes. However, many families, societies, organized religions, and legal systems continue to.."
From the Paper "LOVEMAPS
Introduction/Summary
Lovemaps by Money (1993) is a book about the development of human sexuality and eroticism. The author began using the term lovemap to replace the expression "an idealized and highly idiosyncratic image" (p. xvi). The lovemap is pronounced to be like a template in the brain that characterizes the idealized lover and the idealized, amorous, erotic, and sexualized relationship. Lovemap is said to differentiate as heterosexual without complexities, under optimum conditions; sexuoerotic rehearsal play found in infancy and childhood is the prerequisite to healthy heterosexual lovemap formation. Deprivation, neglect, prohibition, or abusive discipline and punishment of this play, or abrupt exposure to tabooed expression of sexuoeroticism may.."
From the Paper "ABSTRACT
This paper examined the etiology of homosexual preference. In this regard, the paper examined genetic theories, biological theories, and psychobehavioral theories of the causes and contributors to homosexuality. It was concluded that, in general, there is insufficient evidence to support any one theoretical perspective. It was further concluded that it was likely that the most valid theoretical perspective would be one that presented a multiply-determine perspective.
Introduction
Over the last decade there has been a good deal of research examining for determinants and contributors to homosexual preference (See: Allgeier & Allgeier, 1994; Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994; Gonsiorek, 1990; Muehrer, 1995; Schmidt & Clement, 1995). The.."
From the Paper " Cindy Patton, in Fatal Advice: How Safe-Sex Education Went Wrong, argues that the more graphic and explicit efforts of safe-sex educators were simply the result of an increase in HIV infection among young people. The previous, more conservative educational approach was both ineffective and contradictory for all youth, and especially for gay youth who most needed such education. That earlier approach advocated abstinence, use of condoms, and compassion for those who have HIV, and was aimed at heterosexual youth (34; 62). The "national pedagogy" controlling such education believed that graphic safe sex education would promote sexual activity among the youth, and that gay-oriented safe sex education would promote homosexuality (117). As a result, with respect to gay youth, the highest risk category, education was not only ineffective but hard to find."
From the Paper " This study will compare Eric Berne's Games People Play and Deborah Tannen's You Just Don't Understand. Berne's book is about transactional analysis, which is based on the idea that there are three kinds of ego states, and that these ego states are expressed by the Parent, Adult and Child parts of the personality (23). Tannen's book describes and give examples of how men and women have very different ways of conversing. Berne and Tannen approach failures in human communication using different theories and foci, but the similarities between the two books are great. Both authors believe that human beings are generally unaware of what brings about failures in communication, and because they are unaware of the problems, they are helpless to fix them. The harder they try, the greater the communication failure.
Tannen wants to suggest that once we come to understand the.."
From the Paper " This paper is an argument in favor of the use of chemical castration as a means of dealing with male sex offenders, especially pedophiles. Since the early 1980s, scientists and the courts have experimented with a method of inhibiting the testosterone levels of convicted rapists, using injections of medroxyprogesterone acetate, commonly known as Depo-Provera. Developed for women to control excessive menstrual bleeding and regulate contraception, Depo-Provera has been used in men to reduce aggressive tendencies and repress the sex drive. Although a controversial technique, this form of treatment is reversible, unlike physical castration, and some courts have been willing to consider it as an option in repeat cases; California became the first state in the nation to mandate this treatment as a condition of parole for repeat child molesters. This paper.."
From the Paper " INTRODUCTION
The subject is incurable sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and ways of preventing them in the population. The two incurable STDs are herpes and AIDS, the one a chronic complaint and the other a syndrome reducing the ability of the body to resist disease and leading to death. The need is to persuade people to take immediate steps to prevent the spread of these diseases, which are preventable using certain techniques and making certain changes in behavior. What is needed is increased spending to promote these behavior changes and to educate more people about the problems associated with certain risky sexual behaviors.
STDS AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES
One form of preventive measure undertaken for other diseases.."
From the Paper "Constructing The Sexual Crucible
Introduction
Constructing the Sexual Crucible by Schnarch (1991) offers material to help people with sexual concerns who fall into the functional, dysfunctional, and blessed few categories. The goal of the book is to create a paradigm shift or a new modality for sexual-marital therapy, rather than to simply increase knowledge in this area (pp. xiv-xv). This reaction paper regards Schnarch's model as a treatment modality pertaining to intimacy and sexuality, constructing the crucible, and inside the crucible related to sexual dysfunction in the marital relationship.
The sexual crucible is a treatment approach based on intimacy and eroticism. It focuses on a non-reciprocity model of intimacy with sexuality as a vehicle for growth. It is.."
From the Paper "Paul Monette, in Borrowed Time: an AIDS Memoir, writes about the last nineteen months of his lover Roger Horwitz's life, after Roger was stricken with AIDS. This study will focus on the love between the two men, rather than on the terrible disease which brought their relationship to an end on this earth. The book can certainly be read as simply another work about AIDS, but when one sees first that the author is writing out of a focus on love for Roger and for their time together rather than out of a focus on the disease which tore them apart and killed Roger.
Of course, it is especially difficult to focus on the love when so much that goes on between Paul and Roger has to do with the disease and its effects. This is especially true when the reader realizes that the book's beginning and end refer to the fact that the author himself is carrying the virus that killed.."
