Unit 2 - Research Methods and Theoretical Perspectives Flashcards
Do men really think about sex more than women?
- YES
- On average, between 1-388 times / day
- For women: 1-140
What’s up with our primal inclination toward novelty and lust being in direct contrast with societal inclination toward monogamy?
Self-Expansion. People want to expand their experiences and extend their identities (explains why we enter relationships)
What will cause a LTR to be successful?
expands both people’s identities (not when identity is lost); relationships stagnate when expansion stops (infidelity?)
3 ways to keep a healthy/successful relationship?
- Maintain your own interests
- Do new things together that expand yourselves!
- Couples are more satisfied/happy with each other have more new experiences together
4 goals of sex research?
- Provide basic knowledge about sex
- Understanding to influence behaviour (Risk factors for sexual offenders to prevent sexual abuse, factors influencing satisfaction to help couples be more sexually satisfied)
- Understanding to inform public policy (Sex ed, abortion, contraceptive, sex work, pornography can be used to inform laws/policy)
- Provides facts that inform personal decisions/opinions
What can help reduce stress/risks in sex research? (4)
- Confidentiality / anonymity, and cost-benefit analysis
- Researchers must minimize physical and psychological stress on participants
- Informed consent
- Debriefing
Explain tuskegee study
- Untreated syphilis
- 1932-1972
- Done by US government on 399 lower class African men to observe progression of untreated syphilis
- P’s did not give consent, weren’t given treatment they were promised, offered coercive incentives, denied access to treatment
Problems with self-report survey
- People not always truthful
- Purposeful distortion, social desirability
- Ability to estimate is not well
- Faulty memory
- Interpreting the question
6.
Problems with self-report survey
- People not always truthful
- Purposeful distortion, social desirability
- Ability to estimate is not well
- Faulty memory
- Interpreting the question
- Cross-sectional
NHSLS???
national health and social life survey (1994) national american survey
NSSHB
national survey of sexual health and behaviour (most recent) 2009-2018
-50% response rate :(
Drawbacks of qualitative research (4)
- Less Ps
- Intensive investigation of small group of individuals
- Interviews time consuming
- Problems coding
Pros of qualitative research
Helpful for understanding complex, nuanced questions
- Eg: specific questions about orgasms; subjective experiences & cannot be quantified (McGill) (Found intensity of orgasms was determined by psychological factors ~ could not be determined by quantitative methods)
How does eye tracking in sex research work?
Informs us of what people find erotic / sexually attractive / interesting
- tracks where people look when viewing stimuli
What does eye tracking tell us about sexuality?
- Heterosexual = look at opposite sex longer
- Bisexual = look at both sexes equally
Biological measures? (4)
- pupil dilation
- fMRI
- Penile plethysmography
- Thermography (thermal camera measures heat patterns and bloodflow)
How does a penile plethysmography work?
- Flexible loop around penis and measures pressure (erection)
- Vaginal form measures blood flow
Steps to media content analysis? (5)
- Decide specific question (how do people define great sex in women’s magazines)
- Find specific media (which magazines?)
- Decide timeframe of media (1920-2005)
- Define coding (themes in data collection)
- Determine reliability of codes (would someone else decide the same themes?)
Why is a lot of sex research not experimental?
Difficult to hold variables constant! also expensive, also have to bring ppl in the lab (labour intensive)
What is the most common type of sex research?
Correlational
How many times per week does the avg. couple have sex?
4 (average =/= normal)
Does average = normal?
No !!! :)
What does natural selection consider?
How patterns of social behaviour and psychological mechanisms have evolved
What does sociobiology consider?
Aims to explain how certain behaviours have evolved evolutionarily (Eg: preferring partners with nice looking skin, eludes to better health and better partner for procreation)
