Download or read book Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior written by Peter B. Gray and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few things come more naturally to us than sex—or so it would seem. Yet to a chimpanzee, the sexual practices and customs we take for granted would appear odd indeed. He or she might wonder why we bother with inconveniences like clothes, why we prefer to make love on a bed, and why we fuss so needlessly over privacy. Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior invites us into the thought-experiment of imagining human sex from the vantage point of our primate cousins, in order to underscore the role of evolution in shaping all that happens, biologically and behaviorally, when romantic passions are aroused. Peter Gray and Justin Garcia provide an interdisciplinary synthesis that draws on the latest discoveries in evolutionary theory, genetics, neuroscience, comparative primate research, and cross-cultural sexuality studies. They are our guides through an exploration of the patterns and variations that exist in human sexuality, in chapters covering topics ranging from the evolution of sex differences and reproductive physiology to the origins of sexual play, monogamous unions, and the facts and fictions surrounding orgasm. Intended for generally curious readers of all stripes, this up-to-date, one-volume survey of the evolutionary science of human sexual behavior explains why sexuality has remained a core fascination of human beings throughout time and across cultures.
Download or read book The Evolution of Human Sexuality written by Donald Symons and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1979-08-30 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anthropology, Sexual Studies, Psychology, Sociology, Gender and Cultural Studies
Download or read book The Evolution of Sexuality written by Todd K. Shackelford and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-09-12 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attraction, mating, reproduction: it is a given that as a species, human beings are concerned with sex. And whether the study compares sexual behaviors of men and women or considers the proportions between nature and nurture, most roads lead back to our distant ancestors and/or our fellow animals. The Evolution of Sexuality collects stimulating new empirical findings and theoretical concepts regarding both familiar themes and emerging areas of interest. Following earlier titles in this series, an interdisciplinary panel of contributors examines topics specific to the whys of male and female sex-related behavior, here ranging from biological bases for male same-sex attraction to the seemingly elusive purpose of the female orgasm. This vantage point between biology and psychology gives readers profound insights not just into human differences and similarities, but also why they continue to matter despite our vast understanding of culture and socialization. And intriguing dispatches from the humanities review sexual themes in classic works of literature and explore the role of parent-offspring conflict in the English Revolution of the seventeenth century. Among the topics covered: Sexual conflict and evolutionary psychology: toward a unified framework. Assortative mating, caste, and class. The functional design and phylogeny of female sexuality. Is oral sex a form of mate retention behavior? Two behavioral hypotheses for the evolution or male homosexuality in humans. Sperm competition and the evolution of human sexuality. The Evolution of Sexuality will attract evolutionary scientists across a variety of disciplines. Faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and researchers interested in sexuality will find it a springboard for discussion, debate, and further study.
Download or read book Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality written by Michael R. Kauth and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expand your knowledge—with theories and concepts that may challenge your assumptions about sexual attraction Human sexuality can be better understood by knowing how sexual psychologies may have evolved throughout the ages. Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality presents a detailed examination of human sexuality, the assumptions about concepts and terms pertaining to sexuality, and the latest theories on the evolution of human sexual attraction. Leading experts explore various aspects of evolutionary theory, with a focus on Evolutionary Psychology (EP). Discussions include mate preferences, mating behavior, mate signaling, pheromones, and same-sex attraction. This comprehensive source also presents three groundbreaking theories of the evolution of same-sex attraction. Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality takes current assumptions about human sexuality, explains each in turn, and then offers fresh perspectives on conventional concepts of sexual orientation. This extensive resource provides ample evidence to argue that researchers should investigate sexual relationships based on a person’s characteristics such as personal traits, complementary roles/status, sexual acts, or situational context rather than simply the sex of the partner. The book provides a discussion of evolutionary theory, evolution of human sexual culture, evolution of sexual pleasure, and detailed analysis of assumptions about sexual orientation. The text is carefully referenced. Some of the topics explored by Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality include: links to non-human primate sexual behaviors and the emergence of human (sexual) nature EP research on consensual adult human sexual behaviors studies of evolved male and female mating strategies, mate preferences, and sexual psychologies a brief history of the theory of evolution ancient culture, archeology, and an overview of premodern human sexuality evolutionary history of sexual pleasure human mating strategies development of mate preferences sexual signals, such as distinctive physical features, material wealth, etc. theories of the evolution of same-sex sexual attraction and behavior Primatologist Paul Vasey’s observations of female Japanese macaques and their female-female sexual encounters—with an examination of human male-male behavior evolutionary history of female-female affectional bonding with a new theory on the behavior evolutionary history of male-male sexual behavior—with intriguing thoughts on why it happened evolutionary history of pheromones as chemical messengers much more Handbook of the Evolution of Human Sexuality is an important, thought-provoking resource perfect for evolutionary psychologists, sexologists, educators, researchers, scholars, and graduate students.
Download or read book Ever Since Adam and Eve written by Malcolm Potts and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1999-02-14 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively and entertaining account of the broad panorama of human sexual behaviour which reveals our actions to be an inextricable mixture of nature and nurture - a combination of innate actions evolved over the millenia, overlain by more recent cultural constraints imposed by civilization.
Download or read book Sex at Dawn written by Christopher Ryan and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-07-05 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this controversial, thought-provoking, and brilliant book, renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda JethÁ debunk almost everything we “know” about sex, weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality to show how far from human nature monogamy really is. In Sex at Dawn, the authors expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.
Download or read book Sex Time and Power written by Leonard Shlain and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004-08-03 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As in the bestselling The Alphabet Versus the Goddess, Leonard Shlain’s provocative new book promises to change the way readers view themselves and where they came from. Sex, Time, and Power offers a tantalizing answer to an age-old question: Why did big-brained Homo sapiens suddenly emerge some 150,000 years ago? The key, according to Shlain, is female sexuality. Drawing on an awesome breadth of research, he shows how, long ago, the narrowness of the newly bipedal human female’s pelvis and the increasing size of infants’ heads precipitated a crisis for the species. Natural selection allowed for the adaptation of the human female to this environmental stress by reconfiguring her hormonal cycles, entraining them with the periodicity of the moon. The results, however, did much more than ensure our existence; they imbued women with the concept of time, and gave them control over sex—a power that males sought to reclaim. And the possibility of achieving immortality through heirs drove men to construct patriarchal cultures that went on to dominate so much of human history. From the nature of courtship to the evolution of language, Shlain’s brilliant and wide-ranging exploration stimulates new thinking about very old matters.
Download or read book Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Sexual Psychology and Behavior written by Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume in the Springer Series in Evolutionary Psychology presents a state of the art view of the topic of sexuality and sexual behavior drawing on theoretical constructs and research of noted individuals in the field. Comprehensive and multi-disciplinary, this book seeks to provide a broad overview without sacrificing the complexity of a multi-faceted approach. The book is framed by introductory and closing sections that provide a context for the range of ideas contained within. Ample space is provided in designated sections that focus on key areas of sexuality from both male and female perspectives and that include information from primate studies. This volume can serve as a graduate text in sexual behavior in evolutionary terms and as a guide for further research.
Download or read book Male Female written by David C. Geary and published by Amer Psychological Assn. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Geary (psychology and anthropology, U. of Missouri-Columbia) thinks culturally constructed gender roles alone cannot account for the differences in the social behavior of men and women. He turns to Darwin's theory of sexual selection as the best avenue for understanding. His main focus is how th etwo elements of competition between males and of females selecting mates has influenced human behavior over the centuries and across cultures.
Download or read book Mate Choice written by Gil G. Rosenthal and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 646 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major new look at the evolution of mating decisions in organisms from protozoans to humans The popular consensus on mate choice has long been that females select mates likely to pass good genes to offspring. In Mate Choice, Gil Rosenthal overturns much of this conventional wisdom. Providing the first synthesis of the topic in more than three decades, and drawing from a wide range of fields, including animal behavior, evolutionary biology, social psychology, neuroscience, and economics, Rosenthal argues that "good genes" play a relatively minor role in shaping mate choice decisions and demonstrates how mate choice is influenced by genetic factors, environmental effects, and social interactions. Looking at diverse organisms, from protozoans to humans, Rosenthal explores how factors beyond the hunt for good genes combine to produce an endless array of preferences among species and individuals. He explains how mating decisions originate from structural constraints on perception and from nonsexual functions, and how single organisms benefit or lose from their choices. Both the origin of species and their fusion through hybridization are strongly influenced by direct selection on preferences in sexual and nonsexual contexts. Rosenthal broadens the traditional scope of mate choice research to encompass not just animal behavior and behavioral ecology but also neurobiology, the social sciences, and other areas. Focusing on mate choice mechanisms, rather than the traits they target, Mate Choice offers a groundbreaking perspective on the proximate and ultimate forces determining the evolutionary fate of species and populations.
Download or read book The Evolution of Human Pair Bonding Friendship and Sexual Attraction written by Michael R. Kauth and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-29 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Evolution of Human Pair-Bonding, Friendship, and Sexual Attraction presents an evolutionary history of romantic love, male-female pair-bonding, same-sex friendship, and sexual attraction, drawing on sexuality research, gay and lesbian studies, history, literature, anthropology, and evolutionary science. Employing evolutionary theory as a framework, close same-sex friendship is examined as an adaptive trait that has harnessed love, affection, and sexual pleasure to navigate same-sex environments for both men and women, ultimately benefiting their reproductive success and promoting the inheritance of traits for friendship. Chapters consider the desire to form close same-sex friendships and ask if this is embedded in our biology, concluding that most humans have the capacity to form loving, meaningful, and sexual relationships with men and women. This book takes on a unique interdisciplinary approach and is essential reading for those studying and working in sexuality research, anthropology, sociology, evolutionary psychology, and gay and lesbian studies. It will also be of interest to marriage and family therapists as well as sex therapists.
Download or read book The Mating Mind written by Geoffrey Miller and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2011-12-21 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At once a pioneering study of evolution and an accessible and lively reading experience, a book that offers the most convincing—and radical—explanation for how and why the human mind evolved. Consciousness, morality, creativity, language, and art: these are the traits that make us human. Scientists have traditionally explained these qualities as merely a side effect of surplus brain size, but Miller argues that they were sexual attractors, not side effects. He bases his argument on Darwin’ s theory of sexual selection, which until now has played second fiddle to Darwin’ s theory of natural selection, and draws on ideas and research from a wide range of fields, including psychology, economics, history, and pop culture. Witty, powerfully argued, and continually thought-provoking, The Mating Mind is a landmark in our understanding of our own species.
Download or read book In the Light of Evolution written by National Academy of Sciences and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.
Download or read book Why Is Sex Fun written by Jared M Diamond and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 1998-09-25 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of Upheaval, a fun and wide-ranging exploration of why human sexuality is so different from other animals', and how it made us who we are To us humans, the sex lives of animals seem weird. But it's our own sex lives that are truly bizarre. We are the only social species to insist on carrying out sex privately. Stranger yet, we have sex at any time, even during periods of infertility, such as pregnancy or post-menopause. A human female doesn't know her precise time of fertility and certainly doesn't advertise it to human males by the striking color changes, smells, and sounds used by other female mammals. Why do we differ so radically in these and other important aspects of our sexuality from our closest ancestor, the apes? Why does the human female, virtually alone among mammals, go through menopause? Why does the human male stand out as one of the few mammals to stay with the female he impregnates, to help raise the children that he sired? Why is the human penis so unnecessarily large? There is no one better qualified than Jared Diamond to explain the evolutionary forces that operated on our ancestors to make us so different sexually. With wit and a wealth of fascinating examples, Why Is Sex Fun? shows how our sexuality, as much as our large brains or upright posture, led to human' rise in the animal kingdom.
Download or read book Evolution s Rainbow written by Joan Roughgarden and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2013-09-14 with total page 491 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this innovative celebration of diversity and affirmation of individuality in animals and humans, Joan Roughgarden challenges accepted wisdom about gender identity and sexual orientation. A distinguished evolutionary biologist, Roughgarden takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science—and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a fascinating discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates. Evolution's Rainbow explains how this diversity develops from the action of genes and hormones and how people come to differ from each other in all aspects of body and behavior. Roughgarden reconstructs primary science in light of feminist, gay, and transgender criticism and redefines our understanding of sex, gender, and sexuality. Witty, playful, and daring, this book will revolutionize our understanding of sexuality. Roughgarden argues that principal elements of Darwinian sexual selection theory are false and suggests a new theory that emphasizes social inclusion and control of access to resources and mating opportunity. She disputes a range of scientific and medical concepts, including Wilson's genetic determinism of behavior, evolutionary psychology, the existence of a gay gene, the role of parenting in determining gender identity, and Dawkins's "selfish gene" as the driver of natural selection. She dares social science to respect the agency and rationality of diverse people; shows that many cultures across the world and throughout history accommodate people we label today as lesbian, gay, and transgendered; and calls on the Christian religion to acknowledge the Bible's many passages endorsing diversity in gender and sexuality. Evolution's Rainbow concludes with bold recommendations for improving education in biology, psychology, and medicine; for democratizing genetic engineering and medical practice; and for building a public monument to affirm diversity as one of our nation's defining principles.
Download or read book Sexual Selection Under Parental Choice written by Menelaos Apostolou and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2013-07-24 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Parents often disagree with their children over their choice of partner. Although the reasons may vary the outcome is very often one of conflict – a conflict peculiar to the human species. For the first time in one volume, Sexual Selection under Parental Choice employs an evolutionary perspective to understand this conflict and explore its implications. Covering recent developments in the field of evolutionary psychology, Menelaos Apostolou reveals the extent of parental attempts to control the mating decisions of their offspring and investigates the qualities parents seek in prospective in-laws. Children’s attempt to escape this control can lead to practices such as foot-binding and clitoridectomy or, in postindustrial societies, more subtle forms of coercion and manipulation. Apostolou demonstrates that much of human mating behavior has been shaped by parental choice and that parents have a significant influence in sexual selection: the traits they favour in their children’s mates are selected and increase in frequency in the population. Sexual Selection under Parental Choice will be ideal reading for researchers and advanced students of evolutionary, developmental and social psychology, as well as other related disciplines such as social anthropology, sociology and the biological sciences.
Download or read book The Evolution of Desire written by David M. Buss and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2016-12-27 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “drop-dead shocker” (Washington Post Book World) that uses evolutionary psychology to explain human mating and the mysteries of love If we all want love, why is there so much conflict in our most cherished relationships? To answer this question, we must look into our evolutionary past, argues prominent psychologist David M. Buss. Based one of the largest studies of human mating ever undertaken, encompassing more than 10,000 people of all ages from thirty-seven cultures worldwide, The Evolution of Desire is the first work to present a unified theory of human mating behavior. Drawing on a wide range of examples of mating behavior — from lovebugs to elephant seals, from the Yanomamö tribe of Venezuela to online dating apps — Buss reveals what women want, what men want, and why their desires radically differ. Love has a central place in human sexual psychology, but conflict, competition, and manipulation also pervade human mating — something we must confront in order to control our own mating destiny. Updated to reflect the very latest scientific research on human mating, this definitive edition of this classic work of evolutionary psychology explains the powerful forces that shape our most intimate desires.
