← Announcements:
• MT review sessions posted on WebCT
• 40 MCQs (½ readings, ½ lectures)
o Usually 1 question on each reading
o Divided btwn 2 rooms
← Rodent Sex
• Where was desire in this? Repetitive behavior, male ejaculation (are they rudimentary
to compare them to humans?)
• Rodent lab sex is artificial but useful?
o Space – female controls the pace of sex, and when given the control will get
away (how much will she get away?) measure how much she spends on
one side vs. another
o Oestrus is induced – receptivity in response to the females; females are
overrectomized
o In wild rats, mate with many females
• Behaviors (sniffing, presenting/solicitation, crouching, lordosis, pacing, running
away, darting, etc.)
• Appetitive vs. Consummatory Behaviors
• Female control or pacing
• Differences between mice & rats
o Mice take much longer/more foreplay more intromissions, fewer ejaculations
• Other paradigms
o Maze
o Skinner Box
o Barrier crossing • What makes for a Good Animal Model?
o Behaviour doesn't have to be identical, but the fact that the behavioral
similarity isn’t there doesn’t mean that the part of the brain that functions that
is the same
• Pleasurable?
o If an animal is willing to work for it, then there is a sense of pleasure they
receive from that
← Indices of Desire (Beck & Bozeman, 1991)
←
• All is fueled by low desire
• How much is normal desire?
← Research (Hormones & Desire)
• Most active field of research today – why?
o With respect to women and desire
• Hormones
o “Form of chemical messenger which typically travels from cell of origin to its
target cell via the blood stream”
• Hormonal Influences on Sex
o Organizing = the presence of particular hormone at a time of development,
dramatically influence sexual development
o Activating = more or less of a particular hormone will potentially increase or
decrease hormonal behavior
• 3 types of studies on hormones & sex
o Surgical (e.g., castration, oophorectomy)
o Chemical manipulation (anti-androgens, birth control pills)
o Monitoring (developmental)
• Are androgens the hormones of desire for women? o Administration of (anti)androgens to women for medical purposes
o Contraceptives
o Menopause
← Frequency of Coitus/Day of Week
←
• Weekend more frequent
← Bellerose & Binik
• Sample – 123 volunteer women ages 35-55 who had a previous hysterectomy
(removal of uterus) or oophoroectomy (removal of ovaries) of both
• Design – Cross-sectional, retrospective plus 1 lab session
• Dependent Measures – self report (Desire, arousal, sexual behavior, body image,
mood) – vaginal
Photoplethysmography – arousal
• Experimental Groups
o Controls w/ no hysterectomy or oophorectomy
o Hysterectomy with no oophorectomy & no hormone replacement
o Hysterectomy plus oophorectomy & no hormone replacement
o Hysterectomy plus oophorectomy & estrogen replacement
o Hysterectomy plus oophorectomy & androgen replacement
Which group(s) do you predict have the lowest desire? Groups 3 and 4
• Desire results: lowest in desire = hysterectomy plus oophorectomy with no androgen
hormone replacement (groups 3 & 4)
• Arousal Results
More
Less