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Human Sexuality

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

  • 324 Accesses

Synonyms

Primate Sexuality

Definition

Human sexuality is most broadly defined as the totality of experiences, systems, attributes, and behavior that characterize the sexual sensation, reproduction, and intimacy of Homo sapiens.

Introduction

Human sexuality, a remarkably broad topic, is the purview of numerous academic fields and is a discipline unto itself. Scientific perspectives of human sexuality encompass, variously, its reproductive, social, cultural, emotional, and biological aspects. Evolutionary psychologists frame these facets by asking the following question: What is the design of the system – that is, what are the evolutionary forces that have likely shaped the constitution of human sexuality?

The present chapter is focused on human sexuality from the perspective of the evolved nature of mating systems. The main advantage of this focus is that it facilitates broad considerations about the evolutionary biology and psychology of human mating. By the same token, a mating...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Nicholas M. Grebe & Christine M. Drea

  2. Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Christine M. Drea

  3. University Program in Ecology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Christine M. Drea

Authors
  1. Nicholas M. Grebe
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  2. Christine M. Drea
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicholas M. Grebe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Division of Psychology, School of Social and Health Sciences, Abertay University, Dundee, UK

    Christopher D. Watkins

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Grebe, N.M., Drea, C.M. (2018). Human Sexuality. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3360-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3360-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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