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Situating Human Sexual Conditioning

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Abstract

Conditioning is often thought of as a basic, automatic learning process that has limited applicability to higher-level human behavior. In addition, conditioning is seen as separable from, and even secondary to, “innate” processes. These ideas involve some misconceptions. The aim of this article is to provide a clearer, more refined sense of human sexual conditioning. After providing some background information and reviewing what is known from laboratory conditioning studies, human sexual conditioning is compared to sexual conditioning in nonhumans, to “innate” sexual responding, and to other types of human learning processes. Recommendations for moving forward in human sexual conditioning research are included.

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Acknowledgements

The author wishes to acknowledge Adam Safron and Erick Janssen for their assistance in idea development and Adam Safron and Ryan Hitchings of their helpful comments on the essay.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Knox College, Galesburg, IL, 61401, USA

    Heather Hoffmann

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Correspondence to Heather Hoffmann.

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Editor’s note. This is an Invited Essay, which was peer-reviewed, from the Presidential Address at the meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research, Malmö, Sweden, July 2016.

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Hoffmann, H. Situating Human Sexual Conditioning. Arch Sex Behav 46, 2213–2229 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-1030-5

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