Cultural Influences of Sexuality~ The cultural influence of sexuality can be dramatic once pointed out. For example, our text, states that monogamous marriage is "ordinary" and that those who are monogamous are sexually "faithful". Here is a quote from the text. "One of the most powerful messages to emerge from the 1994 survey was that Americans' sexual lives are more ordinary than previously believed." (pg. 313) The entire gist of the paragraph from which that statement is taken refers to heterosexual, monogamous marriage as the norm while polygamous and homosexual relationships would be assumed to be abnormal.
Perceptions~ Perceptual bias and the acceptability of polygynous culture in the United States.
Classical Conditioning~ Classical conditioning effects physical responses but it also effects emotional responses. How much of our bias toward monogamy is a result of classical conditioning resulting from cultural influences such as popular media and our institutional educational and religious institutions?
