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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–4Cite as

Sexual Arousal

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Synonyms

Genital arousal; Sexual response; Subjective arousal

Definition

An emotional state triggered by internal (e.g., fantasy) and/or external (e.g., visual) sexual cues, consisting of interacting components including physiological (particularly genital) changes and subjective experience (Chivers 2005).

Introduction

Sexual arousal is one of several components of the human sexual response cycle. It is characterized by changes in physiology and/or subjective experience, though these facets may not always coincide with each other (Chivers et al. 2010; Janssen 2011; see below). Physiological changes resulting from activation of the sympathetic nervous system include pupil dilation, increased heart rate, and increased respiration rate; these changes, however, are not unique to sexual arousal, therefore researchers focus physiological measurements of sexual arousal on genital changes associated with vasocongestion (Chivers et al. 2013). Subjective sexual arousalrefers to one’s emotional...

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References

  • Chivers, M. L. (2005). A brief review and discussion of sex differences in the specificity of sexual arousal. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 20, 377–390.

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  • Chivers, M. L. (2016). The specificity of women’s sexual response and its relationship with sexual orientations: A review and ten hypotheses. Archives of Sexual Behavior.

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  • Chivers, M. L., Seto, M. C., Lalumiere, M. L., Laan, E., & Grimbos, T. (2010). Agreement of self-reported and genital measures of sexual arousal in men and women: A meta-analysis. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 39, 5–56.

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  • Chivers, M. L., Suschinsky, K. D., Timmers, A. D., & Bossio, J. A. (2013). Experimental, neuroimaging, and psychophysiological methods. In J. Bauermeister, L. Diamond, & D. Tolman (Eds.), Handbook of sexuality and psychology (pp. 99–119). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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  • Janssen, E. (2011). Sexual arousal in men: A review and conceptual analysis. Hormones and Behavior, 59, 708–716.

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  • Skakoon-Sparling, S., Cramer, K. M., & Shuper, P. A. (2016). The impact of sexual arousal on sexual risk-taking and decision-making in men and women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45, 33–42.

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  • Suschinsky, K. D., Lalumière, M. L., & Chivers, M. L. (2009). Sex differences in patterns of genital arousal: Measurement artifact or true phenomenon? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 559–573.

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  • Suschinsky, K. D., Dawson, S. J., & Chivers, M. L. (2016). Sexual concordance across the spectrum: Assessing the relationship between sexual concordance, sexual attractions, and sexual identity in women. Archives of Sexual Behavior.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Kelly D. Suschinsky & Meredith L. Chivers

Authors
  1. Kelly D. Suschinsky
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  2. Meredith L. Chivers
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kelly D. Suschinsky or Meredith L. Chivers .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

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

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Cite this entry

Suschinsky, K.D., Chivers, M.L. (2016). Sexual Arousal. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3362-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3362-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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