Psychology Space

Marital satisfaction is sought, or expected, by most married individuals. Unfortunately, the U.S. Bureau of Census in 1992 reported that 52% of marriages end in divorce (Fowers, Montel, and Olson p. 103). This fact, along with other stimulants, has caused researchers to investigate the influences on marital satisfaction. Many predictors of stability and satisfaction in marriage do, in fact, exist. Among the various possibilities explored by researchers, conclusive studies have been done on the influences of past and present satisfaction with one’s spouse’s personality and living conditions, the effect of autonomy and relatedness on marriage, the Empty Nest Syndrome, as well as types of premarital relations and their effect on marital satisfaction.

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In the world of relationships, the most important numbers to learn are: five to one. That is the ratio of positive interactions to negative ones that predicts whether a marriage will last or become one of the sad statistics of divorce.

It isn’t that you can’t argue with your spouse. But the couples that make it also manage to deliver positive emotional messages even when they don’t see eye to eye.

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Patty Canale didn’t know what to think when she signed her name to a list of participants for an upcoming psychology experiment.

“I thought maybe I was performing an experiment,” said Canale, a freshman in The College of Arts and Sciences. I didn’t know that I’d be hooked up to electrodes and have to fill out a waiver when I got there. I thought I’d be looking at pictures.”

Like Canale, many students taking PSY 205 and PSY 209 don’t know what the individual experiments they sign up for will entail and how researchers are able to take advantage of this student requirement. Students have questioned the extent to which their participation in other peoples’ experiments has educational value for them.

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Our newspapers and televisions are rife with stories of crisis, violence and crime, echoing common concerns across the nation. As first responders and primary caregivers we are often confronted with situations calling upon personal skills and coping abilities which may be taxed by an onslaught of competing demands. Navigating those incidents which challenge our abilities and training can produce stress related disorders likely to manifest in psychological and/or physical symptomology resulting in burnout.

A review of the literature suggests that there is limited understanding of the role which desperation plays in the precipitation or expansion of crisis situations. As casual observers we are all familiar with newsworthy events concerning incidents which became unmanageable and explosive when participants became desperate subsequently losing the ability to focus and/or make effective decisions. Once the line of desperation has been traversed it is likely that the crisis has been elevated in an exponential fashion. The resulting shifts in perceptions are likely to promote decisions which are largely ineffectual and may produce life-threatening situations for those involved.

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Our newspapers and televisions are rife with stories of crisis, violence and crime, echoing common concerns across the nation. As first responders and primary caregivers we are often confronted with situations calling upon personal skills and coping abilities which may be taxed by an onslaught of competing demands. Navigating those incidents which challenge our abilities and training can produce stress related disorders likely to manifest in psychological and/or physical symptomology resulting in burnout.

A review of the literature suggests that there is limited understanding of the role which desperation plays in the precipitation or expansion of crisis situations. As casual observers we are all familiar with newsworthy events concerning incidents which became unmanageable and explosive when participants became desperate subsequently losing the ability to focus and/or make effective decisions. Once the line of desperation has been traversed it is likely that the crisis has been elevated in an exponential fashion. The resulting shifts in perceptions are likely to promote decisions which are largely ineffectual and may produce life-threatening situations for those involved.

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Poets rave about beauty. Brave men have started wars over beauty. Women the world over strive for it scholars devote their lives to deconstructing our impulse to obtain it. Ordinary mortals erect temples to beauty. In just about every way imaginable, the world honors physical beauty. But I hate beauty.

I live in what is likely the beauty capital of the world and have the enviable fortune to work with some of the most beautiful women in it. With their smooth bodies and supple waists, these women are the very picture of youth and attractiveness. Not only are they exemplars of nature’s design for detonating desire in men, but they stir yearnings for companionship that date back to ancestral mating dances. Still, beauty is driving me nuts, and although I’m a successful red-blooded American male, divorced and available, it is beauty alone that is keeping me single and lonely.

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Which of the above definitions of sex/sexuality most fit you? While those two definitions are, of course, gross exaggerations, they contain significant truth, even today.

Women have received more negative training and sexual education about their human sexuality than men. To have a primary belief that one’s human sexuality is serious first and pleasurable a distant second causes the loss of much pleasure in many sexual processes.

That sexuality belief also leads to much putting down of men for their “frivolous” sex behavior, not just because of serious consequences that men might be overlooking but because “human sex should be serious and you men don’t treat it seriously enough.” In other words, to be lusty, wild or playful is not OK human sexuality.

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What the headline should read is “What Men Need to Know About Women and Sex.” That’s what this area covers, ladies and gentlemen. So, if you are a woman wanting to know about men and sex, head over here.

Alright guys, they’re gone now. Let’s get down to the details.

When I originally started putting the site together, I read a lot of information about how men had a difficult time getting in touch with their feelings (and how women want men to be more intimate (in the way they want them to be intimate). Then there’s sexual technique and sexual performance.

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I know it says “women and sex.” This area, though, is really for women who want to know more about men and sex. This is our little insight into how you guys work.

If you’re a man and you want to know how we women work, go to men and sex. I’m happy to clue you in.

Now that “they’re” gone ladies, here are a few truths about men. Many of us “older” ladies have probably already figured this out, but for you younger ones…

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VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED: Language on this site is sexual in nature. Not recommended for younger or sensitive viewers.
I’m Krista. Welcome to The Psychology of Sex website for both women and men.

I don’t know about you, but I used to have very mixed feelings about sex and/or a relationship with someone else. When I was in counseling, my therapist would say this is normal for everyone. “Sometimes you want it, sometimes you don’t,” she’d say.

Then I’d chime in: “and sometimes you want it with someone else and other times, you’re better off alone.”

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