A comparison of evolutionary and environmental theories of erotic response part II: Empirical arenas

Areas of empirical strength for socialization and sociobiology theories are critically reviewed. Sociobiology has little to say about erotic mechanisms that are uniquely human, though ethology has begun to address the question through cross‐cultural research. The areas of incest avoidance and connections between sex and aggression are viewed as unsubstantiated, either theoretically or empirically. A connection between sex and love is viewed as more likely, and survey, though not laboratory, research supports it. A classical conditioning theory of sexuality is presented, and its relevance to constructs of socialization theory is sketched. Empirical data relevant to sociobiological analyses of sex differences in sexuality are reviewed. Human size dimorphism is as yet not clearly interpretable. The research paradigms of aberrant hormone effects and response to novelty have not yielded clear or compelling data to date. Results from survey research about homosexual lifestyles and the details of sex differences continue to strongly support sociobiological analyses