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| The Basics of
Behavior Analysis
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| Parents
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| Love & Sexuality
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| Employees & Bosses
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| OneScience
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Sexual Preference
A Behavioral Explanation
The only evidence that homosexuality is
biologically predetermined is basically a lack of
evidence that it is not. In fact, there is no
substantial evidence for a biological
predetermination for any behavior pattern.
Humans are born with physical characteristics
that combine with environmental factors to
produce patterns of behavior.
Would you say that
Michael Jordan is biologically predetermined to
be good at basketball? I would agree he is. He
was born with genetic code that resulted in a tall
physical frame. With that physical characteristic (and others such as
coordination, balance, vision, etc.), he was able to engage in behavior
that resulted in reinforcement within the context of playing basketball. In
other words, his physical characteristics made Michael Jordan physically
likely to be good at basketball. This resulted in others being impressed,
picking him for their teams and so on. These consequences for
demonstrating ability in sport set Michael on the path to becoming a good
basketball player, and baseball player, and golfer, and let's not forget
underwear salesman. This is the extent to which genetics determine
behavior patterns. Genes endow us with physical attributes that get us
started developing behavior patterns; our social environment takes us the
rest of the way. This is easier to observe in something like sports. It gets
trickier to see the same process with things like emotions and desires, but
the basic idea is the same.
Say for example, two girls live under identical environmental
circumstances. They go to the same school, they have the same classes,
they behave similarly, they have comparable academic abilities, they are
similar in appearance, they come from similar social and economic
backgrounds and their families share similar beliefs and values. In every
way we can think of, these girls are identical. But let's say one of these
girls has large breasts and the other has small breasts. Speaking generally,
the girl with large breasts is more likely to get attention from boys as a
result of any sexual advances she makes. The girl with small breasts is less
likely to experience that kind of reinforcement for sexual advances she
attempts to make. One result could be that the girl with large breasts is
more likely to behave sexually than the girl with small breasts because her
sexual advances are more readily reinforced by boys. Another possibility is
that the girl with small breasts must work harder, engage in a wider
variety of sexual behavior to get the same response from boys. This could
result in her learning to be promiscuous and forward. Remember, with
everything else being equal, the physical differences between these two
girls set up the possibility for very different behavior patterns. This is the
extent to which genetics determines our behavior.
So the short answer to the question of sexual preference is that social
conditioning is the cause of same-sex attraction. I should pause here to
point out that not all behavior analysts would agree with this statement and
I welcome opposing views. For the time being, however, I will lay out my
argument in support of this statement.
While there is no evidence that biological or genetic determinants
contribute much to any kind of behavior pattern, there is a great deal of
evidence that sexual preference is conditioned. Notice that I said "sexual
preference" is conditioned. I specifically did not say that "same sex
attraction" is conditioned. That is to say that humans are born (in my
opinion and as far as what I can tell the evidence supports) with no specific
sexual preference for anything. (Freud would disagree, but he does so
without empirical evidence.) From the moment we are born, our
education begins. We are taught the values of those who raise us. We are
taught "appropriate" boy and girl behavior. We are taught that it is
acceptable for girls to wear pink and boys to wear blue. At my daughter's
preschool, when the children wake up from their naps, the girls all get
their hair done by the teacher. The boys, of course, do not. We are
conditioned by our society to behave according to our gender. This
conditioning includes training regarding sexual preferences. Girls are taught
to be moms. Boys are asked by adults, "Got a girlfriend yet?" Most, and
until recently, all of our culture provides a model of heterosexuality.
Because this conditioning is so pervasive, it tends to hide itself. It is so
ingrained in our culture that most of us don't know it is occurring and we
therefore assume that humans are naturally born heterosexuals. Anyone
who claims humans are naturally heterosexual, in order to prove his claim,
must discover a way to prevent this conditioning from his test subjects.
Any subjects selected from society are already confounded by this social
conditioning.
So, if everything in our culture is arranged to condition humans as
heterosexual, how then do so many humans come to be homosexual?
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What's really going on between two people?
Are we defined by what we do...in private? |
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