Academic literature on the topic 'Sociosexual interaction'

Mice produce various sounds within the ultrasonic range in social contexts. Although these sounds are often used as an index of sociability in biomedical research, their biological significance remains poorly understood. We previously showed that mice repeatedly produced calls in a sequence (i.e. calling bout), which can vary in their structure, such as Simple, Complex or Harmonics. In this study, we investigated the use of the three types of calling bouts in different sociosexual interactions, including both same- and opposite-sex contexts. In same-sex contexts, males typically produced a Simple calling bout, whereas females mostly produced a Complex one. By contrast, in the opposite-sex context, they produced all the three types of calling bouts, but the use of each calling type varied according to the progress and mode of sociosexual interaction (e.g. Harmonic calling bout was specifically produced during reproductive behaviour). These results indicate that mice change the structure of calling bout according to sociosexual contexts, suggesting the presence of multiple functional signals in their ultrasonic communication.

The aim of the present study was to examine relations among gender, personality traits, and a behavioral component of sociosexual orientation on the one hand, and four dimensions of attitudes towards sex on the other hand. Participants (N = 266) from the general population of Serbia completed Sociosexual Orientation Inventory (SOI), the brief Sexual Attitudes Scale (BSAS) and Big Five Plus Two, shorten version (BF+2). Results pointed to a very modest contribution of gender to the prediction of sexual attitudes. Small effects of openness on instrumentality, extraversion on communion, and neuroticism on permissiveness were noted, and sociosexual orientation predicted all these three dimensions of attitudes towards sex. Results also indicated a significant effect of interaction between neuroticism and gender, as well as a positive valence and gender on instrumental attitude towards sex. The relationship in both cases was positive for males and negative for females.

In this article I argue that Olive Schreiner’s novel From Man to Man or Perhaps Only– (1926) explores the female subject’s relationship to sexuality in late nineteenth-century colonial South Africa in spatial terms. Reading the novel through Sara Ahmed’s (2006) idea of “queer phenomenology” and the concepts of “bodily horizon,” “extension,” and “orientation,” I claim that it is in the interaction of body and space that the potential lies for both oppression and resistance in relation to sexual and racial norms in the novel. The analysis focuses on how the main characters, Rebekah and Bertie, respond to restrictive sociosexual norms through their orientation in space. The article further considers how Rebekah and Bertie attempt to manage their troubled relation to colonial domesticity, and ultimately transform it, through their relationships with the servants Dorcas and Clartje and with Rebekah's adopted daughter Sartje; the former of which are ultimately imbued with notions of sexualised invasion. This article reveals how the spatial and embodied practices of the main characters are essential in negotiating their sexual positions in late nineteenth-century South African society.

When a prolonged observation of groups of rats in a seminatural environment is used as testing procedure, different behavioral patterns are shown compared with what observed in a pair housed in a small cage. Males and females copulate simultaneously, they show a promiscuously and random copulatory pattern. Females remain completely receptive from the first lordosis displayed in the period of behavioral estrus until the last. There is no reduction in paracopulatory behaviors and no increase in rejections towards the end of estrus. Female paracopulatory behavior and receptivity change in a most abrupt way at both initiation and termination of behavioral estrus. It appears that, in the seminatural environment, males copulate in bouts, and males do not pursue the females unless they are fully receptive. Non-sexual, social behavior including affiliative and nonaffiliative interaction among rats is rather unrelated to sexual activities in both sex.

Purpose This study aims to examine how loneliness, romantic relationship status (single/non-single) and romantic attachment factors (sociosexual orientation index (SOI), satisfaction with current relationship) interactively affect conspicuous consumption. Design/methodology/approach Five quasi-experimental studies were conducted with different measures of conspicuous consumption across a variety of samples (N = 1189). Findings Study 1 shows that loneliness increased singles’ but not non-singles’ conspicuous consumption. Study 2A further shows the mediating role of the mating motive amongst singles. Study 2B compared conspicuous and inconspicuous consumption and showed no interaction effect between loneliness and romantic relationship status in the domain of inconspicuous consumption. Studies 3 and 4 tested whether the effects of loneliness on non-singles’ conspicuous consumption were moderated by SOI and satisfaction with current relationship, respectively. Specifically, lonely non-singles with high SOI or low satisfaction with current relationship sought conspicuous consumption, but those with low SOI or high satisfaction with the current relationship avoided conspicuous consumption. Research limitations/implications This study did not specifically consider different roots of loneliness (lack of romantic love, friendship or family attachment) between singles and non-singles, which future research should explore. Practical implications The findings have implications for both marketers and policymakers regarding marketing campaigns for conspicuous products, support programmes satisfying the specific social attachment needs of different lonely people, etc. Originality/value This study identifies a specific social attachment desire of the lonely, namely, romantic motive, by which loneliness influences singles’ and non-singles’ conspicuous consumption in different ways. The findings suggest the value of distinguishing types of loneliness.

Animals live in environments that are both complex and continually changing, so they have to respond to short- and long-term variations in a wide range of factors, such as photoperiod, nutrition and sociosexual signals. Before they were domesticated, animals developed reproductive strategies that coped with these changes and often took advantage of them. The physiological processes that implement these strategies have been modified to some extent during several millennia of controlled breeding, but most persist. Thus, many genotypes still exhibit profound responses to external inputs, such as the induction of ovulation by sociosexual signals and the doubling of litter size by a change in nutrition. The complexity in these responses is now becoming clearer. For example, with sociosexual signals, we now need to consider the stimulatory effects of males on females, of females on males and of females on females. Similarly, the impact of nutrition has been extended beyond the control of puberty and the production of gametes to include phenomena such as ‘fetal programming’, with its potentially profound effects on the life-long performance of the animals. Fortunately, our capacity to research these phenomena has been greatly enhanced by technical improvements in hormone assays, molecular and cellular biology, and real-time ultrasound. This has brought us a better understanding of several of the environmental influences on reproduction, including: the cellular processes within ovarian follicles that mediate the effect of nutrition on ovulation rate; the neuroendocrine pathways through which nutritional inputs affect the brain centres that control appetite and reproduction; and the intracerebral pathways through which sociosexual signals (olfactory and non-olfactory) stimulate the reproductive axis. Importantly, we are now beginning to realise that, as well as considering interactions between environmental inputs and genotype, we need to take into account interactions between the environmental factors themselves, just as the animals do. We still have a long way to go for a complete understanding, but we are nevertheless in a position where we can begin to use this information to develop new management systems for our animals to improve their productivity.

Les cycles activité-repos sont des comportements conservés chez tous les animaux dotés d'un système nerveux, de l'hydre à l'homme. Le schéma temporel de ces cycles varie, rendant les animaux diurnes, nocturnes ou crépusculaires. Leur orchestration repose sur l'horloge circadienne, qui fonctionne sur une période de près de 24 heures et dicte les moments de sommeil et d'éveil. Des signaux abiotiques comme la lumière et la température ajustent quotidiennement ces rythmes. Ici, nous avons étudié si les interactions sociosexuelles cycliques pouvaient constituer un zeitgeber biotique puissant chez les insectes. Pour cela, nous avons utilisé le papillon de nuit solitaire Spodoptera littoralis et la mouche Drosophila melanogaster. Chez la plupart des insectes, les phéromones sexuelles jouent un rôle clé dans la communication sociale entre les conspécifiques. Qu'elles soient volatiles (olfactives) ou spécifiques au contact (gustatives), les phéromones sexuelles régulent les interactions sociosexuelles, une forme élémentaire de comportement social chez les insectes. Nous avons émis l'hypothèse que l'exposition aux phéromones sexuelles pouvait étendre son effet au-delà des voies chimiosensorielles canoniques du cerveau pour moduler les cycles d'activité et de repos des insectes. Chez les papillons de nuit mâles solitaires, nous avons montré que les interactions socio-sexuelles à distance médiées par les phéromones influencent les rythmes circadiens. L'horloge circadienne des femelles régule la libération périodique de phéromones sexuelles, et cette disponibilité rythmique induit et synchronise les cycles activité-repos des mâles en modulant l'expression des gènes horloges. Nos résultats révèlent une relation hiérarchique entre les horloges circadiennes des femelles et des mâles, suggérant que la temporalité est un trait soumis à la sélection sexuelle. Fait remarquable, l'impact de la phéromone peut annuler l'effet de la lumière sur l'horloge chez le papillon de nuit, ce qui constitue un modèle unique d'entraînement chimiosensoriel de l'horloge en chronobiologie. Dans le mélange phéromonal des femelles, nous avons identifié des composants qui ne sont pas sexuellement attractifs pour les mâles mais qui ont de forts effets circadiens. Ces volatiles, partagés entre espèces sympatriques, peuvent induire une synchronisation communautaire. Chez les mouches, les signaux féminins modifient également les cycles d'activité-repos. Chez D.melanogaster, nous avons découvert un changement de niche temporelle induit par les phéromones. En effet, les mouches qui sont crépusculaires quand elles sont seules deviennent nocturnes en groupe et cela a été observé tant en laboratoire qu'en milieu semi-naturel. Même un couple hétérosexuel isolé présente un pic d'activité locomoteur nocturne important. Or, contrairement aux papillons de nuit, cette modulation chez les mouches fonctionne indépendamment de l'horloge circadienne via des voies d'éveil dépendantes de la dopamine. Les souches sauvages de D.melanogaster présentent des différences qualitatives et quantitatives dans les profils de phéromones sexuelles selon leur origine biogéographique. Ces différences sont corrélées avec les variations de la nocturnité, qui sont plus prononcées chez les mouches européennes des latitudes plus élevées. De plus, nous avons révélé que différentes espèces de Drosophiles changent de niche temporelle à des moments distincts de la journée, le choix du moment étant influencé par leur dépendance relative à l'égard des indices visuels ou gustatifs pour les interactions sociosexuelles. Nos résultats, à l'interface entre la neuroscience et l'écologie chimique, montrent que les interactions écologiques modulent des comportements génétiquement programmés comme le sommeil. Ils soulignent aussi l'importance des études comparatives sur des insectes non modèles ayant une spécialisation sensorielle unique pour une compréhension plus profonde et plus large de la neuroéthologie circadienne
Cyclic rest-activity patterns are conserved behaviors in all animals with a nervous system, from hydra to humans. The temporal pattern of rest-activity cycles varies, rendering animals diurnal, nocturnal, or crepuscular. The patterning of these cycles is orchestrated by the circadian clock, which operates with a nearly 24-hour period, dictating the timing of sleep and wakefulness. External abiotic cues such as light and temperature fine-tune these rhythms daily. Here, we investigated whether cyclic sociosexual interactions can serve as a potent biotic zeitgeber for the insects. To address this, we employed the solitary adult moth Spodoptera littoralis and the gregarious vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster.In most insects, chemical signals like pheromones act as powerful cues for social communication among conspecifics. Sex pheromones, which can be either volatile (olfactory) or contact-specific (gustatory), mediate sociosexual interactions—an elementary form of social behavior common to all insects. We hypothesized that sex-pheromone exposure could extend its influence beyond canonical chemosensory pathways in the brain, modulating the insects' rest-activity cycles over time.In solitary male moths, we revealed that remotely occurring, pheromone-mediated sociosexual interactions exert a surprisingly strong influence on free-running circadian rhythms. The females' circadian clock regulates the periodic release of sex pheromones, and the rhythmic availability of these pheromones induces and synchronizes males' rest-activity cycles by modulating their clock gene expression. Our findings highlight a hierarchical relationship between female and male circadian oscillators and imply that timing is a sexually selected trait. Remarkably, the impact of pheromonal cues on the moth clock can even supersede the entraining effect of light, establishing a unique model for chemosensory clock entrainment in chronobiology. Within the female moth's sex-pheromone blend, we identified specific components that lack mate-attractive properties but exert powerful circadian effects. These volatiles, shared across sympatric moth species, can trigger communal synchronization.Female cues also influence rest-activity patterns in fruit flies. In D. melanogaster, we uncovered sex pheromone-driven temporal niche switching, whereby singly crepuscular flies become nocturnal when in groups under both laboratory and semi-natural outdoor conditions. Even an isolated heterosexual pair display a prominent peak of locomotor activity in the middle of the night. However, unlike in moths, the modulation of rest-activity patterns by sex pheromones in flies operates independently of the circadian clock, acting instead via dopamine-dependent arousal pathways. Wild strains of D. melanogaster, depending on their biogeographic origin, display qualitative and quantitative differences in sex pheromone profiles. These differences correlate with variations in nocturnality, which are more pronounced in higher-latitude European flies. Furthermore, we revealed that different Drosophila species exhibit temporal niche switching at distinct times of the day, with the choice of timing influenced by their relative reliance on visual versus gustatory cues for sociosexual interactions.Our results, at the interface of neuroscience and chemical ecology, demonstrate that ecological interactions can modulate genetically programmed behaviors like sleep. They highlight that comparative studies using non-model insects endowed with unique sensory specializations should pave the way for a deeper and broader understanding of circadian neuroethology

AbstractDusky and spinner dolphins are small-bodied odontocetes that show variation in socioecology across their range. New Zealand dusky dolphins and Hawaiian spinner dolphins of deep nearshore waters feed nocturnally upon prey species associated with the deep scattering layer, leaving the daytime free for rest and social interaction, often close to shore. In this chapter, we investigate relationships between foraging ecology, diel activity patterns, and sociosexual activities of dusky and spinner dolphins in breeding and nonbreeding contexts. We review similarities and differences between dusky and spinner dolphins related to mating strategies and tactics, socioecology, and evolution. We examine the effects of breeding season and variation in male testis mass and female receptivity on mating behavior. We further explore the influence of sociosexual behavior on female social grouping and calf rearing.

AbstractA number of odontocete species have been cared for by humans for multiple decades, including but not limited to pilot whales, killer whales, Commerson’s dolphins, bottlenose dolphins (Indo-Pacific and common), and beluga whales (or white whales). Because many of these were breeding, numerous reproductive behaviors have been observed, documented, and investigated in detail. Similarly, sociosexual behaviors exchanged between nonreproductive partners have been examined. This chapter summarizes what has been learned regarding the role of hormones in sexual behavior, seasonality of sexual behavior, reproductive courtship behavior and displays, copulation, non-conceptive sexual behavior, development, social bonds, same-sex interactions, and interspecies interactions. We provide insight to the behavioral systems involved with both reproduction and social bonding for odontocetes. This chapter concludes with areas of future research that have been informed and should continue to be informed by knowledge of odontocete sexual behavior gained from managed care facilities.

Abstract Sexual harassment–unwanted and often persistent sexual attention most frequently involving male initiators and female victims–has recently emerged as a major issue in the management of organizations (e.g., Center for Women’s Policy Studies, 1981; Farley, 1978; Gutek, 1985; Neugarten & Shafritz, 1980; Paludi, 1990; U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, 1981). Sexual harassment in the workplace occurs within an environment in which issues associated with, and interactions among, sexual desire, individual power, and sociosexual conflict are especially pronounced and especially problematic (Studd & Gattiker, 1991). The personal and professional goals and desires of individuals in the workplace often conflict with those of other individuals with whom they interact. Moreover, individual and organizational objectives are often also in conflict. The problematic nature of these competing influences is in contrast to sexual motivation and sociosexual interactions in private life, in which incidents of unwanted sexual attention can at least potentially be resolved on a more individual and private basis. Such resolutions would, generally lack implications for that individual’s working or professional life and therefore would be unaffected by the confounding influence of organization-based power. The presence and use of this professional and organizational power greatly complicate sociosexual interactions between men and women in the workplace, especially with respect to unwanted sexual attention.