I'm writing a 3000 word essay on human motivation, the topic I've chosen in masturbation. I chose masturbation because on the outside, it serves little purpose in terms of reproductive success or anything like that so it would be an interesting topic to look into. Plus, my lecturer is interested in sex-psychology so I might manage a few more marks for interest sake
Have you come across anything of interest? Could this be described through a Darwinian perspective?
I'm thinking about things like it enabling a person to release tension from the libido perhaps, without risking either pregnancy or impregnation (and thus potentially losing your resources through having to pay for the child's upbringing (if you're male), personal safety (no risk of STD/harmful pregnancy or harm from male relations such as brothers and fathers, and harm from jealous partners).
And of course there's the fact that although it's not as good as sex, it's a damned site easier to masturbate than to get laid. Perhaps there's a psychological argument for lazy people, here..!
And of course, humans are not the only animals that masturbate. I propose that this proves that masturbation is not a cultural behaviour.
Regarder:
Spoiler
Does anyone have any helpful ideas about the human motivation to masturbate?
To achieve orgasm? That's my main objective anyway, dunno about others.
Well that's certainly the desired outcome. I think that works with the releasing tension argument. I can't think of why humans need to orgasm though, that's a difficult one.
My main motivation is that if I don't, my insides will clean themselves out in the middle of the night, and my mum does my laundry. There's no purely psychological motivation behind it at all, it's a physical necessity.
My main motivation is that if I don't, my insides will clean themselves out in the middle of the night, and my mum does my laundry. There's no purely psychological motivation behind it at all, it's a physical necessity.
Females masturbate too, and so do animals, so it must be more than that.
I'd have thought it's pretty basically a side-effect of our evolutionary imperative to have sex: sex feels good because that way we have more of it, and we hijack that system to feel good without the bother of finding someone else. I'm don't see that there's that much to talk about (though I feel I'm probably in danger of coming off like this comic) in the way of 'motivation'; the motivation for getting sexual pleasure is evolutionarily obvious, and in the absence of other people to help people will do it by themselves. If people masturbating in preference to sex were a common thing it would be interesting, but they don't, to my knowledge.
Maybe you're looking more into this than it is. Creatures masturbate, I mean it's a simple but effective pleasure that relieves stress and feels good. I mean what other motivation could there be?
I'm not having a go btw, its just that I don't see more that what it is.
Maybe you're looking more into this than it is. Creatures masturbate, I mean it's a simple but effective pleasure that relieves stress and feels good. I mean what other motivation could there be?
I'm not having a go btw, its just that I don't see more that what it is.
Apparently women masturbate more during certain parts of their menstrual cycle, and men masturbate more regularly when they are cheating. I need to remember the sources for that, but I don't see how anything can be too simple to investigate.
Apparently women masturbate more during certain parts of their menstrual cycle, and men masturbate more regularly when they are cheating. I need to remember the sources for that, but I don't see how anything can be too simple to investigate.
Well, the first just follows from fertility being at different levels during the cycle; it makes sense for women to want more to have sex when they're more fertile. The second sounds interesting, though it could easily be a case of correlation rather than causation (ie the men that want more to have sex and therefore masturbate are more likely to cheat).