Using social learning theory to explain individual differences in human sexuality

Abstract

To explain individual differences in human sexual expression, investigators most often stress either physiological or experiential determinants. Psychologists commonly espouse some variant of learning theory (classical conditioning, operant conditioning, or social learning theory) as an explanatory framework and a source of hypotheses and methodology. The historical use of social learning theory is described in this article, and we review its central aspects and provide examples of sexuality research in which it plays a major role. Specifically, we describe both early and current research in four broad topic areas: sexuality development, adolescent sexuality and contraceptive use, health‐related sexual behavior, and coercive sexuality. Social learning theory is then evaluated and compared with competing theories regarding its ability to explain empirical data, its predictive utility, and its parsimony.