Development of Sexual Behavior

Introduction: A Script?

Three Aspects of Scripting

We can distinguish between three aspects of sexual scripting:

1. The intrapsychic process in which an individual adopts a given script or a combination of scripts. This is a matter of individual psychology.

2. The interpersonal process in which two or more individuals reconcile their different scripts in a sexual encounter. This is a matter of personal human interaction.

3. The cultural process in which a particular culture defines and maintains its general assumptions about what is “sexual” and which “sexual” behavior is good or bad. This expresses the basic norms and values of that society. They largely determine the content of both the intrapsychic and the interpersonal scripts.