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How Often Do Men and Women Think About Sex?

Hot off the press: Research on sexuality.

This post is in response to
How Often Do Men and Women Think About Sex?

The publishers of the Journal of Sex Research agreed to make this article freely available so that you can read it yourself. Here's the link: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224499.2011.565429

I thought this study could serve as an educational opportunity for university students. When I used to teach research methodology, I would have a section of the course focused on critical interpretation of magazine and newspaper articles regarding psychological science. For the assignment, students would find a popular press article about a scientific study, then go and get the actual research article, and then compare the two. In this case, you could have your students compare magazine and newspaper articles with the actual scientific article and the summary written by the lead scientist, Dr. Fisher. This assignment can help students think critically about popular press descriptions of scientific studies. And since the study focuses on sexuality, the students should find the topic inherently interesting.

Fisher, T. D., Moore, Z. T., & Pittenger, M. (2012). Sex on the brain? An examination of frequency of sexual cognitions as a function of gender, erotophilia, and social desirability. Journal of Sex Research, 29, 69-77. doi: 10.1080/00224499.2011.565429

Dr. Mustanski is the Director of the IMPACT LGBT Health and Development Program. You can follow the Sexual Continuum blog by becoming a fan on Facebook. I periodically live tweet from research conferences on sexuality and you can follow me @sexualcontinuum.

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