Psychology Wiki

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences | Personality | Philosophy | Social |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |

Social psychology: Altruism · Attribution · Attitudes · Conformity · Discrimination · Groups · Interpersonal relations · Obedience · Prejudice · Norms · Perception · Index · Outline


In social psychology, seduction (also called inveigling or wheedling) is the process of deliberately enticing a person to engage in some sort of behavior, frequently sexual in nature. The word seduction stems from Indo-European roots and means literally "to lead astray." As a result, the term may have a positive or negative connotation.

Seduction, seen negatively, involves temptation and enticement, often sexual in nature, to lead someone astray into a behavioural choice they would not have made if they were not in a state of sexual arousal. Seen positively, seduction is a synonym for the act of charming someone — male or female — by an appeal to the senses, often with the goal of reducing unfounded fears and leading to their (sexual) emancipation. The seducing agent may even be nonhuman, such as music or food. In contemporary academic debate, therefore, the morality of seduction depends on the long-term impacts on the individuals concerned, rather than the act itself, and may not necessarily carry the negative connotations expressed in dictionary definitions[1].

Biological point of view[]

Thierry Lodé, a French biologist, proposed in his book [2] that seduction could result from the supranormal stimulus. The trend towards exaggeration is a fundamental biological component which explains the exuberance of certain sexual traits; for instance: the peacock’s tail and the uca crab's pincers. Sexual selection and sexual conflict could amplify the maintenance of extreme specific characters by intensifying sexual desire. The bilateral symmetry is also an essential character in life. Most animals prefer to mate with sexual partners exhibiting symmetric pattern. Actually, symmetric traits are largely altered by growth and health, and asymmetry often reveals genetic problem or immune system (MHC) deficiencies.

See also[]


Bibliography[]

References[]

  1. Ridley-Duff, R. J. (2007) Emotion, Seduction and Intimacy: Alternative Perspectives on Organisation Behaviour, Bracknell: Men's Hour Books, ISBN 978-0975430019
  2. Thierry Lodé La guerre des sexes chez les animaux, une histoire naturelle de la sexualité" Eds O Jacob, Paris, 2006


External links[]


This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).