Three dimensions of depth of involvement in human sexual response1

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Abstract
A model proposed to account for hypnotic phenomena is extended and specifically applied to understanding human sexual response. It is proposed that orgasmic response is potentiated by effective sexual stimulation that is subjectively experienced as (1) pleasurable sexual sensations and (2) the emotions of excitement and joy. Effective sexual stimulation is a joint function of the density of physical sexual stimulation and depth of involvement in the sexual contact episode. Involvement is a complex of psychological processes in which there is an interaction of fundamental emotions (interest‐excitement and enjoyment‐joy) with cognitions and actions that can be described by three dimensions: (1) sexual role enactment, (2) sexual trance, and (3) engagement with the sex partner. The fundamental emotions of excitement and joy amplify sex drive, are a source of sexual pleasure and meaning, and are bonded to specific preferred dimensions of involvement. The concept of depth is used to describe the state of absorption at a particular moment during the sexual contact episode and a pattern of progression from shallow to deep to resurfacing that is believed to facilitate the progression of phases in the human sexual response cycle. Specified levels of depth of involvement and conditions or procedures that facilitate deepening involvement are described for each dimension. Involvement in sexual role enactment deepens as participation shifts from disinterested to casual to routine to engrossed to entranced to ecstatic depths. Sexual self‐role congruence, sexual role perception and sexual role skills are required for involved, convincing, and appropriate sexual role enactment. Sexual trance is enhanced by procedures, such as those found in sex therapy, hypnosis, and meditation, that help the person abandon the generalized reality‐orientation and form the special sexual‐orientation. Sexual trance deepens when there is a partial relaxation of critical functions and partial orientation to sexual meanings, as the reality‐orientation continues to fade and attention is predominantly focused on the special sexual‐orientation. Involvement in sexual trance deepens through six levels: (1) partial relaxation of critical orientation and partial orientation to sexual meaning of experience, (2) fading of the generalized reality‐orientation and predominant focus of attention on the special sexual‐orientation, (3) abandonment of the generalized reality‐orientation and establishment of the special sexual‐orientation, (4) deliberately focused, concentrated awareness, (5) involuntary fascination, (6) total absorption in the special sexual‐orientation. Although deep involvement in sexual role enactment and sexual trance is possible with a broad range of partners, deep involvement in the dimension of engagement with the sex partner requires a narrow latitude of acceptance. Depth of involvement with the partner is described as consisting of six levels: (1) past‐oriented, ego‐centered, (2) present‐oriented, ego‐centered, (3) self‐oriented, surface‐centered, (4) partner‐oriented, surface‐centered, (5) partner‐oriented, core‐centered, and (6) union‐oriented, core‐centered involvement. Depth of engagement with the partner in a particular episode is a function of the strength and salience of the bond between the partners, core personality participation, and the meaning of the sexual contact episode. Imbalanced involvement based upon a single preferred dimension results in sexual contact episodes with different characteristics. When sexual role enactment is the preferred dimension of involvement, the sexual mood will be playful with high self esteem, the setting will be dramatic and exhibitionistic, the sexual techniques will be varied, the sexual style will be active and expressive, fantasies will contain a scripted plot, and sex is conceived to be an adventure or drama that leads to involuntary ecstatic expression and orgasm in which the participants are protypical men and women. When sexual trance is the preferred pathway of involvement, the setting requires freedom from distractions, the mood is relaxed and receptive, sexual techniques emphasize repetitive, sensual pacing, the sexual style is passive and inwardly oriented, fantasies are scriptless sensory images, and sex is conceived to be an altered state of consciousness or a trip that leads to intense absorption into sensation and orgasm with faded consciousness in which the person is transported. When engagement with the sex partner programs the sexual contact episode, then the mood and setting are romantic reminders of the love bond, the sexual techniques emphasize kissing, cuddling, and face‐to‐face contact, the sexual style is affectionate and mutually pleasuring, the fantasies are romantic, sex is conceived to be a loving merger, and orgasms are flowing with a loss of the self in a loving union. The learned preference for a dimension of involvement is conserved in an affective‐cognitive‐action structure named the preferred dimension structure. The preferred dimension structure has five components: (1) a program for selecting preferred moods, settings, and partners for initiating the sexual contact episode, (2) a program for guiding the preferred interpersonal interaction, sexual styles, and range and progression of sexual acts of the participants, (3) a program for a preferred means of facilitating and amplifying human sexual response through involvement in congruent role‐enactment, focused and entrancing awareness, or salient and strong engagement with the partner, (4) a predisposition to experience the amplifying fundamental emotions of interest‐excitement and enjoyment‐joy in specific combinations, and (5) a predisposition to assign significance and meanings...

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