Biosocial perspectives on the development of the proceptive, acceptive and conceptive phases of eroticism

The absence of an interdisciplinary science of sexology has resulted in sexuality being narrowly defined by the particular ideology of the various scientific disciplines. This review presents a theoretical model to integrate the interdisciplinary data related to the development of the three phases of eroticism. A biosocial integration of the multiple aspects of eroticism will hopefully generate research and psychotherapeutic innovations not plagued by mind-body dichotomization. The emphasis of this paper is on the solicitation, attraction and pair-bonding phase of eroticism, since this has been more neglected by sexologists than the copulatory and conceptive phases.