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Sexual Imprinting

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Positive sexual imprinting

Definition

The process through which sexual preferences are acquired from the characteristics of the parents.

Introduction

Sexual imprinting is a special type of imprinting which is thought to be related to sexual or mate preferences of animals. As evolutionary psychology mainly focuses on behavioral traits involved with survival and reproduction, sexual imprinting has been intensively studied, especially the sexual imprinting in human beings.

In fact, sexual imprinting can be either positive or negative. Positive sexual imprinting refers to acquiring sexual preferences according to the characteristics of one or both of the foster parents. The frequently mentioned “sexual imprinting” usually refers to positive sexual imprinting. On the contrary, negative sexual imprinting refers to acquired avoidance of mating with individuals who resemble kin, which is also known as Westermarck effect. The phenomenon of sexual imprinting has been found in both...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Bowen Hou & Yan Wang

Authors
  1. Bowen Hou
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  2. Yan Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yan Wang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Menelaos Apostolou

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Hou, B., Wang, Y. (2018). Sexual Imprinting. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1061-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1061-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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