METHODOLOGY OF SURVEY-DESIGN FOR INTER-CULTURAL SEXOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

2. The systematic approach, and the development of the ecological model

The ecological model explains sexuality as, on the one hand, the result of the biological and physiological state of the organism, and on the other, as a process of learning and experience [5]. This model allows a broad-based discussion of sexuality, uniting its reproductive and recreational functions, and viewing the individual in terms of his membership in bio-social groups, which vary in their outlooks on sex and reproduction. The Russian School of Sexopathology adopted a systematic approach to the investigation of sexual systems. The essence of their approach consists in evaluating the course of the copulative cycle of the patient, using specially worked out categories and taking into account the patients' sexual constitution [4].

A person's gender-role behavior operates on a wide spectrum, and results from the activity of brain systems. It both conditions and is conditioned by the process of socialization. It reveals itself in patterns of typical behavior which stem from underlying "quanta," mental programs, which have both "wired-in" and "dynamic" forms. These are the main categories postulated by the theory of functional systems [2,7].

The followers of Anokhin, studying the functional systems of the human organism, distinguished the results of various mental processes and formulated the principle of the systematic "quanticization" of human behavior. The principle is that the entire continuum of human activity can be divided into discrete sections - "quanta" - and that each section has a classical organization, as shown in the diagram. This special form of organization is known as the systemic architecture. It includes the mechanisms of afferent synthesis, decision-making, anticipation of results, efferent synthesis, and the constant evaluation of achieved effects, which operates through the system of reverse afferentation (the mechanism of reverse connection.) For the evaluation of results, there is a special structure called the acceptor of an action's results.

The structure of the functional system according to P.K. Anokhin

Behavior is seen as a series of discrete episodes linked in time and space and comprising a set of "standard" elements. The essential nature of the elements and the sequence of their appearance in similar situations does not, in principle, change. This process is known as the "quanticization of behavior." "Mental quanticization" is realized through a person's thoughts, emotions, forecasts of the future, and use of word-symbols.

Quanticization of behavior resulting from "wired-in programming" is genetically determined (this type of quanticization includes innate patterns of behavior). Dynamic mental programming is characteristic of learned behavior, and to actions which happen under conditions of constant change. This process always runs alongside mechanisms of motivation, memory, stimulation, and the mechanisms which anticipate and react to events in the world.

A special feature of wired-in mental programming is that all the components of the quanta are genetically determined, and so the sequential activation of the quanta is realized without any special conscious understanding on the part of the subject. Dynamic programming is flexible, and is concerned with anticipating only the most significant results. Behavioral patterns stemming from dynamic programming involve the selection from the mass of available data only those data most closely linked to the subject's motivation. Information is rejected if it does not lead to the achievement of the foreseen result. All of the features of dynamic quanticization are present during the production of spoken and written language, so it is clear that if a survey is designed in the proper way, it's application will shed light on the respondents' quanta.

Typical patterns of gender-role behavior are specific to individual subjects and to social groups. They change under the influence of the norms and myths circulating in the social consciousness. As a result, an important characteristic of any social group is its "movement." The "movement" of a social group can be identified through repeated analysis of their attitudes. The accepted sociological approaches to the study of people's opinions are not, however, appropriate to sexological investigations.