Is gay a choice?Is homosexuality innate or learned? Psychology Today editor Robert Epstein Robert Epstein, Ph.D., (born June 19, 1953, Hartford, Connecticut, USA) is a psychologist, researcher, writer, and media professional whose primary contributions have been in the areas of creativity, stress management, self change, and interpersonal relationships. , 52, a Harvard-educated researcher and professor who's currently a visiting scholar A visiting scholar, in the world of academia, is a scholar from an institution who visits a receiving university that hosts him where he or she is projected to teach (visiting professor), lecture (visiting lecturer), or perform research (visiting researcher at the University of California, San Diego UCSD is consistently ranked among the top ten public universities for undergraduate education in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.[3] It is a Public Ivy. [1] For graduate studies, most of UCSD's Ph.D. , set out to answer that question "from a strictly scientific perspective." His article, "Do Gays Have a Choice?" appears in the February-March issue of Scientific American Mind Scientific American Mind is a bimonthly American popular science magazine concentrated on psychology, neuroscience, and related fields. By analyzing and revealing new thinking in the cognitive sciences, the magazine is able to focus on the biggest breakthroughs in these fields. . What made you decide to write about this? It is an issue that most people talk about either from a religious or political perspective. What I've tried to do is push aside the politics, push aside religious issues, and just look at every related scientific study I can find. You found that sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. was determined by a combination of genetics and environment. Is it then possible for a gay person to become straight? I think probably the vast majority of gays don't have much choice. If you're living your life as a gay person in spite of all that pressure that pushes people toward the straight end of the continuum, that suggests that you are genetically predisposed pre·dis·pose v. pre·dis·posed, pre·dis·pos·ing, pre·dis·pos·es v.tr. 1. a. To make (someone) inclined to something in advance: . What is your "Epstein Sexual Orientation Inventory"? The test shows where you are on the sexual orientation continuum between O, straight, and 13, gay. It's a variation on the tests that have been developed in the past. What's new is that it doesn't just pin you down to a particular number on the scale, it actually shows you a whole range as well as your mean sexual orientation. What have people been saying about this? Some people are so skeptical about the message of the article. The other reaction is from people who are saying that it's great that someone here is trying to cut through the politics and cut through religion and answer the question in a fairly objective manner. |
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