ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the development of sexual behavior in vertebrates. In keeping with the distinction between modes of reproduction, sexual behavior may be defined as any behavior that increases the likelihood of sexual reproduction, and many behavioral scientists so use the term. Sexual behavior is an inherently functional category. Among mammals, sexual behavior culminates in copulation during which the male's penis is inserted into the female's vagina so that fertilization can take place within the female's reproductive tract. The chapter argues that the development of mammalian sexual behavior includes development of some rather general socially directed perceptual and motor skills that are mastered rather early in life. Social isolation interferes with the ability of female rats to perform male sexual behavior, which indicates that females undergo similar if not as extensive development as males. Sex differences in mounting may also result from differences in the behavior of the partner upon being mounted by males and females.
