Reasons People Give for Using (or Not Using) Condoms.

Study participants (N = 348) were asked about 46 reasons that have been suggested for why people use or do not use condoms. Participants were asked which of these reasons motivated them when they were deciding whether to use condoms in 503 sexual relationships. Participants were classified into one of three roles based on their HIV status and the status of each sexual partner: HIV+ people with HIV- partners; HIV- people with HIV+ partners; and HIV- people with HIV- partners. Motivations were looked at in the context of each of these roles. Of the 46 reasons, only 15 were selected by at least 1/3 of the participants, and only seven were selected by at least half. Frequently reported reasons primarily concern protecting self and partner from STDs including HIV. Less frequently reported reasons involved social norms, effects of condoms on sex, and concern for the relationship. These findings have implications for clinical interventions.

Explaining Society: An Expanded Toolbox for Social Scientists.

We propose for social scientists a theoretical toolbox containing a set of motivations that neurobiologists have recently validated. We show how these motivations can be used to create a theory of society recognizably similar to existing stable societies (sustainable, self-reproducing, and largely peaceful). Using this toolbox, we describe society in terms of three institutions: economy (a source of sustainability), government (peace), and the family (reproducibility). Conducting a thought experiment in three parts, we begin with a simple theory with only two motivations. We then create successive theories that systematically add motivations, showing that each element in the toolbox makes its own contribution to explain the workings of a stable society and that the family has a critical role in this process.