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The cognitive components are comprised of knowledge, values, norms, belief systems, ways of thinking, idealizations, mystifications and ideologies pertaining to sexuality. Cognitions reflect a person’s learning history and the social sphere he or she grew up in and now lives in. Cognitive components steer and promote (e.g. through knowledge) or inhibit (e.g. via feelings of guilt and shame) sexual learning steps. They influence the role and meaning sexuality has in our lives, and modify the ways we perceive sexual experiences and sexual pleasure.