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Social and behavioral scientists have constructed a number of distinct models of fertility and its antecedents. Davis and Blake (1956) originally identified a set of 11 variables that they described as intermediate between a society's culture and social structure, on the one hand, and its fertility, on the other. They included three union variables, three sexual intercourse variables, three conception variables, and two gestation variables. Although these intermediate variables subsequently underwent some modification and redefinition (Bongaarts 1978, 1982), they continue to provide an important basis for theorizing and model building on the part of sociologists and demographers. Economists have also developed models of the antecedents of fertility. For example, the formulation of Easterlin (1978) postulates that fertility depends on both the relative demand for children and fertility regulation. The former is a balance between the household's demand for children, called desired family size, and the potential supply of children, the number of surviving children the household would have if it did not regulate fertility. Fertility regulation is the limitation of fertility through the practice of abstinence, contraception, and abortion. Psychologists have contributed a variety of formulations, many being variations on the notion of subjective expected utility (Adler 1979). For example, Jaccard and Davidson (1976), building on the theoretical work of Fishbein (1972), proposed that fertility was a function of fertility intentions, which were a function of an attitudinal factor and a normative factor. Beckman et al. (1983) elaborated a psychological-level model that specifically includes both husband and wife variables. They postulated that fertility is determined by contraceptive use, which is determined by husband's intentions, wife's intentions, and their joint decision. Recently an interdisciplinary panel of the National Academy of Sciences proposed an analytic framework for studying the determinants of fertility in developing countries (Bulatao and Lee 1983). It incorporates biological, psychological, economic, and social factors in an effort to promote understanding at the individual, household, community, societal, and cultural levels. It draws heavily on each of the types of models already mentioned, fitting them into a single, comprehensive, yet flexible framework. What is missing in all of these formulations is a full analysis of the different types of individual behavior that lead directly to conception. In particular, none of these formulations discusses or considers what in many post-fertility-transition nations may be the most important determinant of conception, namely the attempt to achieve conception, what I have called proception (Miller 1973, 1980; Miller and Godwin 1977). This article is devoted to a discussion of the concept of proception and the presentation of some empirical findings regarding patterns of proceptive behavior among married women, the relative importance of proception for marital conceptions, and the psychological antecedents of marital proception.