Pheromone - Zhou - Attraction

Androstadienone (AND)

• found in male sweat

• help females select a suitable mate

• a pheromone

• have strong effect on female vomeronasal organs

Pheromones

• chemical substance produced and released into the environment by an animal affecting the behaviour of others of its own species

• pheromones affect sexual and mating behaviours

• no actual pheromones have been found in humans however, research shows some chemicals under controlled conditions may lead humans to show behaviours similar to what is seen in animals

Aim of Zhou

• to investigate the chemosensory communication of gender in sex-specific manner, by testing of male and female reactions to two signalling steroids (AND - maleness) (EST - femaleness)

method of Zhou

• 96 self reported homosexual or heterosexual males and females

• 3 conditions: AND, EST, control of nothing where pp inhaled them throughout the study

• points of light were placed on 50 males and 50 females at major walking joints, these were confederates

• pp then watched the confederates walk and had to decide of they were male or female while sniffing their condition

Results of Zhou

• smelling AND biased heterosexual females and homosexual males to perceive walkers as more masculine

• smelling EST bias heterosexual males to perceive the walkers as more feminine

Conclusion of Zhou

• this is direct evidence that the two human steroids communicate opposite gender info that has different effect on two sex groups, based on sexual orientation

critical thinking of Zhou

strength

• well controlled lab experiment where pp didn’t know nature of stimuli and thus unable to exhibit any demand characteristics

Limitation

• shift in gender perception of the pp averaged 8%, which is a small change

• amount of AND and EST used were far above what would be found in the human body naturally so could lack ecological validity

• artificial lab so lacks ecological validity

aim of saxton

to investigate how androstadienone (AND) affected participants during speed dating (selecting a partner)

method of saxton

• 3 conditions with cotton wool: with AND + 1% clove oil, just clove oil, just water

• clove oil was used to make control and pheromone smell the same

• researchers placed cotton wool under nose of female participants

• female pp then went about their speed dating

Results of saxton

• females exposed to AND rated males as being more attractive than those that just had water or oil

conclusion of saxton

• the results suggests that pheromone AND which is given off by male sweat, acts as a chemical messenger to increase feelings of attraction for a female

critical thinking of saxton

strengths

• cotton wool smelled the same for each pp due to the clove oil which reduces demand characteristics as pp don’t know which condition they are in

Limitations

• lacks ecological validity because pp would not usually have cotton wool under their nose while speed dating

alternative explanation of pheromones (AND)

• hare et al found that exposure to pheromones AND and EST had no effect on pp

• trotier et al found that the VNO structure in the human nasal cavities is not connected to any nerves or sensory organs which means pheromones may not be able to be taken in by humans