Pheromones

Studies

Wedekind (1997) Terms to define

• Pheromones

• MHC

Wedekind (1997) Aim

To investigate the role of MHC (a set of genes responsible for our immune system) on mate selection

Wedekind (1997) Procedure

• Male and female participants were ‘types’ fortheir MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) genes

• They took notes on women that took oral contraceptives

• Men were asked to wear a t-shirt during two nights

• They told them to use uncented products, and to avoid substances or activities that could alter their body odor (spicy foods, sexual activity)

• Two days later women (on a very specific odor-sensitive stage of their menstrual cycle) ranked the smell of 7 t-shirts, that had been worn by men the nights before

• The t-shirts were in boxes to prevent any other outside odors

• 3 of the t-shirts had odors from MHC similar men, another 3 had odors from MHC different men and finally one was unworn (control)

• Women rated the odors for: Intensity, pleasantness and sexiness. Using a scale from 0-10

Wedekind (1997) Results

• Women rated male body odor as more pleasent when they has different MHC

• The preference reversed when they were taking oral contraseptives

• This suggests that MHC may influence human mate choice, and supports an evolutionary argument for male selection in humans

Wedekind (1997) Evaluation

• Controled environment

Zhou (2014) Terms to define

• Pheremones

• MHC

Zhou (2014) Aim

To see if androstadienone (AND) or estratetraenol (EST) influences human mating behavior

Zhou (2014) Procedure

• Sample of 24 heterosexual male and women, and 24 homosexual men and women

• Each of them were asked to watch stick figures walking on a screen

• And asked them to determine their gender, while being exposed to the smell of clovers

• In the first condtion, the cloves were mixed with androstadienone, in condition two cloves were mixed with estratetraenol, finally in the controled condition only cloves were used

Zhou (2014) Results

• Smelling androstadienone, biased hetero females and gay males but not hetero males and lesbian women towards percieving the figures as more masculine

• Smelling estratetraenol, biased hetero males and to some extent lesbian women towards seeing figures as more femenine

• Pheromones influence the more communication of gender information in a sex-specific manner

Zhou (2014) Evaluation

• Due to abnormal levels of pheromones it is unclear if the response would be the same in a natural setting

• Not a clear study of sexual attraction, rather just the walk

• Sample size two small

Pheromones and studies general evaluation

• The human sense of smell is very complex, wich makes it very difficult to see how pheromones would work in humans

• Many body odors are caused by bacteria that mix with our secretions (armpits) 20% of the population do not have that bacteria, making the research even more unreliable

• Culture plays a role in our sense of smell (we learn what smells good or bad) (confounding variable)

• Th research is highly artificial

• Has not been sufficiently replicated