Slate has a fantastic article about the science of scents and why ‘attraction-boosting’ human pheromone products are selling nothing but myths.
The article takes a curious look at the history of misapplied pheromone research and how it’s been used to sell everything from aftershave to soap.
“The whole pheromone thing got picked up by the mass media,” says Richard Doty, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Smell and Taste Research Center and author of The Great Pheromone Myth. It feeds into our need to believe, he said, that there “is all this subliminal stuff going on that is affecting us—who we mate with, who we want to be with. It’s this mythical perspective.” And marketers, like women’s magazines, are only too happy to exploit that myth. That’s how a whole junk-science industry of pheromone-perfumes, pheromone-soaps, and pheromone-cosmetics managed to spring up from a strange menagerie of misconstrued mammal studies.
Personally, I’ve always believed in the power of the scent of raw man, which, I have discovered, is surprisingly under-appreciated.
Link to Slate article on the pheromone hype.
8 Comments
I agree that alleged pheromone-containing products are nonsense, but I can’t be sure about pheromones per se. I can sniff out a man at 20 paces or so. In my experience they come in three basic scents: 1. Wowza 2. Neutral and 3. Don’t go there. (the last usually smelling like a male relative.)
I doubt this could be reproduced in a lab, but it’s saved me from a lot of bad dates (which I guess would be the point, after all.)
I posted a follow-up to the report at Slate, with additional links to studies of sheep and goats clearly showing the error attributed to Dr. Doty’s logic. There is also a link to our presentation of results at the Association for Chemoreception Sciences that show a mixture of androstenol and androsterone influences women’s behavior.
http://pheromones.com/trust-the-science-dont-trust-the-hype
Yeh I agree, this whole pheromone product brigade is nonsense. I doubt any of these chemicals produce arousal in the opposite sex.
Natural pheromones might play a part in our sexual selection, but they are only a small part of all the other myriad of things going on.
Plus, our abilities to sniff out pheromones is greatly reduced compared to other animals. Sure, at a subliminal level pheromones *might* be passing information from one person to another, but it’s not same as a female being able to sniff out a potential mate among a group of males.
It is precisely the same as when the females of other species sniff out a potential mate among a group of males, or sniff out their choice of food from among a selection of foods. What, in your opinion, is not the same? Women can sniff out differences in genetically determined “tissue type” as someone already indicated — just like every other species. For all we know, the article author, Doty, and others who say there’s no such thing as human pheromones are either beyond hope of increasing their ability to attract, or expect immediate sexual gratification due to pheromone-enhanced product use. That’s just pitiful!
I thought when I read this link this article would discuss when pheromones actually worked in one’s benefit. I mean affecting one’s behavior. Wishful thinking.
Anyway,
I really am glad I came across this blog.
Thanks for posting.
I think most people don’t realize researchers like Doty and me have vested interests. If I had missed out on any understanding of the concept of human pheromones throughout a long career, like Doty has, I might also try to convince others they are being suckered in, as in many cases, they are. But, Doty and many other researchers are familiar with my work, and its validation via my publications and research presentations. For Doty to avoid mentioning anything about me or my work in his book was not likely to be an error due to forgetfulness. Only by ignoring the biological basis that I have fully detailed to explain how mammalian pheromones, including human pheromones work, can Doty get away with his ridiculous ruse.
Depends on which ‘raw man’ you’re talking about…
Kohl (2012) Human pheromones and food odors: epigenetic influences on the socioaffective nature of evolved behaviors. Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology 2: 17338
– DOI: 10.3402/snp.v2i0.17338
Conclusion (excerpts)
“… when viewed from the consistency of animal models and conditioned behaviors, food odors are obviously more important to food selection than is our visual perception of food. Animal models affirm that food odor makes food either appealing or unappealing. Animal models reaffirm that it is the pheromones of other animals that makes them either appealing or unappealing.”
“Olfaction and odor receptors provide a clear evolutionary trail that can be followed from unicellular organisms to insects to humans. (Keller et al., 2007; Kohl, 2007; Villarreal, 2009; Vosshall, Wong, & Axel, 2000).”
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