🧠 Pheromones and Behaviour

📌 Definition Table

Term	Definition
Pheromone	A chemical substance produced and released by an organism affecting behaviour or physiology of others of the same species.
Olfactory system	Neural system responsible for detecting chemical signals.
Vomeronasal organ (VNO)	Accessory olfactory structure proposed to detect pheromones in mammals.
Primer pheromones	Cause long-term physiological changes.
Signalling pheromones	Trigger immediate behavioural responses.

📌Core Concepts

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📌Key Studies

Wedekind et al. (1995) — The “Sweaty T-Shirt” Study

• Aim: To determine if body odour influences mate preference through genetic compatibility.
• Method: Men wore shirts for two days; women rated odours.
• Results: Women preferred scents of men with dissimilar MHC genes.
• Conclusion: Olfactory cues may influence attraction for genetic diversity.
• Evaluation:
  • ✅ Controlled odour conditions
  • ❌ Artificial setting
  • ✅ Supported evolutionary mate selection

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2. Zhou et al. (2014) — Sex Pheromones and Gender Perception

• Aim: To see if AND (male pheromone) and EST (female pheromone) affect perception of gender.
• Method: Participants watched point-light displays of walking figures while exposed to AND or EST.
• Results: AND made participants perceive figures as more masculine; EST as more feminine.
• Conclusion: Pheromones may influence gender perception in humans.
• Evaluation:
  • ✅ Controlled exposure
  • ❌ Small sample size
  • ✅ Suggests subtle human chemosensory communication

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3. Cutler, Friedmann, & McCoy (1998) — Synthetic Pheromones and Sociosexual Behaviour

• Aim: To test if synthetic male pheromones increased sociosexual behaviour.
• Results: Men who added synthetic pheromones to aftershave reported more sexual activity.
• Conclusion: Pheromones may play a role in human sexual behaviour.
• Evaluation:
  • ✅ Field-based data
  • ❌ Self-reported behaviour (bias)
  • ❌ Correlational, not causal

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