Scents of Attraction: Differences Between Synthetic and Naturally
Occurring Fertility Pheromones
Kayla R. Suhrie
The psychology curriculum
at Brigham Young University-Hawaii ends in a capstone course which allows
students to conduct original psychological research, and subsequently present
it on campus in two forms: a poster and powerpoint presentation.
One research
project was recently completed by Kayla Suhrie, a senior this year. She
conducted her research on how human pheromones drive behavior. This project, Scents of Attraction: Differences Between Synthetic and Naturally
Occurring Fertility Pheromones, examined whether men would find the scent of a
synthesized female pheromone to be more attractive than the scent of an
ovulating woman, which has been found in previous research to smell attractive
to men and increase testosterone levels. The research was designed in PSYC 305,
Research Methods, and conducted in PSYC 490, Senior Seminar, both taught by Dr.
Miller.
Kayla had male participants come in and smell shirts that had been
unworn, dabbed with a synthesized putative pheromone, and worn by an ovulating
woman and rate how attractive they found these scents. She recruited participants by offering them cupcakes. Many of those she recruited thought it was weird to smell shirts that women had worn, but others did so with enthusiasm. Some participants felt uncomfortable with rating the attractiveness of women based on the smell of the shirts, with one participant writing in that in spite of their low attractiveness scores, "I'm sure they would all make good mothers".
The results indicated that, overall, both the pheromone and ovulation shirts were more attractive than the control. In factors of attractiveness, the ovulation shirt was rated as smelling sexier, more pleasant, and more intense and estimating the woman who wore the shirt to be more attractive than the control, while the pheromone shirt was only more pleasant and intense than the control. Additionally, the pheromone was rated as smelling more intense than the ovulation scent. Kayla explains that the synthesized pheromone, which was labeled as unscented, had a bit of a sweet scent to it, which could have influenced ratings. She said more research would need to be done on the synthesized pheromone to determine if it is really as attractive to men as an ovulating woman, though it is clear that does smell attractive to men.
According to Kayla, the take away message is that men like the smell of women, whether real or just perceived. Even the control shirt, which was plain cotton, was rated as smelling rather attractive, which shows that men either like the IDEA of a woman's scent, or find the scent of cotton to be attractive.
The results indicated that, overall, both the pheromone and ovulation shirts were more attractive than the control. In factors of attractiveness, the ovulation shirt was rated as smelling sexier, more pleasant, and more intense and estimating the woman who wore the shirt to be more attractive than the control, while the pheromone shirt was only more pleasant and intense than the control. Additionally, the pheromone was rated as smelling more intense than the ovulation scent. Kayla explains that the synthesized pheromone, which was labeled as unscented, had a bit of a sweet scent to it, which could have influenced ratings. She said more research would need to be done on the synthesized pheromone to determine if it is really as attractive to men as an ovulating woman, though it is clear that does smell attractive to men.
According to Kayla, the take away message is that men like the smell of women, whether real or just perceived. Even the control shirt, which was plain cotton, was rated as smelling rather attractive, which shows that men either like the IDEA of a woman's scent, or find the scent of cotton to be attractive.
Kayla explained
that she was originally interested in researching something to do with dating or
attraction between men and women. She came upon research studying
a synthesized pheromone and thought and it would be interesting to look at that
with LDS populations. However, upon learning about research on the effect of the
scent of an ovulating woman on men, she decided it would be most interesting to
compare the two pheromones.
Of the senior
seminar research experience, Kayla noted that it was very empowering for her,
as a student, to conduct her own research project. She said that while she received
a lot of help from faculty and friends, it was a great learning experience for
her to realize she could effectively do research similar to those that she read
about in professional journals.
In addition to
presenting her research to faculty and students in a poster session and
presentation held on campus, Kayla also had the opportunity to present this
research at a regional research conference, the 6th Hawaii Pacific
University Psychology Conference & Awards Dinner Banquet.
This project has
been accepted for presentation at the Association for Psychological Science
National Convention in May 2013 to be held in Washington, D.C.
See the full poster
here.
