The power of fragrance in sexual attraction
Many people, including mavens in the fragrance industry, believe that aromatic aphrodisiacs exist, and are only waiting to be found. The competition in the commercial world for this holy grail is fierce because if such a magical elixir could be captured it would be the beginning of a trillion dollar industry, not to mention the solution to loneliness and guaranteed success for nights out on the prowl. Type the word "pheromone" into Google and you'll get hundreds of hits for companies offering to sell you wearable pheromones "guaranteed for sexual success", along with various merchants purporting "data" that their elixirs boost the sex life of those wearing it. But think for a minute about how we might also interpret data that wearing these potions makes those donning them more sexually successful.
The marketers of Wonder Bra in Canada used a wonderful truism in an ad jingle of the 1970's; "if you look good you feel good, and if you feel good you look great." If you believe that by putting something on-whatever it might be-it will make you more attractive to the opposite sex, your behavior will change. You'll feel more confident and secure and you'll be more flirtatious and happy-which will increase your attractiveness to others and thereby boost your sex life. None of this has anything to do with mysterious pheromones, rather it has all to do with self-confidence.
Indeed in a recent study conducted in the UK, men who wore the British label version of AXE deodorant (Lynx) were rated by woman as significantly more attractive than men who weren't wearing scented deodorant (1). The surprise, however, is that the women didn't actually smell the men-the men just smelled themselves. Women rated headshots of 35 men and 15 second video clips of the same men imagining introducing themselves to an attractive woman. The women rated all the men as equally attractive on the basis of their photos. But on video, the men wearing scented deodorant were rated as significantly more appealing than the men who weren't wearing fragrance, and the women only watched the video clips for 15 seconds. Probing why the AXE men were so much more alluring the researchers found that it had to do with how confident the men felt and how the scent of the deodorant made them feel. The more the men liked the fragrance they were wearing, the more confident they felt-- and the more confident they felt the more attractive their body language was to women. The other amazing finding was that it only took 15 minutes of wearing the scented deodorant to boost the guys' self-confidence. On the opposite side of the aisle, in a large survey study I found that 90% of women (from teenagers to seniors) feel more confident when wearing fragrance than without (2). Therefore wearing a fragrance you like will make you feel better about yourself which will consequently make you more attractive to others.
However, there is biological peril, especially for women, to the magic of fragrance. Not only does a man's use of fragrance make him behave more charmingly, my laboratory has shown that above all other physical characteristics, women rank how a man smells as the most important feature for determining whether she will be sexually attracted to him. Critically, she doesn't discriminate much between whether his scent comes from his clean natural body-odor or from the bottle on his dresser. The reason this is a biological hazard is because, as my last blog explained, our body-odor is the representation of our immune system genes and women use their noses to choose their "correct" biological mate to ensure maximum fertility and child health. Therefore by wearing a fragrance that a woman finds enchanting, a biologically unsuitable man can trick a woman into being with him by "falsely" smelling scrumptious.
The take home message for men is: if you smell good to yourself and to the lady of your dreams you'll be a sure-fire winner. But for women the message is: beware a man who smells too good because of his fragrance. If you think he has potential and you're on the hunt for a man to be your mate, ask him to wash with unscented soap and to kick the fragrance/deodorant habit for a while. If your nose and heart remain enamored then you're on to something good.
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(2) http://www.senseofsmell.org/research_exchange/finalreports.php [now archived]
Testosterone answers the call of a woman's scent
Above and beyond looks and bank account size, women rank how a man smells as the number one determinant for whether she'll be sexually attracted to him. Moreover, what men each woman finds most sexy smelling varies widely and is tied to immune system genetics. Everyone (except identical twins) has a genetically unique immune system, and the specific genetic fingerprint of your immune system is outwardly represented by your body odor. Research shows that naturally cycling women prefer the body-odor of men whose immune system genes are relatively different from their own. This "opposites attract" phenomenon is what evolutionary matchmaking aims for, as it is adaptive for fecundity, infant survival and reproductive success.
When it comes to men, the story has been that how a woman looks-her hourglass figure, full lips, lustrous hair and sparkling eyes are what appeal most. This is not superficial or sexist; it makes good evolutionary sense because these physical attributes are in fact signals to youth and health and therefore probabilistic fertility. By contrast, though a few studies have shown that men find a woman's natural body-odor to be most pleasant when she's ovulating, there has been little else to suggest that a man's biology is at all influenced by scent. However, other male mammals use odor as the dominant cue for the initiation of sexual behavior. A male rhesus monkey with a blocked nose will ignore a female in heat. Now new research from Florida State University has revealed that human males may be driven more by the scent of a woman's "heat" than has ever been realized before.
Saul Miller and Jon Manner tested college men for their responses to T-shirts that had been (1) worn to bed by college women who were ovulating, or (2) worn to bed by college women who were not ovulating, or (3) T-shirts that hadn't been worn by anyone (unscented). Regardless of the condition, all men were told that the shirts "had been worn by a woman" and they were asked to take big sniffs of it three times over a 15 minute session. Testosterone levels were measured before they sniffed and then after the 15 minute T-shirt session. Testosterone, the male sex hormone, is directly influenced by external cues- when heterosexual men interact with an attractive woman or watch pornography their testosterone levels rise.
Miller and Mann's study revealed that the men who sniffed T-shirts from ovulating women had higher testosterone levels than the men who sniffed T-shirts that didn't indicate fertility; either worn by non-ovulating women or unworn. But the testosterone levels of the men who smelled the shirts signaling fertility didn't actually increase from their pre-sniff levels, as happens when men are exposed to other overt sexual signals. They just didn't drop – which is what happened to the men in the other conditions – who sniffed T-shirts that didn't indicate fertility. There are various possible explanations for this finding. My speculation is that it reflects the biological response to either a thwarted or successful sexual ‘match to expectation'.
If you tell a heterosexual man that he's going to be smelling a T-shirt from a young woman, evolutionary theory might suggest that he would become interested both mentally and physiologically – as a possible indication of mating to follow. However, if the actual act of sniffing does not in fact signal the "presence" of a woman with immediate reproductive value (as in the case of T-shirts from non-ovulating women or not worn), this unconscious biological disappointment may manifest as a drop in testosterone. By contrast, the constant level of testosterone observed in the men who smelled T-shirts from ovulating women may indicate a match to expectation. In order to test whether this explanation has any merit we would need to know what the level of testosterone was in the men before they were told anything about the T-shirts. Or we might conduct a new study where men are given various types of reproductive information (false or not) about the women whose T-shirts they may be smelling. It would also be fascinating to know whether any testosterone changes occur when heterosexual men smell T-shirts worn by other men (under various "informational" conditions). I could go on. Suffice it to say that this is a fertile field for future research!
Citation:
Miller, S. L. & Maner J. K. (2010). "Scent of a woman: Men's testosterone responses to olfactory ovulation cues." Psychological Science, 21, 276-283.
When it comes to men, the story has been that how a woman looks-her hourglass figure, full lips, lustrous hair and sparkling eyes are what appeal most. This is not superficial or sexist; it makes good evolutionary sense because these physical attributes are in fact signals to youth and health and therefore probabilistic fertility. By contrast, though a few studies have shown that men find a woman's natural body-odor to be most pleasant when she's ovulating, there has been little else to suggest that a man's biology is at all influenced by scent. However, other male mammals use odor as the dominant cue for the initiation of sexual behavior. A male rhesus monkey with a blocked nose will ignore a female in heat. Now new research from Florida State University has revealed that human males may be driven more by the scent of a woman's "heat" than has ever been realized before.
Saul Miller and Jon Manner tested college men for their responses to T-shirts that had been (1) worn to bed by college women who were ovulating, or (2) worn to bed by college women who were not ovulating, or (3) T-shirts that hadn't been worn by anyone (unscented). Regardless of the condition, all men were told that the shirts "had been worn by a woman" and they were asked to take big sniffs of it three times over a 15 minute session. Testosterone levels were measured before they sniffed and then after the 15 minute T-shirt session. Testosterone, the male sex hormone, is directly influenced by external cues- when heterosexual men interact with an attractive woman or watch pornography their testosterone levels rise.
Miller and Mann's study revealed that the men who sniffed T-shirts from ovulating women had higher testosterone levels than the men who sniffed T-shirts that didn't indicate fertility; either worn by non-ovulating women or unworn. But the testosterone levels of the men who smelled the shirts signaling fertility didn't actually increase from their pre-sniff levels, as happens when men are exposed to other overt sexual signals. They just didn't drop – which is what happened to the men in the other conditions – who sniffed T-shirts that didn't indicate fertility. There are various possible explanations for this finding. My speculation is that it reflects the biological response to either a thwarted or successful sexual ‘match to expectation'.
If you tell a heterosexual man that he's going to be smelling a T-shirt from a young woman, evolutionary theory might suggest that he would become interested both mentally and physiologically – as a possible indication of mating to follow. However, if the actual act of sniffing does not in fact signal the "presence" of a woman with immediate reproductive value (as in the case of T-shirts from non-ovulating women or not worn), this unconscious biological disappointment may manifest as a drop in testosterone. By contrast, the constant level of testosterone observed in the men who smelled T-shirts from ovulating women may indicate a match to expectation. In order to test whether this explanation has any merit we would need to know what the level of testosterone was in the men before they were told anything about the T-shirts. Or we might conduct a new study where men are given various types of reproductive information (false or not) about the women whose T-shirts they may be smelling. It would also be fascinating to know whether any testosterone changes occur when heterosexual men smell T-shirts worn by other men (under various "informational" conditions). I could go on. Suffice it to say that this is a fertile field for future research!
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Miller, S. L. & Maner J. K. (2010). "Scent of a woman: Men's testosterone responses to olfactory ovulation cues." Psychological Science, 21, 276-283.
