Hello all. Truth be told, before I introduce myself, I should say that my natural instincts have me grounded in skepticism simply by necessity of the scientific process. However, while I believe that skepticism is a necessary component of scientific research and exploration, I think operating absolutely from within its boundaries is as detrimental as operating completely without it.
Having completed a psychology major, I know that it can often be unwise to idealize human emotion, specifically love, elevating to a level that is innately above human comprehension, making it by its very essence, impossible to understand. Although it sure feels good to, sometimes. The truth of the matter is that there are far more biochemical impulses behind the wheel of human behavior then we tend to give credit to. I’m not trying to get super-scientific, but simply trying to explain where my perspective lies in the area of pheromone research.
Psychology states as one of its core principles:
ALL human behavior has a purpose, and that purpose can be understood.
The argument that remains of course is the eternal one, the one that will go on for centuries because people love black and white classifications, becoming utterly bored with shades of grey. Nature vs Nurture. It has to be, it just has to be, one or the other. Why?
We know that when people fall in love, the body produces a surge of euphoria-inducing PEA (Phenethylamine). We know that this compound makes us feel good and is thus addictive, driving the person to seek higher production of the compound by getting closer to the object of affection responsible for producing it. We know that PEA has a life-span, that eventually it fades away taking the euphoria with it, and you are left seeing the person (sans-love-goggles) as they really are. That’s Nature.
But we also know that “birds of a feather” do indeed “flock together”. We are naturally attracted to people who share common interests, values, or even people who look a little bit like the image of of our ideal partner in our head (brunette/blonde, blue eyes/brown eyes, etc). Almost every one of those attributes is determined by our social environment and upbringing. The image of the “ideal partner” in our heads is an amalgamation of celebrities, childhood crushes, friends, observations of other peoples’ relationships, personal experiences, and our overall logical assessment of the person who would make us most happy. That’s Nurture.
So falling in love is biological, but who we fall in love with is psychological. So what? Does it make love any less real because your body is doing more than your mind? Does it make your choice of partner any less valid if it was somehow predetermined by your social environment? Ask someone single these questions and they might say yes. But ask someone madly in love and they probably couldn’t give a damn about PEA, childhood crushes, or any of that shit.
I’m a male, 23 years old, and single. I’m have an affliction entitled “hopeless romance”. Despite my natural inclination towards logical scientific analysis, I allow my emotions to do pretty much what they want. Because if you think about it, what could be a better subject for scientific analysis than that? I believe in Nature and Nurture, and I will always believe that two answers are better than one. I am fascinated by pheromone research and have no doubt that despite our development of powerful tools of thought and reasoning, humanity will always be bound by the roots of its evolutionary imperative, procreation. Thus, the tools we evolved to that effect early on (pheromones, beating the crap out of each other to get the girl), will always have a profoundly more significant impact than anything we can reason into creation today.
Finally, I want to say my rant was not simply random pontification but grounded in a purpose that I believe is significant to any kind of research and that I plan to bring to the table in any pheromone-related discussion. I believe that biological reactions are far more potent than social and psychological reaction, due to the very fact that they are not processed by the rational mind and we cannot control them. However, one thing biological reactions cannot do is quiet or silence the rational mind, which means no matter how powerful or intoxicating the pheromone, people will still be thinking. Thus, I believe a strong self-awareness or knowledge of self combined with biological impulses (pheromones), can go miles in attraction/seduction research. If you know what your strong spots are already, then you can figure out your soft spots and tweak those to taste.
So that’s it. I’m guessing I lost most people after the 2nd paragraph, so sorry about the length. The overall goal for me I would say is self-improvement; making yourself into the best version of yourself possible, no matter how you do it. And that’s not cheating, that’s just good sense.
I promise I’ll try to make it a little more vernacular from here on out.
