The link to the journal article may be of interest to those who want more details on how human pheromones work.
Scent of fear puts brain in emergency mode - life - 29 July 2009 - New Scientist
James V. Kohl
http://www.pheromones.com
Funny, the mone of fear is androstadienone? It’s also the mone of relaxation and mood enhancement for women.
They indicated only that androstadienone is a candidate, and it may be a candidate merely because they know of it (as with androstenone). That’s what happen when scientists get led in one direction; it’s almost as if most of them have blinders on. They seem to have missed the fact that levels of whatever chemical is involved must change very rapidly, which also means it is likely that the levels of chemicals that change most rapidly will lead us to discover the pheromone(s) that are changing.
Species-specificity is of great importance in this regard. The association between androstadienone/androstenone and fear-scent might be meaningful to a dog who is about to bite you, but less meaningful to the woman of your choice in physical intimacy, which seems to be an issue that confuses some people who are comparing studies.
In any case, the association is most likely made with the secretion of adrenal hormones involved in the fight or flight response. Again, the androsterone/etiocholanolone ratio comes up–if you’re a scientist who’s looking for something different, that is.
It is humorous to me that they had people jumping out of airplanes in their study–a very realistic fight or flight scenario even though I don’t know anyone with wings.
James V. Kohl