Pheromones can make women seem as attractive as models like Iman
Romance has long been described as a process of bewitchment, but scientists have found that there may be more truth to this than meets the eye.
They say female chemical messengers known as pheromones may help dupe men into thinking plain women are more attractive and beautiful women are less attractive than they actually are.
Pheromones - the colourless, odourless chemical signals given off by the body - are thought to affect behaviour in both animals and humans at a sub-conscious level.
Research by biologists Astrid Juette and Professor Karl Grammer from the University of Vienna has found that men’s perception of a woman’s attractiveness is altered by the chemical signals she sends out.
They exposed 66 men to synthetic vaginal pheromones without their knowledge.
They then showed them a series of photographs of women and played tapes of their voices.
Odourless smells
The pheromones, which can be perceived by the nose even though they are odourless, were then replaced by water and the men’s reactions were studied.
In each case, the men were asked to grade the women’s attractiveness.
They were more likely to think the women were attractive when they were exposed to the pheromones and the testosterone in their saliva increased.
There were also fewer differences in perceptions about attractiveness between the men when they were under the influence of the chemical messengers.
Professor Grammer said: "The most astonishing thing is that the attractive women lose and what they lose the others gain.
“This is part of what we call the chemical warfare between the sexes, in which one tries to exploit the other.”
He thinks the pheromone system evolved over millions of years to help plain women find a mate and stop very attractive women being pestered.
However, other scientists say pheromones are only one ingredient of sexual attraction and only affect physical attraction. They do not alter a person’s perception of an individual’s intelligence or self assurance.
The pill
Professor Grammer presented the University of Vienna findings to a British Psychological Society (BPS) conference in London on Wednesday.
He also said the oral contraceptive pill could stop a woman producing pheromones and undermine her ability to pick up the right chemical signals from men.
Scientists believe pheromones may help people choose biologically compatible mates. Professor Grammer said the pheromone confusion caused by the pill could cause a woman to choose a mate with whom she could not produce a child. “She picks out the genetically wrong mates. It’s highly possible that she will not be able to produce offspring with her mate,” he said.
Mohammed, this is fascinating and important info, and worth considering in the scheme of things…falls into the ‘who the hell knew’ category.
We find out something new about pheromones everyday, don’t we?
jvkohl posted this article from Psychology Today in another thread, but I’ve directed it to the specific page that speaks to what you posted.
Hope you don’t mind as it is more evidence of the same findings!
What I’d like to know is…what are the divorce statistics for women who chose mates while on the pill?
I guess maybe that should be a question when you’re filing for divorce…yeah…“Mrs. Hammerhead, now that we’ve established your soon to be ex is a dirty, rotten, smelly bastard…can you please check the appropriate box as to whether or not you were on birth control pills when you agreed to marry the poor schlub?”
Boy, wouldn’t that be interesting, sure would explain a lot of things!
On the pill, off the pill…it’s a whole different smell game all the way around…for both sexes!
Yes, that’s definitely something to think about…especially if you haven’t, yet, found your mate…or ended up divorcing the, afore mentioned, ‘smelly bastard’…or biatch as the case may be! LOL
It could mean the difference between ‘happily ever after’… or…not.
I deal with alot of women that have problems with thier love life. and they all seem to have the same problem. the guy she had thought she loved didnt work out. it might be worth asking if she is taking contraceptive pills.
What happens when in a relationship the woman starts taking a contraceptive pill regularly?
The preference changes mentioned in the article, well, are they really encountered in practice? Do they cause relationship problems?
Why does it happen actually?
Is there a way to counter the effects using artificial pheromones? More -rone, anyone?
I’m no scientist but IMHO, if a woman is attracted to you or wants to build a relationship with you, it normally means that in her thoughts, she had “pick up the right chemical signals” transmitted by you! Normally, in this kind of case, external factors won’t have much effect on her as for the “right signals” have “locked” her in, as per how a GPS device locks the satellite’s low frequency radio signals. Just my opinion.
I’m around actually…this week things didn’t go so well, the girl on the avatar was hit and run by a car. She supposed to return to my place after work but changed her mind and went to her friend’s house. I lost a bidding for a GPS device on the eBay by 99 cents! And the only positive thing happened was a cool Australian guy (a pheromone expert) by the name of Terry is back here posting!
..i hope she is ok!