There’s much about love and sex (including pheromones) in this issue.
I’m not going to bother debating statements like this:
“…no sooner do we reach sexual maturity than we learn to look for signals of good genes and reproductive fitness in potential partners and, importantly, to display them ourselves.”
It’s unfortunate to consistently read mass media portrayals that ignore the biologically based development of our sexual preferences, and advocate that learning what to look for somehow begins with sexual maturity. However, at least they’re not ignoring the role of pheromones in sexually mature adults.
And that aptly demonstrates how doggone bizarre human sexuality has become! This woman makes me so dad burn horny ah wants ta make babies and pronto. Well, I’ll have to settle for giving her an extra dollar!
So if your boss is male, women should ask for a raise while ovulating. I wonder if she could get a better deal on a car too?
I think it’s more likely to be that the ovulatory phase woman’s scent is more exiciting in combination with her other charms, so the larger tip is warranted–if only for the improved entertainment. Someday, these ladies will get the idea to use SoE/women for business purposes–especially when they are not ovulating. Outside the strip club and lap dance environment, the same might be said for the number of drinks you are likely to purchase, or level of interest you express. But ovulatory phase women also exhibit more skin, and have other mannerisms that elicit men’s attention when they are most likely to get pregnant. From an animalistic perspective this is so that they have the chance to choose the most reproductively fit male in their vicinity. If they can make an extra few dollars due to what might otherwise be a simple mating game, more financial power to 'em.
Hi James,
I know you posted this almost a year ago but Im glad I found it - as I was just thinking about the possibility of oxytocin being used to promote bonding / commmitment - lots of mixes can attract the opposite sex, but where do you go from there? Do you know of some mixes that contain oxytocin and say, estratetraenol?
A product called “Liquid Trust” (Google it) is purported to contain Oxycontin, but the reviews are “mixed”. I’ve never really been sure about the claims because of stability problems found in the liquid form of Oxycontin. Hospitals have a hard time keeping it around except for a few hours, stored in a refrigerator (when it first came out I posted an article about the stability problems). As far a estratetraenol is concerned, check the “Experimone” section here or over at LS.
I think oxytocin is merely a part of the bigger bonding picture. It gets attention because people have measured in animal studies and in human studies that show correlates with polygamy and monogamy. A causal relationship is lacking, and this problem will continue until more researchers realize that oxytocin (and vasopressin) and other similar chemicals are effected indirectly by pheromones that directly effect the hormone gonadotropin releasing hormone. I spoke with Larry Young and with Helen Fisher about this in mid-November at the Neuroscience 2008 conference. Larry co-authored an article for the November 7th issue of Science; Helen has another book coming out soon. No one can study it all, but I think some collaborative efforts might be forming.
Meanwhile, people are looking for mixtures that are effective without considering that the effects must be species specific. You don’t get an effect of a non-human animal’s pheromone on human sexual behavior. Effects of putative mammalian pheromones on mood and brain activation notwithstanding, no one outside my group has shown a behavioral effect of any mixture. For that matter, no one else is using any mixture, and pheromones are always found in mixtures. We presented our findings at Neuroscience 2008. They need to be replicated by another group before they gain widespread acceptance, of course.
Sounds like the research potential here is incredible! I now wish Id stayed in neuroscience - just got a bit tired of grad school after a bit, but would love to go back and study this now though! Im going to check into the literature you mentioned above, wish me luck finding it.
I have found, personally, that the “news media” is notorious for being more interested in half truths and what amounts to gossip, than finding out what’s really true. Research? Takes too much time. Let’s get the sensationalist crap out there, and pronto!
I have little respect for reporters, and less trust after my experiences, and this sort of thing does not surprise me in the least.
Larry Young has many students who are working on various influences that enter the oxytocin/vasopressin sphere. Helen Fisher extends the findings to humans, most recently, via brain scans. If I had the funding, I’m rather certain I could show differential effects of pheromones on men and women via pupilometric responses, with 1 millisecond lag time (remarkably quick).
Take a putative pheromone, pass it under the nose of a male or female and chart the pupilometric response. I tried this at one of the Neuroscience 2008 exhibits, and even the computer experts were surprised to see the magnitude of the response to Scent of Eros. They had not yet considered marketing their package to the fragrance industry. I’d love to be interviewed on film with their equipment. Finally, there’s something that can be shown to the average TV enthusiast, who is only interested for a few minutes in anything seen–and completely disinterested if it can’t be. I’m just not likely to spend $30,000 to show something on film. I would be happy to help design the experiment, nonetheless.