2.6 Pheremones and Behavior

Question 1

Pheremones

Answer 1

chemicals that “carry stimulation”, role in mating behaviour

Question 2

Aim- Lundstrum and Olsson (2005)

Answer 2

studied the effects of androstadienone (derivative of testosterone and one of the chemical components of sweat) on the mood of woman in the presence of men

Question 3

Procedure- Lundstrum and Olsson (2005)

Answer 3

37 heterosexual women. mead age 25 years with normal menstrual cycle. mood was studied in 2 x 2 experimental design.

The mood of the participants were studied and were assessed after being exposed to either androstadienone or a control solution and in the presence of either a male, 30, or female, 28, experimenter. The experimenter conducted several measurements including several questionnaires. One of the questionnaires measured mood.

Question 4

Results- Lundstrum and Olsson (2005)

Answer 4

Female participants who were exposed to androstadienone and were with a male experimenter increased her mood

The results showed no effect in participants with a female experimenter.

Question 5

Conclusion- Lundstrum and Olsson (2005)

Answer 5

Androstadienone as a sex pheromone boosts women’s reaction to men.

Supports that sex pheromone which in this case is androstadienone, serve the function of signalling sexual attractiveness.

Question 6

Strengths - Lundstrum and Olsson (2005)

Answer 6

Highly controlled, easily replicated
Ethical guidelines followed

Question 7

Limitations- Lundstrum and Olsson (2005)

Answer 7

concentration if ANDRO much higher than found in male sweat (EV-newcomer) so couldn’t changed results

other variables could’ve played a part eg male researcher could’ve been particularly attractive

no real quantitative data- difficult to measure dv

Question 7

Aim- Hare et al (2017)

Answer 7

Examining the effects of the putative sex pheromones on perceptions of facial gender, attractiveness, and unfaithfulness

Question 8

Method - Hare et al (2017)

Answer 8

Repeated Measures Design, Lab Experiment

Question 9

Procedure - Hare et al (2017)

Answer 9

• 94 self-reported heterosexual, nonsmoking, adult Caucasian participants (43 male and 51 female; mean age = 23.7) did 2 tasks
• First task: looked at 5 gender-neutral morphed faces for 2 secs each and had to assign a gender to each face
• Second task: continued directly from the first task. They were shown pics of opposite-sex Caucasian adult faces with neutral expressions for 2 secs each. Female subjects looked at 102 male faces and male subjects looked at 86 female faces. They had to record attractiveness and predict unfaithfulness scores (on a scale from 1 to 10) for each face.

Question 10

Findings- Hare et al (2017)

Answer 10

ANOVA indicated no significant effects of any factor on any of the ratings (gender classification, unfaithfulness, attractiveness)

Question 11

Conclusion- Hare et al (2017)

Answer 11

AND and EST had no effect and since the experiment followed the design of Zhou et al, the only plausible explanation is that EST may not actively signal femaleness and AND might have no sex-specific signaling functions

Question 12

Strengths - Hare et al (2017)

Answer 12

• cause and effect relationship
• increased control and accuracy
• objectivity
• standardization
• internal validity

Question 13

Limitations- Hare et al (2017)

Answer 13

total control = impossible
- artificial (ecological
- biased results
- ethics (protection from harm)