Biological Approach - Hormones and Behaviour - Pheromones

Question 1

Pheromones

Answer 1

• Chemicals secreted outside the body, produced by the galnds of an animal or insect.
• Transmitter from one individual to another, through air, ground or water
• Involved in chemical communication among members of the same species
• Smell is important for detecting pheromones, with animals
• 2 types
  
  • primer pheromones
  • signaling pheromones

Question 2

Primer Pheromones

Answer 2

• Cause slow, long-term physiological changes, such as hormonal effects

Question 3

Signaling Pheromones

Answer 3

• Produce rapid behavioural effects such as mating

Question 4

Androstadienone (AND)

Answer 4

• A steroid molecule identified by some researchers as a putative sex pheromone that signals maleness

Question 5

Estratetraenol (EST)

Answer 5

• A steroid molecule identified by some researchers as a putative sex pheromone that signals femaleness

Question 6

Zhou et al. (2014)

Answer 6

Aim:
- Test the qualification of two steroids as sex pheromones AND and EST

Pps:

• 96 pps
  
  • 24 heterosexual men
  • 24 heterosexual women
  • 24 gay men
  • 24 lesbian women

Procedure:

• Pps asked to watch stick figures walking on a screen and determine their gender
• While carrying out the task, the pps were exposed to the smell of cloves
• Condition 1
  
  • cloves were mixed with AND
• Condition 2
  
  • cloves were mixed with EST
• Control condition
  
  • only cloves used

Results:

• Smelling AND biased heterosexual females and gay males only toward perceiving the walkers as more masculine
• Smelling EST biased heterosexual males and lesbian women only toward perceiving the walkers as more feminine