Wedekind

Question 1

Year

Answer 1

1995

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

Determine whether one’s MHC would affect mate selection.

Question 2

Sample

Answer 2

49 female, 44 male, university in Switzerland

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

Noted if women taking oral contraceptives.

Participants’ MHCs typed - wide variety in sample.

Men: Wear T-shirt for 2 nights (NO: Scented hygiene products, spicy food, alcohol, smoking, sex)

Women: Asked to smell 7 T-shirts in boxes (3 similar, 3 dissimilar, 1 unworn as control). Asked to rate pleasantness and sexiness of each scent 1-10.

Question 4

Results and conclusion

Answer 4

Women rated scent of men whose MHC was dissimilar to them as more pleasant.

Results reversed if woman taking oral contraceptive.

Supports evolutionary argument of mate selection (different MHC means stronger immune system of offspring)