Pheromones & Behaviour

Question 1

Pheromones

Answer 1

A chemical substance produced and released into the environment by an animal, affecting the behaviour or physiology of others of its own species

Question 2

Types of pheromones in animals (2)

Answer 2

• primer pheromones: cause slow, long-term physiological changes (hormonal effects)
• signaling pheromones: produce rapid behavioural effects (mating)

Question 3

Pheromones in humans

Answer 3

It is not clear that it is also true in humans as it is in animals
* there is some evidence to prove pheromones but for all published research, there is an equal number of studies showing that there are no effects
* at this stage, no human pheromone has been found

Question 4

Arguments for pheromones (3)

Answer 4

• other mammals have them
• we also secrete scents like other animals
• there is some evidence that babies respond to pheromones in order to find their mother’s breast and engage in rooting behaviour

Question 4

Potential human pheromones (2)

Answer 4

• Androstadienone (AND) - found in male semen and sweat
• Estratetraenol (EST) - found in female urine

Question 5

Arguments against pheromones (name 4)

Answer 5

• generalisations from animal research have not proven to be valid
• human mating behaviour is influenced by cognitive and sociocultural factors (including learned experience and social norms)
• smells are not necessarily pheromones (construct validity problem in research)
• research also tends to have small sample sizes
• there is an inability to eliminate the effect of other variables that may influence human scent (ex. bacteria or diet)
• humans don’t appear to have functional VSO (vomeronasal organ) which other animals use to detect pheromones
• human process of scent detection is complex and difficult to study
• human scent is compley and made up of many different molecules