Is it true that perfumes with pheromones can increase human attractiveness?

Marketers say that cosmetics and perfumes with pheromones in the composition can make a person more sexually attractive to others. We decided to check if it is possible.

On many sitesspecializing in sale cosmetics and perfumes, you can find Articles About miraculous properties Feromonov. Some of them Markthat perfumes with human pheromones are prohibited in Russia and Europe, so they offer ProductsSubscribing pigs: supposedly they have the same effect on a person. Perfumery With pheromones - Popular enough product On the largest Russian marketplaces.

Pheromones - These are chemicals secreted by living organisms in order to cause a certain reaction in representatives of the same species. They are widespread in insects, crustaceans and mammals. Sometimes these Substances They are simply thrown into the air, and sometimes animals “leave” them in specific places to attract a male or female or mark their territory. So, for example, cats act when they rub on objects or people - they allow other animals to understand that this territory is already busy. So appointment Feromonov not only in attracting creatures of the opposite sex with the aim of propagation.

Where did the idea come from that people have pheromones? All It began From the pseudo -opening, as if the female menstrual cycle is synchronized if women live together or constantly communicate closely, supposedly as a result of their mutual hormonal “pollination”. We are already Delassed This myth (spoiler: cycles can synchronize by pure chance, and not at all as a result of any hormones). Then, in 1991, at the scientific conference in Paris, which was sponsored by EROX Corporation, represented Two pheromones - Androstadienne and poplanol (male and female, respectively). It is worth noting that EROX had Commercial interest in pheromones. The work of scientists did not indicate at all how they discovered these substances and how they were removed, it was only reported that the pheromones were represented by EROX Corporation. Nevertheless, scientists argued that during the experiments they were able to confirm the influence of these substances on the opposite sex.

Despite the fact that the study has not caused much confidence, since 1991 Androstadienne and poplaneol more than once Studied and other scientists. So, in 2000, Marta Biologist McKlylintin from the University of Chicago partly supported her colleagues, but she noted that to call these substances pheromones prematurely. Despite the fact that the results of some studies were positive, the experiments conducted Do not call Many trust in many scientists (Due to the small sample of the subjects, some bias of the experimenters themselves, who stopped the research, as soon as they saw the desired result, and the lack of repeated tests). Richard L. Doty, director of the center of smell and taste of the University of Pennsylvania, devoted a whole book to criticism of these experiments, which is called - "The Great Myth of Feromones". He is not at all sure that Androstadienne and poplanol can be attributed to this group of substances.

It is worth noting that smells really play a certain role in the attraction of people to each other. Carried out ExperimentsWhen women were given to sniff t -shirts that men wore for several days. Then the scientists compared how the woman evaluated the potential partner in the smell of a T -shirt, with the genotype of this partner. It turned out that the more he was different from her own, the more pleasant to her was the smell. Often such experiments lead as evidence that pheromones work, but this is not so. Pheromones should be the same act All representatives of a particular biological species, here, also had a different effect on different women. 

On some sites Offer Fragrances with "animal oils." However, if these are pheromones of pigs or dogs, then act They will be on pigs or dogs, and not at all on males or females of a person, since pheromones act only on representatives of the same species. Otherwise, interspecific crossing would be common in nature.

Thus, scientists so far Can't It is unambiguous to answer the question whether people have pheromones, since existing studies are either insufficiently convincing or providing conflicting results. 

For successful communication, it is necessary that people not only distinguish pheromones, but also catch them. In animals, a Soshnikovo-Nosa organ is responsible for this. Scientists They did not come To a consensus, whether a person has him and if so, does his function fulfill his function. Someone believes that we have it, but rudimentary, and someone is that we generally Lost It was at about the same time when they gained color vision and began to rely more on visual images than on the scent.

Nevertheless, carried out Experiments, during which women under their nose were applied by a certain amount of that very Androstadienne. This caused an improvement in mood and an increase in concentration, which in general can indeed affect in some way an attraction to the opposite sex. However, animals can smell the smell of pheromones at a distance of several kilometers, in the same experiment, for at least some effect, direct contact was required.

Another experiment, indirectly confirming the possibility of the existence of human pheromones, conducted scientists from the Weisman Institute of Science in Israel. They collected tears of women who had just watched a sad film, and let them smell them. As a result, the level of testosterone and sexual excitement decreased, as if the smell of tears told them that it was not worth counting on romance. Scientists emphasize that this can be indirect evidence of the existence of pheromones, which on the contrary will strengthen the attraction, but so far they have not yet been found.

And here we come to why pheromones, even if they are really found, can be produced on an industrial scale and added to spirits, will not work in people just like in animals. The fact is that sexual attraction people are much more complicated than in animals, and Founded Not only on physiological reactions, but also on personal preferences, cultural characteristics, previous experience and many other factors. Therefore, it is definitely not worth considering pheromones as a kind of scientific analogue of a love spell.

However, for perfume with pheromones May be A certain psychological effect of a placebo. People who use them feel and behave more confident, which in turn makes them more sexually attractive. So in this sense they can really help attract a partner.

It should also be borne in mind that perfumery is not particularly strict regulated regulatory authorities. It should be safe for a person, but the manufacturer is not obliged to disclose each of its ingredients to the consumer. Thus, there is no guarantee that the stated pheromones are generally present in the composition, no one checks it. Besides, They complain Scientists, the meaning in which this word is often used - a pleasant, attractive smell - is very far from its scientific definition. Real pheromones in the animal world at all Do not attract Partners, they force them, that is, cause an uncontrolled physiological reaction.

Thus, pheromones that cause sexual attraction really exist, but only in the animal world. Scientists admit that perhaps the human body also produces and distinguishes them, but not one such pheromone has yet been found. In addition, it is likely that people do not have a mechanism that should capture and transmit these pheromones to the brain. What is sold in stores under the guise of such spirits, at best, contains animal pheromones, which will act only on animals of this species, and in the worst - they do not contain anything excellent from other spirits. But such means can really increase the attractiveness of a person - if he himself feels more confident and sexy and behave accordingly.

Photo on the cover: X/f “Perfumer: the story of one killer”, dir. T. pumpkin, scenes. E. Birkin, P. Zyuskin, Comp. R. Haile, 2006.

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