Attraction is a part of the social game we humans play. In the animal world, finding a mate is based on instinct but we have more choice in the matter. Still, there are many processes that our body goes through when trying to find a mate. As humans we rely on body language and verbal clues as signs of attraction. These signs help to attract potential mates. They trigger the areas of the brain that control impulses such as sexual drive, feelings of desire, and the need for reproduction. All of our senses, such as sight, touch, taste, and smell are controlled by the brain.
One of the key elements that stimulates our brains in order to attract a mate is a
hormone known as pheromones. These hormones are found all throughout the animal world and help to influence sexual behavior. Humans are no exception. Everyone, both men and women, create pheromones to some degree (some more than others). So what are pheromones? How are they produced? Is there a difference between male and female pheromones.?
What Are Pheromones
Pheromones are invisible, odorless chemicals that are secreted through our skin with sweat and other bodily fluids. The purpose of pheromones is to induce either a biological or behavioral response in other people. Mammals and other animals have long been known to secrete pheromones as natural sexual attractants. Pheromones can cause such things as aggression or the desire to mate in most animals. They have also been known to change the hormone levels in others. These behavior-altering hormones are the driving force behind all sexual attraction, even those in humans. Pheromones can influence who we find attractive. Both men and women emanate pheromones into the air and it is that, more than their looks or what they say, which attracts those of the opposite sex.
For the longest time scientist thought that pheromones were only found in animals because humans were too advanced to rely on such a basic instinctual method of attracting a mate. But research throughout the years has since proven that theory wrong. Mammals, which includes any warm-blooded animal that has fur and gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs, have a special structure inside of their nose called the vomeronasal organ ( or VNO). This is a small bulbous organ with lots of blood vessels and is highyl sensitive to smells. The human nose has a VNO but it doesn’t exist in the same functional form as other mammals. In fact, sensing of human pheromones occurs well below the level of human consciousness. Signals that pheromones are being released are subconsciously picked up and then sent to the hypothalamus region of the brain. Most of the time, humans are not even aware that pheromones are being released.
How Are Male And Female Pheromones Different
Men and women both have pheromones. However, the chemicals in each gender are different. There are two main chemicals which are different: androstenone and copulin. It is these two chemicals which the brain processes unconsciously which causes a physiological and behavioral change in others. Unfortunately, even after extensive research, not too much is known about these particular pheromones.
The chemical androstenone is the primary pheromone found only in men. It is responsible for increasing the ‘animal attractiveness’ of a man as well as bringing about an increase in the luteinizing hormone (or LH) in a woman. The increase in a woman’s LH will cause a woman to have a heightened sexual response to a man.
For the other gender, the chemical copulin has been identified as the primary female pheromone. When copulin is secreted into the area around a woman, it brings about a surge of testosterone in men. The end result is that a man will have a heightened sexual response to a woman.
The existence of a functioning specialized pheromone organ in humans has been widely debated, and the role of pheromones in human behavior has yet to be clearly understood. In humans, pheromones are activated at puberty. Pheromones not only affect feelings of attraction and desire, they also seem to affect people’s general impressions and assessments. People with high levels of pheromones have more attention paid to them and are generally well-liked by members of the opposite sex.
Small can be a powerful tool in humans. A smell can trigger a memory that has been long forgotten. Likewise, a smell can trigger attraction (why do you think people wera perfumes and colognes). There has been recent evidence produced that shows that humans are likely to have an unconscious pheromone-sensing nose to match the conscious odor-detecting nose. What is more is that research has shown that certain male and female steroids activate different parts of the human brain depending not just on the smeller’s sex but also on the smeller’s sexual orientation. These circuits in the brain that are responsible for the detection of pheromones work along the same paths that control mood and motivation. Pheromones may also be responsible in how our brain functions intellectually. As we get older, our olfactory senses decline. This may be linked to why, as we age, our sexual drive also declines. Our nose simply is not capable of detecting the odorless scent of pheromones. All of this study is still ongoing but maybe one day science will be able to fully understand the link between pheromones and attraction.