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testosterone and pheromones

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DS

Dora Sun

Transcript

HORMONES

Testosterone

Nave et al. (2017)

Nave et al (2017)

  • Quasi Experiment
  • 243 healthy male participants

Demonstrates a clear effect testosterone has on decision-making in men.

The Aim

To investigate how levels of testosterone in men may affect their cognitive reflection

The Aim

Procedures

Procedures

  • The participants were randombly given testosterone or placebo
  • Particiapants then took a Cognitive Refelction test.
  • They gave three saliva samples during this, before the injections, during the CRT and at the end.

Results and conclusion

Results

The group that was injected with testosterone scored significantly lower than the control group

Participants who were injected with testosterone made a lot more impulsive and snap decisions.

Pheromones

Major Histocompatibility complex (MHC)

Topic

Wedekind et al. (1995)

This study researches the putative pheromone MHC, and the theory that females prefer male odours with different MHC to their own.

This could suggest the influence that pheromones have in the mating process

Sample

  • 44 male students with an average age of 25
  • 49 female students
  • All participants were organised by immune system similarity

Procedure

The male participants wore the same t-shirt for two consecutive nights

This shirt was kept away from other affecting smells

The female participants then rated six t-shirts, 3 of similar MHC and 3 of different.

Results

Woman found the odour of men with different MHC more pleasant

However this was opposite if she was taking the oral contraceptive pill

This could be due to the pregnancy mimicking effects of this contraceptive pill.

Conclusion

conclusion

Different MHC causes different preferences among woman for men. And as MHC is a putative pheromone this could show that the presence of pheromones affect the behaviour of others.

Pheromones

There are lots of psychologists who oppose the theory that Pheromones affect human behaviour.

I agree with this opinion as there isn't enough concrete evidence that demonstrates the effects of pheromones on human behaviour

And the organ that can detect pheromones (vomeronasal organ) has no nerve links to the brain, so it is unlikely to influence our behaviour