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The Effect of Perfume on Sexual Attractiveness

Both men and women use perfume to boost their sexual attractiveness to members of the opposite, or same sex. Indeed, when we find that one perfume or aftershave that works for us, we're hard-pressed to change it - perfume can be as much of our personality as our personal style or likes and dislikes. Olfactory communication is completely natural in humans: we don't always realise we've detected people's particular scents when we have. Without perfume or aftershave, we unconsciously detect people's natural scents: in the form of pheromones. Pheromones are usually detected unconsciously, and it is believed that they have an important influence on our social and sexual behaviour Logically then, it follows on that our choice of perfume or aftershave influences how sexually attractive we are to members of the opposite or same sex. Do we choose perfume regardless of our natural scent (as dictated mainly by pheromones) or do we choose to douse ourselves in scents we prefer, regardless of our natural odour? There are a number of hypotheses concerning why we wear perfume or aftershave, and whether it amplifies or reduces our natural scents.The Effect of Perfume on Sexual Attractiveness

Both men and women use perfume to boost their sexual attractiveness to members of the opposite, or same sex. Indeed, when we find that one perfume or aftershave that works for us, we're hard-pressed to change it - perfume can be as much of our personality as our personal style or likes and dislikes. Olfactory communication is completely natural in humans: we don't always realise we've detected people's particular scents when we have. Without perfume or aftershave, we unconsciously detect people's natural scents: in the form of pheromones. Pheromones are usually detected unconsciously, and it is believed that they have an important influence on our social and sexual behaviour. Logically then, it follows that our choice of perfume or aftershave influences how sexually attractive we are to members of the opposite or same sex. Do we choose perfume to amplify our natural scents, (as dictated mainly by pheromones) or do we choose to douse ourselves in scents we prefer, regardless of our natural odour? There are a number of hypotheses concerning why we wear perfume or aftershave, and whether it amplifies or reduces our natural scents.

In 2001, a study found that MHC (major histocompatibility complex, a polymorphic set of genes which is important for immune-function in humans, see MHC is correlated with the ingredients found in perfume. This is an important finding because it suggests that humans do, in fact, choose perfumes that complement or enhance their natural scents (their pheromones). This evidence offers much support for the hypothesis that perfume is chosen by individuals to amplify the statement of their physical health . Research suggests that this advertisement of good health will, in fact, enhance females’ attractiveness to the opposite sex as a health markers have been shown to do . While strong evidence has been found to support the hypothesis that wearing perfume enhances females’ attractiveness to males, little research has been done into the effect of aftershave on males’ attractiveness to females. Considerably more research has covered the effect of males’ natural odour and females’ ratings of attractiveness. What is interesting to note is that in many studies (e.g. ) is that odour predicted attractiveness when female raters were not on any form of contraceptive pill. For those who were, there was no relation between attractiveness and body odour.

It stands to reason that odour can increase or decrease ratings of attractiveness because the olfactory receptors in the brain are directly linked with the limbic system, the part of the brain that is thought to be most involved with emotion. This link is an important one, because if an individual associates positive affect (elicited by pheromones ), with a potential mate, their liking for, and attraction to, that potential mate will be increased. Although not a typically evolutionary hypothesis, this hypothesis is one that acknowledges how humans have adapted their mating strategies to modern-day societal norms.