Hare et al (2017) 

Uses: Pheromone

Aim: To investigate if androstadinone and estratetraenol signal gender and affect mate perception

 

Method: true experiment, repeated measures design

 

Procedure:

  • 140 heterosexual adults

  • Participants completed two computer based tasks on two consecutive days

  • One day they are exposed to AND or EST and the other they are exposed to controlled substance, the order of condition was counterbalanced.

  • In the first task participants were shown five gender neutral facial morphs and had to indicate the gender of the morphs.

  • In the second task they were shown photographs of individuals of opposite sex and asked to rate their attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10.

 

 

46 participants (24 male, 22 female) indicated the gender (male or female) of five gender-neutral facial morphs. Exposure to AND or EST had no effect on gender perception. In the second task, 94 participants (43 male, 51 female) rated photographs of opposite-sex faces for attractiveness and probable sexual unfaithfulness.

 

Results:

  • No difference in gender assigned to the morphed faces in the pheromone versus control condition. There was no difference in the average attractiveness rating nor unfaithfulness rating of the photographs of opposite sex.

 

Conclusion:

  • AND and EST do not act as signals of gender or of attractiveness and unfaithfulness. Researchers concluded that these chemicals do not qualify as human pheromones.

 

Evaluation:

  • Large sample size

  • Both gender

  • True experiment

  • Repeated measure

  • Attractiveness is subjective

  • Facial morph perception is subjective

  • Treatment concentrations were identical to those deployed by Zhou et al., far exceeding concentrations present in human armpits but matching the standard set by pioneering studies of AND and EST and used in virtually all studies of the chemicals.

  • Other aspects of the experiment (e.g. repeated measures, exposure to gender-neutral stimuli) broadly matched those of Zhou et al.

  • Hare et al also ensured that the study was double blind – the researchers were unaware of the experimental condition of each result until after statistical analysis.

Hare Robin M, Schlatter Sophie, Rhodes Gillian and Simmons Leigh W 2017Putative sex-specific human pheromones do not affect gender perception, attractiveness ratings or unfaithfulness judgements of opposite sex facesR. Soc. open sci.4160831160831http://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160831