Wedekind (1995)

Uses: Evolutionary

Aim: determine whether one's MHC would affect mate choice.

 

Method: true experiment

 

Major Histocompatibility Complex, a group of genes that play an important role in the immune system. MHC genes make molecules that enable the immune system to recognize pathogens; in general, the more diverse the MHC genes of the parents the stronger the immune system of the offspring.

 

Procedure:

  • 49 female and 44 male students from University of Bern, Switzerland.

  • They are typed for their MHC, a wide range of MHC was included in the sample. They also don't know each other and are from different courses.

  • Men were asked to wear a t shirt for two nights and keep the t shirt in an open plastic bag during the day. They were given perfume free detergent to wash clothes and bed clothes and perfume free soap for showering. No deodorants, no smoking or alcohol and no spicy food and no sexual activity.

  • Women then is asked to rank and smell of 7 t shirts. Each in a cardboard box with a smelling hole. They were asked to do it in the second week after beginning of menstruation as they are the odour sensitive.

  • They have been using nose spray for 14 days before experiment to support regeneration of the nasal mucous membrane if necessary. They are also given a copy of suskind's novel perfume to sensitize their smell perception.

  • Three of the seven boxes contained T shirts from men with MHC similar to woman's own, three contained t shirts from MHC dissimilar men and one contained an unworn t shirt as control. They are asked to rank them for intensity from 0 - 10 and sexiness from 0 - 10.

  • Women scored male body odours as more pleasant when they differed from their own MHC than when they were more similar. This difference in odour assessment was reversed when the women rating the odours were taking oral contraceptives. This suggests that the MHC may influence human mate choice.

 

Conclusion:

  • MHC may influence human mate choice in human.

 

Evaluation;

  • Only from switzerland and all university students. Hard to generalise

  • Controlled experiment

  • Subjective rating

  • Specific measure (2 weeks after menstruation)

Wedekind Claus, Seebeck Thomas, Bettens Florence and Paepke Alexander J. 1995MHC-dependent mate preferences in humansProc. R. Soc. Lond. B.260245–249http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1995.0087