Pheromone Effects In Humans

What is a pheromone? Pheromones are mostly heard in the study of attraction and other social responses in the animal kingdom. However, a number of research have pointed out that pheromones are also found in the case of human attraction.

Have you ever heard the term pheromone? Normally, pheromones are mostly related to animals. This term is commonly used to determine a type of secretion (normally in liquid form) by animals or insects which is known to trigger a sort of social response in members of the same species, such as the case in bees. According to many researchers, these chemicals reacts on its own, outside of the secreting individual's body, to impact the behavior of the receiving individual, such as humans.

Pheromones in humans
The term pheromone is mostly used in the animal kingdom, in which animals leave scents or pheromones either to signal potential mates in a mating season or as a territorial warning for other animals or of the same species. However, the term pheromone is also widely used in the study of human attraction.

A number of studies have been made across the world about the theory revolving attraction that humans normally have on other humans. Though many have said that physical attraction is mostly the case, in which men are attracted to sexy and beautiful women while the women are attracted to well-built and handsome men, in which humans are attracted to one another, other researchers and scientists have pointed out that attraction maybe more chemical-based than what the eyes could see.

Products, such as the famed human pheromones, are very popular among many humans. These types of pheromones are said to work as a way to attract the opposite-sex, such as men attracting women or women attracting men. However, other than just attracting a potential mate, these types of pheromones are also known for other uses, such as in job applications, in which the interviewer may view an applicant with nexus pheromones differently, in terms of attractiveness, from other applicants.

Women pheromones
The women pheromones are also known to excrete a special pheromone that triggers a special reaction to other women, one known case involves the synchronization of menstrual cycles among women which are said to be based on unconscious odor cues. According to Martha McClintock, which is considered as the primary investigator of this type of study, it was found that women pheromones caused menstrual cycles to speed up or slow down depending on the time in the month the sweat was collected; before, during, or after ovulation.

This study, which is widely known today as the McClintock effect, proposed that there are two types of pheromone involved: "One, produced prior to ovulation, shortens the ovarian cycle; and the second, produced just at ovulation, lengthens the cycle". However, recent studies and reviews of the McClintock methodology have called into question the validity of her results.