Scents as Messages

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Smell is one of our senses that has great impact of our daily lives. However, many smells that we encounter are so small or so common that it hardly registers as a thought. Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses brings up a few intriguing examples of smells that usually escape our immediate thoughts, but still impact decisions we make. She writes, “studies show that both children and adults, just by smelling, are able to determine whether a piece of clothing was worn by a male or female” (Ackerman, 1990, pg 6). The ability to determine someone’s sex by scent was perhaps useful long ago, to find mates or determine if a scent was from one’s familiar group or and outsider. However, the need for this has certainly decreased with lack of use. In our modern day and age, we do not leave each other messages coded withing smells.

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Ackerman also brings up, “Animals, like us, not only have distinctive odors, they also have powerfully effective pheromones, which trigger other animals into ovulation and courtship, or establish hierarchies or influence and power” (Ackerman, 1990, pg 26). The concept of human pheromones has been widely researched. Along with the science behind it people seem to romanticize the idea that their partner or ideal partner has a particular smell that they find attractive. Studies have found that scents humans find attractive typically originate from people with differences in the portions of their genes that code for the immune system. This study found that women who were not taking oral contraceptives found the scents of men with differing immune system genes from themselves more attractive than those that shared similar genes to them. Interestingly enough it seemed that oral contraceptives caused women to prefer the scent of men with similar immune system genes. The study thought that this was due to oral contraceptives giving women similar hormone levels to that of pregnant women, who would not be concerned with finding a suitable mate.

By Ceridwen (CC BY-SA 2.0 FR)


Long ago before we had the fast-paced methods of communication, or even before our slow “snail mail”, communicating through smells was the most basic methods of conveying information. Its limitations and advancements of our species would have led to disuse. But even though we may not think about it, we still do have a form of communication among one another through scents.

Comments

  1. NickRFebruary 5, 2020 at 9:32 PM

    The usage of the sense of smell reminds me that the human species is just another species of animal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Becca MillerApril 30, 2020 at 3:27 PM

    I found your comments on the different immune systems interesting, I never have heard that. Last semester in Genetics we talked about how we find people with similar genes to us (like siblings) to be less attractive. The idea of the connection of natural smells and attraction is so interesting!! I am excited to read the study you linked!

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