Scents as Messages
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.
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| 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.
The usage of the sense of smell reminds me that the human species is just another species of animal.
ReplyDeleteI 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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