The Science of Attraction

[luna65]

9 hours ago, Eastwood22 said:

This article by same author contains the informational jewel (among others) that Madonna had liner notes of every album, cd, and cassette for Like a Prayer scented with patchouli! 

Using the Power of Smell to Step Outside Your Comfort Zones

 

Yep, I can attest to that.  The guy I was dating at the time of its' release had a copy and it wasn't strongly scented but you could definitely tell.

[Eastwood22]

@luna65 so cool! Makes me wish I had bought one myself. 

[hedgehog]

This is kind of nerdy, but I figured the "SCIENCE of attraction" thread is the right place for this. I came across this paper the other day. Would love to hear what you ladies think!

Synthetic Copulin Does Not Affect Men’s Sexual Behavior

Abstract

Chemical communication plays an important role in the social interactions and mating behavior of diverse animal taxa; yet its role in humans remains equivocal. Using a randomized, placebo-controlled experiment involving 243 male participants, we test whether exposure to synthetic copulin – a mixture of volatile fatty acids secreted vaginally in primates, increases 1) men’s sexual motivation using an incentivized behavioral task, 2) self-reported willingness to take sexual risks, 3) preference for short-term mating, 4) perceptions of female attractiveness and 5) self-reported mate value. Because chemical receptors are found throughout the body and human chemosensory pathways have yet to be definitively identified, we also manipulate the location of copulin exposure (i.e. olfactory epithelium versus epidermal keratinocytes in the genital region). Finally, we examine whether prior sexual experience mediate any behavioral effects. Unlike previous reports, we fail to find any effects of copulin exposure on measures of men’s sexual behavior.

Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40750-017-0083-y

 

This is by the same author who published a favorable copulin paper in 2016 (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1474704916643328), and this seems to be a fairly big study.  There are some incredible pheromone experts here - curious to hear your thoughts on this!

 

[Snoopyace]

*raises eyebrow*

 

Fascinating.

 

Speaking from experience, however I don't know that I agree with this study.  I'd be interested in what they were using for their synthetic copulins.  Even AJA has an affect on me.  It might not be exactly the same type of response I have to EoW but I know I've reacted (even when I wasn't aware I was being exposed).

[Potion Master]

In the 2016 test - with a positive result - the participants did not know they were being exposed to pheromones.

 

In the 2017 test, they did know. And right there, you have to throw it out the window. People have pre-conceived notions about pheros and additionally, people tend to act stubbornly when challenged about not being in control of their urges or feelings, so the default response would probably be - 'it didn't effect me either way'.

 

For those that use them regularly, we know that we get more genuinely authentic responses when those around us do not know.

[Snoopyace]

49 minutes ago, Potion Master said:

For those that use them regularly, we know that we get more genuinely authentic responses when those around us do not know.

 

Absolutely!!

[hedgehog]

On 7/1/2019 at 12:44 AM, Potion Master said:

In the 2016 test - with a positive result - the participants did not know they were being exposed to pheromones.

 

In the 2017 test, they did know. And right there, you have to throw it out the window. People have pre-conceived notions about pheros and additionally, people tend to act stubbornly when challenged about not being in control of their urges or feelings, so the default response would probably be - 'it didn't effect me either way'.

This makes a lot of sense! Thanks Mara! 

 

On 6/30/2019 at 10:51 PM, Snoopyace said:

I'd be interested in what they were using for their synthetic copulins. 

From their description - short chain acids - I'm pretty sure they were using EoW or an analogue.

[Potion Master]

They stated they were following a recipe , likely jutte's, but didn't use EoW.  Jutte herself altered her use of that recipe in time but didn't alter the written recipe   So Stone followed her original recipe in the beginning then she told him how to improve it for the later batches.