Pheromones: What Are They And How Do They Influence Our Sexual Life?
Romantic dinners, intimate and fascinating conversations in which seduction fills everything, sophisticated ways of finding attraction in the intelligence of the other… It seems that human sexuality is one of the most subtle creations of nature, one in which everything What is related to reproduction is precisely what matters the least of all.
However, it remains true that, rational or not, we are still part of the animal kingdom. And in the world of animals There is a chemical element that influences sexuality, also in our case: pheromones
Pheromones are chemical substances generated by living beings and that are used to generate reactions in other individuals, of the same species or another. They are, so to speak, the raw material with which some forms of life establish communication with others.
Of course, pheromones are a very simple and primitive communication, which even has problems fitting into what can be understood by non-verbal communication. On the one hand, this transmission of information, but does not use semantics or signs that can be cognitively processed In fact, the entire process is automatic and non-conscious (and no, not in the way Sigmund Freud would have imagined).
There are no possible interpretations in it. You simply receive a chemical signal and react accordingly, almost always in a predictable and stereotypical way. So that, Pheromones are like pieces that can only fit a life form in a certain way
This definition is very broad, but in practice one of the most important roles of pheromones has to do with a very specific one: that of reproduction.
Pheromones and the search for a partner
When human beings look for a partner (stable or punctual), the search for information about people they doubt rarely has to do with the analysis of speeches and verbal messages. Non-verbal communication, such as gestures and postures, have a lot of influence, because they are expressed through aesthetics and physical appearance.
The exterior of a person is not everything, but it is a layer of reality that natural evolution has taught us to appreciate a lot, because we have been developing ways to find in it relevant information about possible partners for millions of years, before we developed the ability to use language.
Pheromones are part of this very primitive packaging that we tend to judge first before trying to analyze people’s way of thinking and feeling. Its importance has to do with the following points:
1. They give an idea of sexual compatibility
Pheromones make a lot of sense from the point of view of reproduction because, unconsciously, they give us an idea about the characteristics that a common son or daughter would have. Specifically, pheromones express aspects of the immune system of the person who secretes them, and it has been seen that in many animals There is a tendency to prefer individuals with an immune system that is more different from one’s own In this way the offspring has a more complete and comprehensive one.
2. They indicate the presence of the state of sexual activation
Pheromones induce one to orient one’s behavior towards sexuality (whether to feel attraction for someone or to feel the opposite), but they also tell us about the degree to which whoever secretes them shows a predisposition or not to have sex.
3. They give information about the ovulation cycle
This has been proven in non-human animals, and there are some signs that it could also be true in our species. In fact, it has been recorded how the smell of women who are ovulating causes men’s testosterone levels to rise. Something similar has been seen in women, who through smell could detect possible “competition” by detecting ovulation from others
This does not have to have much from the point of view of how sexuality is experienced in modern societies, in which sexuality and reproduction have been separated, but for the selection of species it is very important.
Studying pheromones in humans
What is known about pheromones is, basically, thanks to biology research with non-human animals. Clues about the role that these chemicals could be having in the reproductive and emotional behavior of human beings It is unclear, because its effects are difficult to register in a species as sophisticated as ours
After all, It is easy to see how pheromones act in small animals and with a less developed nervous system than ours, but as the complexity of behavior and the influence of society and culture increases, the role of these chemicals is blurred and hidden after many layers of convoluted psychological processes.
Just as researching memory by experimenting with chains of neurons is not the same as doing it with living human beings performing complex cognitive tasks, the study of pheromones in human beings will need to be developed over many years to give us detailed explanations about how this element affects us.
