Preliminary evidence of olfactory signals of women\u2019s fertility increasing social avoidance behavior towards women in pair-bonded men

Chen Oren,Simone G Shamay-Tsoory

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-11356-0

Abstract

Previous studies suggest that women’s body odor is perceived as more attractive during ovulation and that exposure to women’s chemical signals of high fertility leads to increased mating motivation. Given that pair-bonded men react differently than single men to unfamiliar women, we investigated whether women’s chemical signals of fertility influence approach behavior among pair-bonded and single men. In the first experiment, men performed the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance task while exposed to body odor samples from women who were ovulating and from the same women during their luteal phase. We found that in the presence of the body odor from ovulation, pair-bonded, but not single men, maintained greater distance from different protagonists, particularly from women. In a second experiment we exposed men to women’s body odors while they rated the attractiveness and beauty of women’s faces. Although the ratings of women’s beauty did not differ across odor conditions, when the pair-bonded men were exposed to the high fertility odor they rated highly attractive women as less sexually attractive. The results suggest that exposure to fertility cues from unfamiliar women may trigger social avoidance in pair-bonded men, an outcome that may result from identifying such cues as threats to their relationship.

Highlights

Among various species in the animal kingdom, chemical signals are used to communicate the female’s reproductive status
We found a main effect for odor condition [F(1,63) = 5.83, p = 0.019, ηp2 = 0.085], with participants maintaining a greater distance between the figures under the high fertility body odor condition (M = 21.68, SD = 10.49) than under the low fertility body odor condition (M = 20.321, SD = 9.82)
In this study we investigated the effect of women’s chemical signals of fertility on approach behavior, in particular on preferred inter-personal distance and on beauty and sexual attractiveness ratings of unfamiliar women

Summary

Introduction

Among various species in the animal kingdom, chemical signals are used to communicate the female’s reproductive status. Approach behavior may reflect a display of romantic interest[21] Such behavior, and the preferred inter-personal space, may be influenced by mating motivation, which in turn can be regulated by signals of women’s fertility. Tan and Goldman[22] demonstrated that exposure to women’s body odor from the days of ovulation increased men’s preference to sit in closer proximity to where they believed a woman would sit, a preference the researchers interpreted as a stronger tendency to approach other women. Miller and Maner[26] revealed that while rating the attractiveness of a naturally cycling woman, single and pair-bonded men react differently to subtle cues of fertility (e.g., body odor and skin tone changes). The pair-bonded men exhibited a significant reduction in their attractiveness ratings of women around the time of their ovulation

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