BIOAPPERQ - Zhou et Al (2014) Flashcards
aim
to see the effect of AND (male putative pheromone) and EST (female putative pheromone) on heterosexual and homosexual men and women.
participants
4 groups of healthy non-smokers
24 hetero men
24 hetero females
24 homosexual men
24 bisexual females
(96 total)
procedure
participants were presented a point-light walker task (PLW), a set of dots that move in a way that represents the properties of human motion.
the participants were asked to observe the stick figure in motion and to identify its sex.
performed the task on three consecutive days while being continuously exposed to either androstadienone mixed with cloves, estratetraenol mixed with cloves, or a control solution, also mixed with cloves. The scents were counterbalanced to control for order effects.
findings
AND - when heterosexual females and gay males were exposed to AND, they had a higher rate of identifying the stick figure as “masculine” than the control group.
- AND had no significant effect on heterosexual men or lesbian women.
EST - smelling EST systematically biases heterosexual males toward perceiving the walkers as more feminine. The effect was not statistically significant in bisexual and lesbian women.
what does it show?
It appears that AND and EST may have some effect on human sexual behavior
evaluation
cause and effect relationship
IV was manipulated, allowing the researchers to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the IV (the use of AND or EST) and the behavior (rating of the stick figure)
not reliable
Hare et al (2017) failed to replicate the study. Therefore, the results may not be reliable. The researchers found that exposure to putative pheromones had no significant effect on gender perception or attractiveness.
dosen’t represent human behaviour
the dose of AND and EST used in this study was significantly higher than humans naturally secrete. This means that although Zhou’s study determined a significant effect, it is unlikely that this represents actual human behavior.
