The idea of human pheromones is intuitively appealing, conjuring up the idea of secret signals that make us irresistible to potential partners. But this connection of pheromones with sex may be the wrong way to look at the issue – because despite 45 years of study and various claims over the years there’s still not a lot of evidence that human pheromones exist at all.
The study of pheromones of all kinds is problematic – even the definition is controversial. The word comes from the Greek pherein (to transfer), and hormōn (to excite) and was defined by Karlson and Luscher in 1959 as:
“Substances which are secreted by an individual and received by a second individual of the same species, in which they release a specific reaction, for instance a definite behaviour or developmental process.”
The snag is that that while many researchers agree on the basic properties of pheromones, there is considerable debate over which olfactory (sense of smell) cues represent pheromones. For example, many species use odours to identify characteristics such as species, sex, relatedness and social status. Many researchers label these odours as pheromones; others feel that by the above definition they’re really just smells.
Similarly not all potential pheromones are secreted externally – some species of salamanders transfer chemical signals to another salamander by directly injecting them into the bloodstream. Some scientists believe that the response to a pheromone should provide an evolutionary advantage to both the sender and the receiver of the signal, and do so unconsciously.
So a lack of consensus on pheromones’ definition has led to the over-use of this term. Instead many scientists use the term semiochemicals to refer to chemicals that transmit some form of specific message that can influence a recipient’s physiology and behaviour.
Read full, original article: There’s no evidence human pheromones exist – no matter what you find for sale online
