• Home
  • About
  • My books
  • Nonorganic potatoes on list of 7 foods experts won’t eat
  • Africa

sallykneidel.com

GREEN LIVING, GREEN TRAVELING

Feed on
Posts
Comments
kneidel-header.jpg
« New study: Hope for polar bears
South Carolina dog knows more than 1000 words, says NY Times »

New study: Women’s tears contain pheromones that turn men off

Mar 29th, 2011 by Sally Kneidel

Female tears affect men’s desire. Photo: wikimedia commons

An old friend told me once that she intentionally cries in conversations with her husband when she’s not getting her way.  She might want to consider a different tactic.  New evidence suggests that a pheromone in women’s tears turns men off rather decidedly.

Two researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have just published a study in the journal Science which demonstrates that the tears of human females turn men off.

Tears contain pheromones, apparently
The researchers, Shani Gelstein and Noam Sobel, have apparently shown that human female tears contain a pheromone that reduces men’s sexual arousal.  A pheromone is a chemical produced by the body that communicates with others of the same species. For example, female dogs in heat have a scent that attracts males. Males of many species have a scent in their urine, or in glandular secretions, that advertises the boundaries of their territories and keeps competitors out.  Pheromones are very common among other mammals but have seldom (if ever) been identified in humans.

It’s interesting that, in this experiment, the subjects could not consciously smell the pheromone. But they apparently smelled it subconsciously, because it affected their behavior.

Women’s tears dampened men’s sexual response
I thought the experiment was ingenious.  The researchers collected a jar of tears from women as they watched sad film clips and tears trickled down their faces. A pad containing either tears or a salt solution that had been trickled down the same faces was then attached to each male subject’s upper lip.  Neither substance had a perceptible odor.  The men were then shown female faces; 17 of the 24 men found the female faces less alluring after whiffing tears than after whiffing salt solution.

Another 50 men showed less physiological sexual arousal after whiffing tears than after whiffing salt solution. Low sexual arousal was indicated by slow breathing rates and low levels of testosterone in their saliva.

In a final experiment, men watched a sad movie while sniffing women’s tears or sniffing a salt solution. The men sniffing tears showed a much reduced blood flow to areas of the brain that had earlier reacted strongly to an R-rated erotic movie.

The researchers don’t know what the chemical nature of the pheromone might be.  More research is need to figure that out.

How would the pheromones in women’s tears affect other women?
I never have really felt that it was to my advantage to cry in front of a man. It might catch attention, might inspire guilt or pity, but I’m not sure it’s ever really worked to my advantage. I’m curious to see the experiment repeated on female subjects.  How do females respond to whiffing the tears of other females? I imagine the response would be increased blood flow to the parts of the brain involved in care-taking, nurturing, and heart-felt sympathy.

What do you think?

Keywords: Shani Gelstein, Noam Sobel, pheromones in tears, women’s tears, tears reduce sexual response

Tags: Human behavior

Posted in Human behavior

6 Responses to “New study: Women’s tears contain pheromones that turn men off”

  1. on 18 Dec 2012 at 11:06 AM1wikipedia.fsw.leidenuniv.Nl:8080

    wikipedia.fsw.leidenuniv.Nl:8080…

    sallykneidel.com » Blog Archive » New study: Women?s tears contain pheromones that turn men off…

  2. on 18 Dec 2012 at 11:47 AM2click through the next site

    click through the next site…

    sallykneidel.com » Blog Archive » New study: Women?s tears contain pheromones that turn men off…

  3. on 27 Dec 2012 at 4:22 PM3wustl.edu

    wustl.edu…

    sallykneidel.com » Blog Archive » New study: Women?s tears contain pheromones that turn men off…

  4. on 01 Jan 2013 at 3:05 PM4http://journal-polytech.toile-libre.org/wiki/index.php?title=Utilisateur:EmoryMeek

    http://journal-polytech.toile-libre.org/wiki/index.php?title=Utilisateur:EmoryMeek…

    sallykneidel.com » Blog Archive » New study: Women?s tears contain pheromones that turn men off…

  5. on 04 Jan 2013 at 2:08 PM5linked website

    linked website…

    sallykneidel.com » Blog Archive » New study: Women?s tears contain pheromones that turn men off…

  6. on 05 Jan 2013 at 1:56 AM6Www.yabadaba.com.ar

    http://Www.yabadaba.com.ar...

    sallykneidel.com » Blog Archive » New study: Women?s tears contain pheromones that turn men off…

  • Sally blogs about….

    Sally Kneidel
    ....sustainable living and dining, ecotravel, indigenous cultures around the world, protecting wildlife habitat, and more...
  • Top Health Blogger

    HealthBlogger Network
    Sally Kneidel
    Green Living Community
    Wellsphere
  • 1st Place Winner

    Sally Kneidel, PhD: 1st Place Winner of People's Choice Health Blogger Award. Green Living Category
    People's HealthBlogger Awards
    People's HealthBlogger Awards - Best of Category Winner!wellsphere
  • Amazon Page

    Amazon has created an author page for my writing (click here) to feature almost all my books, my bio, some pix.
  • See a sampling of my posts on Basil & Spice

    You can find an assortment of my travel, health, and eco-posts on Basil & Spice, a syndicated website of current topics by selected book authors.basil and spice
  • Creative Commons License

    Creative Commons License
    Any use of images or text from this website must be attributed to Sally Kneidel, PhD. Photos and text by Sally Kneidel, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
    Based on text and photos at sallykneidel.com.
    Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at sally.kneidel@gmail.com.
  • Site Meter
  • Archives

  • Recent Posts

    • Proof that no-fishing zones work / Meeting Kumi Naidoo
    • My review of “Burning in the Sun” – I loved this unique eco-documentary
    • Orangutans left-handed; chimps and gorillas are righties
    • South Carolina dog knows more than 1000 words, says NY Times
    • New study: Women’s tears contain pheromones that turn men off
    • New study: Hope for polar bears
  • Categories

    • Agriculture (9)
      • Crop diversity (1)
      • Radiation in food (1)
      • Safety (1)
      • Tree plantations (1)
    • Animal behavior / animal intelligence (2)
    • Animal welfare / animal rights (13)
    • Book review (1)
    • Climate change (13)
      • Rising sea levels (2)
    • Eco-travel (32)
      • Africa (14)
      • Asia (4)
      • Caribbean (4)
      • Puerto Rico (4)
      • South Africa (6)
      • Southeast Asia (14)
        • Bali (2)
          • Marine mammals (1)
        • Borneo (6)
        • Indonesia (8)
        • Jakarta (3)
        • Japan (3)
          • earthquake (2)
          • stricken reactors (2)
          • Tsumani (2)
        • Java (1)
        • Malaysia (4)
        • Sumatra (7)
        • Thailand (1)
      • Swaziland (1)
    • Film review (4)
    • Food (26)
      • Dairy (3)
      • Farming (4)
      • Fast food (1)
      • Fish (2)
      • Gardening (2)
      • High fat foods (2)
      • Organic (3)
    • Greenpeace (1)
      • Kumi Naidoo (1)
    • Health (38)
      • Alternative medicine (3)
      • Babies (1)
      • Cancer (4)
      • Depression (2)
      • Fish (1)
      • Flu (4)
      • Health effects of eating meat (3)
      • Human behavior (9)
      • Pharmaceuticals (3)
      • Smoking (1)
      • Stress (2)
    • Livestock (10)
      • Contamination in milk (1)
      • Desertification (1)
    • My books (16)
      • Classroom Critters and The Scientific Method (2)
      • Going Green (co-authored with Sadie Kneidel) (11)
      • Going Green: A Wise Consumer's Guide to a Shrinking Planet (1)
      • Veggie Revolution (co-authored with Sadie Kneidel) (9)
    • Resources (6)
      • Overconsumption (6)
    • Sustainable Living (42)
      • Energy-efficient housing (6)
      • Environmental footprint (17)
      • Environmental pollution (6)
      • Food (7)
      • Nuclear energy (2)
      • Oil spill (3)
      • Sustainable choices for your home (13)
    • Wildlife (72)
      • Birds (5)
      • Bushmeat (1)
      • Coqui frogs (2)
      • Ecosystems (16)
        • Rain forest (5)
      • Endangered species (13)
      • Fish sanctuaries (1)
      • Frogs (1)
      • Invasive species (1)
      • Lizards (2)
      • N0-fishing zones (1)
      • Primates (5)
      • Snails (1)
      • Tigers (1)
      • Wildlife behavior (10)
      • Wildlife habitat (26)
        • Deforestation (10)
      • Wildlife survival (22)
    • Africa links

      • Haroun Kola – Eco Geek, Rainbow Guru
      • Honeyguide Tented Safari Camps in South Africa
      • Welverdiend Village Tours
    • Artists' sites

      • Charleston through an Artist's eye: the blog!
      • Kathleen Jardine
      • Richard Stenhouse Art
    • Authors' and writers' sites

      • Basil and Spice
      • Goodbye, me
    • Blogroll and Favorite Websites

      • ProFauna Indonesia
    • Eating sustainably

      • Vegetarian Women
      • Veggie Revolution
    • Environmental sites

      • Haroun Kola – Eco Geek, Rainbow Guru
      • Huffington Post: Green News and Opinion
      • Lighter Footstep
      • More Minimal: Making More of Less
      • ProFauna Indonesia
      • SunGarden Houses
      • Treehugger
      • Veggie Revolution

sallykneidel.com © 2009-2013 All Rights Reserved.

Free WordPress Themes | Fresh WordPress Themes