Scent affects nonverbal communication in a number of ways which ranges from physical to physiological and psychological effects. It is possible that some people will find it difficult to sit with other because they are sensitive to their scents whereas other will prefer staying close because they “like” the scent. Scent can also send sexual messages leading to sexual behavior responses. This essay focuses on the effect of breast milk and infant scent on other women in relation to sexual behaviors.
In the research titled Social chemo-signals from breastfeeding women increase sexual motivation , spencer et al (2004), argue that pheromones produced by lactating mother can cause other women to have sexual desires or fantasies. Their study question was how pheromones form lactating mothers affect sexual behaviors in other women.The study targeted forty seven women who were not smoking at the time form different races such as Caucasian (62%), African-American (10%), Hispanics (2%) and others (25%). The women were aged between 18 -35 years of age. They were selected based on their range of olfaction, regular menstrual cycle, within 30% of ideal body weight, healthy and have never used birth control pills or IUD. Those who qualified were registered and studied over three months. They were also told not to wear any perfumes during the study period and were introduced to thirty different odors ranging from infant smell to sweat odors and even no odors.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The study was divided into three phases; one baseline phase and two experimental phases. In the baseline phase, all the 47 women were given two vials with control pads to apply under their nose. In the remaining two studies, the women were divided into two; the control and the experimental groups. 22 of the women continued getting the vials with control pads whereas the remaining 25 were supplied with two pads, one worn in axillae and the other over the breast. The axillae and the breast worn pads were from three different lactating mothers. The women were to apply the pads under their noses either in the morning or just before bed using clean hands (Spencer, et al, 2004).
The data form the women were collected twice a week during which the women were given vials for the next activity. The women recorded and increased sexual desire or fantasy daily for the three months of the study. The study also collected data on the mood of the women in the study population twice a week. During analysis, data was cleaned and then analyzed by calculating the average level of sexual desire for their three cycles in which the fantasies were also calculated. Mood, desire and fantasies were analyzed using analysis of variance against the baseline sample. The results of the study showed that women who applied the pads exposed to breasts experienced higher levels of sexual desire (F—1,42, df= 9.5and p=0.004). There was also noted increase between the first and the second exposure cycles by 9% and 24% respectively. The women exposed to pads with breast odor experienced great sexual fantasies (F=1,43 and p=0.005). Exposure to breast milk smell also modified the negative affect of the mood in relation to time (p=0.003). The study also established that the presence of a partner led to women having sexual desires more than fantasies and the absence of a partner led to fantasies more than desires (Spencer, et al, 2004).
Spencer et al concluded that, relative to the exposure to potassium phosphate buffered solution, exposure to breast milk and infant natural compounds increased the sexual desire and fantasies in other women. It was also noted that the effects were least in the first trimester of the menstrual cycle and increased greatly towards the end of the cycle. The study acknowledges that having a partner around skewed the result the desires than fantasies.
They recommend that future studies should be conducted to study the long term sexual motivation given the fact that the control group experienced less sexual desire as days went by.
Reference
Spencer, N. A., McClintock, M. K., Sellergren, S. A., Bullivant, S., Jacob, S., & Mennella, J. A. (2004). Social chemosignals from breastfeeding women increase sexual motivation. Hormones and behavior, 46(3), 362-370.
