Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1. Aims 54
3.2.2. Objective 2
Does the sex of an individual determine how attractive or masculine they find certain male faces and body odours?
Regardless of SO, this question aimed to assess whether men and women regard the attractiveness and masculinity of male with concordance on both visual and scent criteria.
According to conclusions surmised by Cornwell et al., (2004) sexually dimorphic sex pheromones illicit sex specific preferences, in that, males tend to prefer female pheromones and females, male pheromones. According to Savic, Berglund, Gulyas and Roland (2001), men and women differ in their brain activation when exposed to sex specific pheromones, thus suggesting “a potential physiological substrate for a sex-differentiated behavioural response in humans” (p.661).
Although the male chemo-signal AND is considered by many as a sex pheromone specifically eliciting attraction in women it does also produce cooperative behaviour in other males (Huoviala & Rantala, 2013). This may suggest that men are likely to be more accurate and concordant in their rankings of scent in terms of masculinity and perhaps more arbitrary in their rankings of scent in terms of attractiveness, whereas women are likely to be concordant on both dimensions: masculinity and attractiveness. The use of these ranking criteria will be discussed in more detail in chapter 3.6.
The ovluatory cycle of women as mentioned before does affect percieved attractiveness of men, thus the estimation of ovulation included in the questionnaire for the female judging participants, would help to ascertain whether or not this did affect female rankings of the
stimuli in this study. According to research conducted by Grammer (1993) women who were in their ovulatory phase were more positively responsive to the scent of male pheromones than at any other time in their menstrual cycle. Furthermore, according to Levin (2004) women are much more influenced by scent than men are, it is said that men are swayed more by “looks” than smell when it come to selecting a partner.
Therefore, it is predicted that women, particularly those who are ovulating will be more congruent in their rankings of attractiveness and masculinity in terms of scent preference.
Furthermore, it is predicted that within the concordance of rankings males and females will show differences in preference.
Table 2: Predicted concordance among males and females
Sex Attractiveness Masculinity
Females High High
Males Low High
Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference in the rankings of attractiveness or masculinity for the VS and the SS between men and women.
Alternate Hypothesis: Men differ significantly from women in terms of how they rank the attractiveness and masculinity of the VS and the SS.
Question 4
Does the SO of an individual determine how attractive or masculine they find certain male faces and body odours?
Lippa (2007) and Jankowiak et al. (1992), argued based on evidence produced in their studies, that sex, more so than SO, affected the attractiveness judgements of others, however, these studies did not consider the influence of SS as a criterion on which to base judgements.
Lippa (2007) and Jankowiak et al. (1992), rather focused their study on visual physical attributes such as age, “good looks”, and height as well as social attributes as a measure on which to rate attractiveness. Therefore, in terms of VS, it would appear that society has a larger impact on how attraction should be perceived than one’s own biological preference.
Berglund et al. (2006), and Savic et al. (2005) alternatively showed that hypothalamic activation differed between SOs when exposed to SS, thus resulting in differing autonomic
arousal and attraction that was influenced by both sex and SO. Therefore, suggesting that the less tangible and societally advertised smell of natural BO may show a truer indication of subjective preference, and furthermore emphasize that SO is in fact a biologically determined state, as it causes a specific biological response different from heterosexual individuals.
From the results of these previous studies, it is predicted that for VS, both SOs will be concordant in their rankings, however, in terms of SS, homosexual individuals will consider the rankings differently. A combination of sex and SO will be more accurate in indicating concordance and thus question five was introduced into the analysis.
Null Hypothesis: There is no significant difference in the rankings of attractiveness and masculinity for the VS and the SS between SOs.
Alternate Hypothesis: SOs differ significantly in their rankings of attractiveness and masculinity for both VS and SS.
Question 5
How does sex and sexual orientation interact in the judgement of male visual features and body odour in terms of attractiveness and masculinity?
According to many studies conducted recently there does appear to be a difference in pheromone attraction between differing SOs however, this is always intrinsically linked to sex (Berglund, Lindstrom, & Savic, 2006; Savic, Berglund, & Lindstrom, 2005; Savic &
Lindstrom, 2008). Therefore, an analysis of how sex and SO combined affected the rankings of VS and SS was necessary.
Berglund, Lindstrom and Savic (2006) found that the brain processes responsible for processing pheromones was not only sexually dimorphic but also differed regarding SO.
They found similar brain activation between lesbian women and heterosexual men when exposed to oestrogen based chemical compounds. Furthermore, in a similar related study conducted by Savic, Berglund and Lindstrom (2005) it was found that gay men much like heterosexual women showed hypothalamic activation when exposed to androstadienone (AND). Similarly, Lubke, Hoenen and Pause (2012) individuals regardless of SO respond similarly when exposed to the scent of their preferred sexual partner (male or female).
Trouton et al. (2012) replicated a “T-shirt study” in which they included SO as well as sex as factors in the measure of female SA. They included t-shirts worn by women at both ovulatory
and non-ovulatory phases of their menstrual cycle. The results produced indicated that heterosexual men and lesbian women considered the t-shirts, regardless of menstrual phase with the same attraction and enthusiasm, however, only heterosexual men rated the ovulatory phase t-shirts as more pleasant than any other group. Furthermore, Martins et al. (2005) showed that individuals are able to discriminate somewhat between the scents of different SOs and sexes.
As indicated by the previous studies discussed, it is clear that sex and SO are indeed connected and it is predicted that homosexual individuals will show preferences that are concordant with the opposite sex heterosexual individuals.
Table 3: Predicted concordance between sex by sexual orientation groups
HeW HoW
HeM Low High
HoM High Low
Null Hypothesis: There is no significant relationship between sex and SO, when ranking the attractiveness and masculinity of the pheromonal stimuli
Alternate Hypothesis: There is a significant relationship between sex and SO when ranking the attractiveness and masculinity of the pheromonal stimuli.