Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 10:55:17 -0700
From: "Robert G. Grimes" <grimes@fcol.com>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Inernal meme?
Derek,
You will recall that one of the first evidences for the existence of a human
pheromone was the phenomena of young ladies living in dormitories synchronizing
their menstrual periods. After a short time everyone is supposedly
synchronized due to the effects an associated hormone. Friends have confirmed
this in conversations and actual experiments have lent credibility to such.
It is my understanding that the nearest natural source to the male sexual
hormone (androsterone - utilized commercially) is made from swine boar
pheromones because they are essentially the same, chemically and biologically.
Most of this, as I recall, was originally manufactured in England for use with
swine. If you've never seen a demonstration it is impressive. The boar is
introduced to the female who frequently puts up quite a fight, perhaps injuring
both, but the farmer takes an aerosol can and quickly sprays the snout of the
female and she patiently stands still, all aquiver, whilst the boar does his
work! Now, I suspect they manufacture the equivalent here or where ever the
commercial applications are made (either for folks or swine) after isolating
the primary factor.
It is odorless (of course the perfumes or after shaves usually add a "musk
odor" or a pleasant perfume) although I have seen televised tests where some
people respond that it reminds them of "perspiration" (even though others
cannot smell it at all) and some even responded that it reminded them of
"sneakers." These were young college coeds who were tested but most couldn't
smell anything. Those associations confirm that many pheromones are associated
with perspiration glands and, even though there is no odor, the association
persists with some. One test I saw mounted a television camera in the high
portion of a gymnasium (above a section of seats that had been sprayed with
male pheromones) and filmed the responses of the students as they passed by
that section. Suddenly it was obvious that females were stopping and returning
to the area and seating themselves in the exact portion. It was interesting as
one of the experimenters was on a live mike on the sound track and he gasped,
"God, it's going to be all girls!" - as it became apparent that only girls
would be seated in the area picked out.
For a quick source on the web that gives a lot of information (just located as
my original source site disappeared) and appears interesting... (I did notice
some misspellings)
http://cas.bellarmine.edu/tietjen/Human%20Nature%20S%201999/human_nonverbal_communication_an.htm
There is evidence that a "fear" pheromone (probably a fight or flee product)
exists and this is presumably what some animals note when they are stimulated
to attack... It has also been indicted by some as the probable cause of mob
action... (perhaps, also, at football games, etc. - remember my reference to
the paper done by a friend where it was noted that the Testosterone level in
males rose during football with those fans of the winning team going to a
higher level and persisting for several days?)
That should make a good experiment and I would anticipate associated memetic
stimuli and responses to pheromones...
Cordially,
Bob
"Gatherer, D. (Derek)" wrote:
> Bob,
> What is the biochemical nature of human pheromones? If they could be
> quantified, it would be easy to combine a biochemical pheromonal study with
> an amygdalar PET scanning study.
>
> Derek
>
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-- Bob Grimeshttp://members.aol.com/bob5266/ http://pages.hotbot.com/edu/bobinjax/ http://www.phonefree.com/Scripts/cgiParse.exe?sID=28788 Jacksonville, Florida Bob5266@aol.com robert.grimes@excite.com bobinjax@hotbot.com
Bobgrimes@zdnetmail.com
Man is not in control, but the man who knows he is not in control is more in control...
Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore....."
=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit