| Title: | "Androstadienone, a Chemosignal Found in Human Sweat, Increases Individualistic Behavior and Decreases Cooperative Responses in Men" |
| Author(s): | Banner A; Frumin I; Shamay-Tsoory SG; |
| Address: | "Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. Basic Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1464-3553 (Electronic) 0379-864X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "A growing body of evidence suggests that humans can communicate socially relevant information, such as aggression, dominance, and readiness for competition, through chemosensory signals. Androstadienone (androsta-4,16,-dien-3-one), a testosterone-derived compound found in men's axillary sweat, is a main candidate for a human pheromone that may convey such information. The current study aimed to investigate whether androstadienone serves as a chemosignaling threat cue to men, thus triggering avoidance behavior during competitive interaction with another man. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject study design, 30 healthy, normosmic, heterosexual male participants completed the social orientation paradigm (SOP), a monetary game played against a fictitious partner that allows 3 types of responses to be measured in the context of provocation: an aggressive response, an individualistic withdrawal response, and a cooperative response. Participants completed the SOP task twice, once under exposure to androstadienone and once under exposure to a control solution. The results indicate that androstadienone increased individualistic responses while it decreased cooperative responses. These findings support the role of androstadienone as a threatening signal of dominance that elicits behavioral avoidance and social withdrawal tendencies, possibly as a submissive response" |
| Keywords: | "Adult Androstadienes/administration & dosage/*pharmacology *Conflict, Psychological *Cooperative Behavior Double-Blind Method Healthy Volunteers Humans *Individuality Male Pheromones/administration & dosage/pharmacology *Social Dominance Sweat/*chemistry;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineBanner, Amir Frumin, Idan Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G eng Controlled Clinical Trial England 2018/02/02 Chem Senses. 2018 Feb 26; 43(3):189-196. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjy002" |
