Here's what research has found. Below are the most common pheromones found in colognes and perfumes.
Androstenol
Smelling androstenol may activate the hypothalamus in heterosexual women. However, since the hypothalamus controls hunger, thirst, sleeping patterns, and sexual attraction it is unclear what precisely this means. The authors report that the area of the hypothalamus activated corresponds to the area of the hypothalamus activated by animals during mating behavior. So perhaps this is mild evidence that the scent of androstenol might turn women on.
Androstadienone
Like most studies, this study was limited by the fact that the women smelled androstadienone directly according to http://astrobiosociety.org
Androstadienone
Androstadienone increases cooperation between men. Evolutionarily this would make sense, as when men sweat they are often working with other men, whether it be basketball, construction, or hunting mammoths. A variety of experiments suggest that androstadienone makes both men and women more sensitive to social information. This would be adaptive; if people are sweating an important event is likely going on, so it would be a good idea to pay attention to the emotions of those around you. And of course, people also sweat during sex.
So there’s some evidence that smelling androstadienone and androstenol, both of which are found in human sweat, may affect behavior and physiology when measured in the lab. But does this hold true in a real-world social setting? Unfortunately, it’s really hard to say.
People wear deodorant and antiperspirant under their armpits, so unless you are at a gym people probably aren’t making enough sweat to produce a lot of androstadienone and androstenol. And even if humans secrete these pheromones, the pheromones from everyone in an area would be mixing together. There’s no reason to think that one person’s pheromones would have more influence than another’s.
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