If you need to get this close to sniff out a partner, you should get your nose tested. Freestocks
The articles covered in the show:
Bendas, J., Hummel, T., & Croy, I. (in press). Olfactory function relates to sexual experience in adults. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary
Cloud, J. M., & Taylor, M. H. (in press). The effect of mate value discrepancy on hypothetical engagement ring purchases. Evolutionary Psychological Science. Read summary
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
In this episode we poke our noses into two new research papers on body odour and attractiveness. Can women tell if another woman is fert...
In this episode we poke our noses into two new research papers on body odour and attractiveness. Can women tell if another woman is fertile simply by sniffing her armpits? And can we sweeten our natural aroma by eating fragrant food?
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Does a diet rich in fruit and vegetables make a man's sweat smell like a bouquet of flowers? Derek Hatfield/Flickr
The articles covered in the show:
Gildersleeve, K., Fales, M. R., & Haselton, M. G. (in press). Women's evaluations of other women's natural body odor depend on targets' fertility status. Evolution and Human Behavior. View summary
Zuniga, A., Stevenson, R. J., Mahmut, M. K., & Stephen, I. D. (in press). Diet quality and the attractiveness of male body odor. Evolution and Human Behavior. View summary
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
We discover why beauty is in the nose of the beholder in this odor special. We'll find out whether spraying scented deodorant all over y...
We discover why beauty is in the nose of the beholder in this odor special. We'll find out whether spraying scented deodorant all over your body can make your smell more masculine or feminine, and we'll also learn if a man's whole mating psychology is turned topsy turvy when he catches a whiff of female pheromones.
Also, this is episode 100 of the podcast so if you want to send me lots of gifts then go right ahead.
Scents -- whether natural or artificial -- can influence what we find attractive and even how we see ourselves. J. Sibiga/Flickr
The articles covered in the show:
Allen, C., Cobey, K. D., Havlíček, J., & Roberts, S. C. (in press). The impact of artificial fragrances on the assessment of mate quality cues in body odor. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary
Williams, M. N., & Jacobson, A. (2016). Effect of copulins on rating of female attractiveness, mate-guarding, and self-perceived sexual desirability. Evolutionary Psychology, 14(2). Read summary
Tuesday, April 05, 2016
Are you sick of how you smell? We investigate the link between susceptibility to disease and attraction to the body odour of others and ours...
Are you sick of how you smell? We investigate the link between susceptibility to disease and attraction to the body odour of others and ourselves. Also, how do women choose to wear red clothes?
Our natural perfume can attract, or repel, potential mates: and sometimes ourselves! wackystuff/Flickr
The articles covered in the show:
Muggleton, N. K., & Fincher, C. L. (in press). The effects of disease vulnerability on preferences for self-similar scent. Evolutionary Psychological Science. Read paper
Niesta Kayser, D., Agthe, M., & Maner, J. K. (2016). Strategic sexual signals: Women's display versus avoidance of the color red depends on the attractiveness of an anticipated interaction partner. PLoS One, 11(3), e0148501. Read paper
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Diet and desire: Why you and your partner shouldn't turn your nose up at garlic, and how men get greedy when there's a woman in the ...
Diet and desire: Why you and your partner shouldn't turn your nose up at garlic, and how men get greedy when there's a woman in the room. Also, since it's #AntiBullyingWeek, we also find out why bullying may be a mating tactic.
Men eat more pizza when in the company of women. Louise Ma / WNYC
The articles covered in the show:
Fialová, J., Roberts, S. C., & Havlíček, J. (in press). Consumption of garlic positively affects hedonic perception of axillary body odour. Appetite. Read summary
Kniffin, K. M., Sigirci, O., & Wansink, B. (in press). Eating heavily: Men eat more in the company of women. Evolutionary Psychological Science. Read summary
Volk, A. A., Dane, A. V., Marini, Z. A., & Vaillancourt, T. (in press). Adolescent bullying, dating, and mating: Testing an evolutionary hypothesis. Evolutionary Psychology. Read summary
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Why Kim Kardashian would struggle finding a job outside showbiz, and how beauty is in the nose as well as the eye of the beholder. We also d...
Why Kim Kardashian would struggle finding a job outside showbiz, and how beauty is in the nose as well as the eye of the beholder. We also discover how male height impacts upon family size.
Kanye must see something in Kim, but it's probably not her creaky, croaky voice: her "vocal fry".
The articles covered in the show:
Anderson, R. C., Klofstad, C. A., Mayew, W. J., & Venkatachalam, M. (2014). Vocal fry may undermine the success of young women in the labor market. PLoS One, 9(5), e97506. Read paper
Stulp, G., Mills, M., Pollet, T. V., & Barrett, L. (in press). Non-linear associations between stature and mate choice characteristics for American men and their spouses. American Journal of Human Biology. Read summary
Seubert, J., Gregory, K. M., Chamberland, J., Dessirier, J.-M., & Lundström, J. M. (2014). Odor valence linearly modulates attractiveness, but not age assessment, of invariant facial features in a memory-based rating task. PLoS One, 9(5), e98347. Read paper
Monday, February 04, 2013
Why a red t-shirt is the same as a red bum, how a poor sense of smell affects your love life, and going "Facebook official": how t...
Why a red t-shirt is the same as a red bum, how a poor sense of smell affects your love life, and going "Facebook official": how the social network generation navigate the relationship minefield.
It must be that time of the month for Kristen Stewart: new research shows that three quarters of women wearing pink or red are currently ovulating, making a pink dress almost as good an indicator of fertility as a chimpanzee's pink bum.
The articles covered in the show:
Beall, A. T., & Tracy, J. L. (in press). Women more likely to wear red or pink at peak fertility. Psychological Science. Read paper [pdf]
Croy, I., Bojanowskia, V., & Hummela, T. (2013). Men without a sense of smell exhibit a strongly reduced number of sexual relationships, women exhibit reduced partnership security – A reanalysis of previously published data. Biological Psychology, 92(2), 292-924. Read summary
Fox, J., Warber, K. M., & Makstaller, D. C. (in press). The role of Facebook in romantic relationship development: An exploration of Knapp’s relational stage model. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. Read summary
Sunday, February 26, 2012
How variation in our natural body odour could put pay to the perfume industry. Whether healthy faces belong to healthy people. And I finally...
How variation in our natural body odour could put pay to the perfume industry. Whether healthy faces belong to healthy people. And I finally turn self-help guru and dish out some advice on how to stop your one night stands demanding a wedding ring.
"Helen suddenly remembered that it was day 23 of her cycle." New research by Kelly Gildersleeve shows that women's body odour is slightly more attractive around ovulation, and slightly less attractive a few days later, when fertility is low.
The articles covered in the show:
Gildersleeve, K. A., Haselton, M. G., Larsen, C. M., & Pillsworth, E. G. (2012). Body odor attractiveness as a cue of impending ovulation in women: Evidence from a study using hormone-confirmed ovulation. Hormones and Behavior, 61(2), 157-166. Read summary
Gray, A. W., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2012). Female facial appearance and health. Evolutionary Psychology, 10(1), 66-77. Read paper
Jonason, P. K., & Buss, D. M. (2012). Avoiding entangling commitments: Tactics for implementing a short-term mating strategy. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(5), 606-610. Read summary
This is the archive for the Psychology of Attractiveness Podcast, a science show covering the most interesting and cutting edge research on the psychology of attraction and relationships. The podcast was active between 2009 and 2019. All episodes remain available.
The podcast was produced by Dr Robert Burriss, a psychologist who has held research posts at universities in the UK, USA, and Switzerland.
