Humans evaluate mates by smell

It’s something that goes unnoticed. But, believe it or not, many decisions have to do with this. Humans evaluate mates by smell. has gone more unnoticed by ordinary mortals, one sense that takes on a special relevance in the matter is that of smell. Something called the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) plays a role. These are genes detectable by the sense of smell, which allows the organism to discriminate between the self and the foreign.

Humans evaluate mates by smell.
Humans evaluate mates by smell.

Best friends

Something happens when the MHC between two parents is very different. There is greater immune resistance to disease in the offspring that conceive. Through the smell of the person of the opposite sex we detect these differences. Thus we feel inclined to choose them as sexual or sentimental partners. The more different, the better.

but what about friendship? A study entitled There is chemistry in social chemistry was devoted to the subject. He says that people with similar body odors are more likely to be friends.

An electronic nose was designed that analyzes similarities between body odors. The Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel organizes the study. It is led by Inbal Ravreby. He was able to predict which strangers would be more likely to bond by interacting socially.

We use smell more than we think we do.
We use our sense of smell more than we think we do.

Tracking smells

The results say that humans evaluate mates by smell. But there is more. There are reports of people suffering from olfactory loss. These will be more likely to experience impairments in their social relationships. It is corroborated that social chemosignaling is shown to be impaired in some people with autism spectrum disorder. “We are more like other mammals than we think. Olfaction plays a much more obvious and primordial role,” the authors state. “This message is important. It leads us to a deeper understanding of human behavior. Moreover, it may point toward new olfaction-based avenues for intervention in deteriorating social relationships,” they conclude.

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