The sense of smell is one of the earliest developed senses in existence, as well as one of the most important. Out of the subphylum Vertebrata, the class Mammalia have the greatest olfactory perception and the most specialized of noses. As well as in some other vertebrates, the sense of smell is distinct in mammals, but at the same time unlimited in its ability to tell the difference between smells.
The first people to notice the importance of scent glands in mammals were perfumers. These various glands produced the odours of musk, civet, castor, and ambergris. Musk is taken from the preputial glands of the musk deer, civet from the anal glands of the civet, castor from the castor gland of the beaver and ambergris from the intestines of the sperm whale (Macdonald and Brown 1985).
Although the olfactory lobes are not as large as in many lower vertebrates, as it has already been stated, in general, olfactory organs and structure are well developed in mammals. The level of development correlates with the animal’s habits. This means, animals that rely the most on olfaction in their behaviour have greater sense capabilities. Stemming from this idea, the uses of olfaction in mammals are many.
One of these uses, which includes many different behaviours, is social functioning. Odors can be used to convey messages within a population and these can be conditioned from experience (Jameson 1921). When encountering strangers of the same species, there are 3 basic patterns of olfactory investigation. These naso-anal, naso-genital, and naso-nasal contact points are where investigation most often occur (Macdonald and Brown 1985). For example, when prairie dogs are fighting or irritated, their anal scent glans emit a strong musky odor which other...
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...inging males and females of the same species together to mate is due to olfactory senses (Young 1975). In some mammals, the males can smell the scent of a female from far away, and he will travel many miles just to mate with her. In this way, the male in attracted to the female, which is especially true for solitary mammals that spend most of their lives alone. Mammals also use scent to recognize the sex of another individual (Macdonald and Brown 1985). This is why we don’t generally see males trying to mate with other males, or vice versa.
Again, conferring with the second of Doty’s reproductive olfactory categories, males emit olfactory information that enhances aggressive tendencies of rivalry males of the same territory to demonstrate dominance. The exact opposite has been found in females. They emit information which deters aggressive tendencies (Jameson 1921).
"Primate Social Relationships: Adults and Infants." Primate Social Relationships: Adults and Infants. N.p., Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
Deborah L. Duffy, Yuying Hsu, James A. Serpell ,Applied Animal Behavior Science - 1 December 2008 (Vol. 114, Issue 3, Pages 441-460, DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2008.04.006)
All animals employ a vast array of behaviors that contribute to their ability to find resources, increase their chances of utilizing them efficiently, and therefore increase their overall fitness. One of the behaviors observed extensively throughout the animal kingdom to accomplish these tasks is aggression. Agonist conflict and aggressive behavior occurs both between species and within species. Curiously, within-species agonism is common in many animals because it can manipulate social hierarchies which can affect the distribution of resources within a population (Moore 2007 and Wofford 2013). Evaluating agonistic behavior is therefore a valuable means by which to examine expenditure of energy for resources (Moore 2007 and Wofford 2013).
Natural body odor attributes from secretions of sweat, urine, saliva, and genital excretion. Personality traits such as neuroticism, extraversion, and dominance elicit associations with ones body odor. The olfactory system has the ability to learn quickly. With that being said, repeated emotional experiences may create a scent in response to the under or overproduction of secretions making that emotion or trait detectable to others. For example neuroticism is defined as the tendency to experience anxiety, nervousness, fear and easily upset. Emotions that stimulate and sustain the sweat glands customizing ones own personal neurotic aroma.
In order to understand the present lifestyles relating to different approaches and tactics applied by humans in mate choice preferences, there is the need to refer to Darwin (1859, 1871) evolutionary perspectives. Darwin (1871) sexual selection is the driving force for males and females reproductive quest for their genes survival. These driving forces have been classified into two categories as intra-sexual and intersexual mate selection.Intersexual selection is male sexual selection process whereby males compete with other males and the females choose the strongest as their ideal partner. Intra-sexual selection occurs when the male species fight among themselves and the strongest gain access to females for
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 279-301.
The Behaviourist and Psychodynamic perspective are based on experiences during childhood. John B. Watson arose with the Behaviourist perspective affirming that the aggressive behaviour is learnt by environment as well as an external approach trough observation. Referent to the above, the children as well as the animals imitate behaviour from adults and people, we are saying this by an experiment performed
Scent is part of the five senses that are developed when an infant is still in the mother’s womb. It is processed by a part of the brain that correlates with memory, so at a young age an infant could differentiate who their mother is by scent. Odor is a sign and olfactory condition (Waskul & Vannini, 2008). As someone gets older they begin to develop scents they like and dislike. There are also scents that people find attractive and unattractive. When meeting another individual for the first time a human’s first instinct is to smell them without realizing it. For instance, have you ever sat by someone or hugged someone who smelled good or bad? If so, many people tend to associate the scent with attractiveness or unattractiveness depending on the level of smell. There have been many studies indicating that there is a strong correlation between odor and attractiveness. Although the scent is a universal and an undetectable smell it can influence the level of perceived attractiveness of another person.
The author reminds us of how our nose smell good odor by saying “and now it is the souring flowers of the bedraggled.” (par.5); the odor of flowers are most of the time good odors and make us feel good. When I feel bad sometimes, I find a flower and smell that flower because it does make me feel good and make me forget about my problem for a moment. Although, the author mostly questioned why our nose have to
There are numerous types of non-verbal communication, yet one of the most underestimated is the olfactics, or our sense of smell. It is generally assumed that the greater portion of the sensory world and communication is experienced through the auditory and visual senses. However, the underrated impact of our sense of smell is increasingly becoming acknowledged as a powerful communicator. The human nose has the capacity to differentiate between 1
It may seem obvious to some why people mate, however there are many facets to human mating. Psychology has shown that reasons for mating have gone beyond the scope of love and physical attractiveness. People may search for mates who resemble archetypical images of the opposite-sex parent, mates with characteristics that are either complementary or similar to one's own qualities, or mates with whom to make an exchange of valuable resources (Buss 238). Although these theories play a key role in understanding patterns in human mating preferences, evolutionary psychology and sexual selection theory provide more concrete frameworks for explaining human mating.
The nose can smell thanks to the ten million scent receptors that make up the Olfactory Epithelium(smell device). The Olfactory Epithelium is located about 7 cm up inside the nose.These receptors can differentiate from over 10,000 different smells. The receptors send signals to the Olfactory Bulb. Those signals then travel to the brain which interprets what you are smelling by combining the different signals of the receptors. Many parts of the brain are affected by these signals.
The sensory system’s organs are the sense organs of the body. The purpose of the sensory system is to allow us to experience outside stimuli and identify alterations in the environment by sensory receptors and eyes, nose, ears, tongue, and skin, which are the sensory organs. The sensory system is actually one of the main elements of the body used to process sensory information.
inforefuge.com. (n.d.). Recuperado el 5 de oct de 2011, de The Science of Smell: http://www.inforefuge.com/science-of-smell-conclusion
Each of the five senses operates as a communicator between the external environment and the internal receptors. This communication reflects a cause and effect approach; the information an individual perceives from their senses, causes a distinctive bodily response. Without the persistence of recognizing the external changes, in the environment, life would not prosper. Imagine waking up incapable of sight, smell, taste, hear, or touch. While missing one sense, produced a heightened sensation in the other four, missing more than one sense diminished life quality. As the book clarified, senses reflect a window to the environment and a thermostat to internal needs. It remains imperative to understand how the senses not only communicate with external changes, but also with internal needs. Without the capability to physically observe internal needs, a mechanism is needed to communicate its