The McGill Psychology Students’ Association hosted their annual talk, Psych of Love 2012, on February 10. This year’s event featured Ariel Fenster, the beloved professor of McGill’s World of Chemistry courses, and a chocolate fountain reception.
With Valentine’s Day so close, I hassled all my friends into attending the talk. It was a good alternative to mopping around at home and referring to forever alone memes. Fenster’s talk explored the three stages of love: attraction, passion, and attachment.
For the attraction stage, Fenster took a look into pheromones. While the evidence regarding pheromones’ effects on humans remains inconclusive, their effects on other animals can be startling. Some insects can detect a possible mate 4 km a way just based on pheromones–putting that in perspective, it is equivalent to detecting a potential “mate” in Little Italy from the Roddick Gates. An interesting fact that Fenster pointed out is that parabens, a common additive to cosmetics, is actually a pheromone that female dogs secrete to attract male dogs. This may explain while the neighbour’s dog, Max, just cannot get enough of you.
A study involving British women placed androsterone, a putative human pheromone secreted by men, randomly underneath movie seats. They found that women preferentially sat on the seats that were releasing this pheromone. So maybe there is a human pheromone? Fenster himself conducted a mini-experiment, placing androsterone underneath a row a seats before the seminar. All but one of the seats were occupied by females. However, the Psych of Love seminar was largely attended by females. Despite such lack of conclusive evidence, Dial produces a pheromone-infused shower gel for men that is available in the United States.
Next, in the process of falling in love, comes passion. Foods like chocolate and the compound released when a person is in love may arouse similar feelings, but chocolate does not seem able to cross the blood-brain barrier. Surprisingly, compounds contained in peanuts are not only similar to the “being in love” chemical concoction, but can also cross the stealthy blood-brain barrier. Now, science may show peanuts to have more benefits, but I will stick to my box of Pot of Gold.
Finally, the attachment component of love involves the molecule oxytocin, which is also released by nursing mothers. Attachment certainly applies to my favourite creature of the animal kingdom, the prairie vole. They are infamously monogamous, form life-long bonds, huddle, groom each other and share pup-raising responsibilities.
But while science can seem able to mechanically break down the components and evidence of love, I would argue there may be an elusive mysterious component of love that even science cannot put its finger on. Until then, I will be enjoying my annual tradition of eating chocolates and a viewing of the year’s cheesiest romantic comedies.