BBC documentary

[Naughtymonkey]

Hi all

There is currently a series running on the BBC in the UK to do with human instincts. Last week it was the turn of attraction which despite being a seasoned forum user still came up with a few surprises for me. The main point (which might have been discussed here before) is that, according to this documentary the main driver for attraction (particularly females to males) was to attract a mate with a \"genetically remote\" immune system, i.e. to mate with someone having an immune system as different as possible from your own. According to the programme there are six different types and this was tested by the presenter sniffing worn T-shirts from six females each of which representing a class or type. Lo and behold, the presenter picked as his favourite those coming from the immune system most distance from his own. So, (a), does anyone know what these six types are? HLA/MHC?? (b) has anyone heard this before, i.e. immune status (in terms of type) being relyed by your smell??

All in all, an interesting programme and wish I could share it on here. Not good for the politically correct amongst you, money/material status still makes one hell of a difference!

NM

[CptKipling]

Is it still running?

If so what day and what time please.

[Naughtymonkey]

Wednesday 9pm. BBC 1: Next in series:

9:00 pm
Human Instinct
The Will To Win: Professor Robert Winston uncovers our competitive instincts and discovers how these have combined to make human beings one of the most potent competitors on the planet

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Hey, NM. There\'s been a good bit written about this on the forum. Maybe search under JVK\'s posts. I remember, in particular, a conversation about how how women who are not on the pill look for the immune systems most different from themselves, while women on the pill (because the pill tricks her body into thinking it\'s pregnant) look for the closer immune system match.


I have no idea what the types are.


Wish I could have seen the program! [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[jvkohl]

Work by Claus Wedekind is what\'s being presented, and probably some work by Carole Ober also. Wedekind did the Tshirt studies; Ober found non-random mating patterns among the Hutterites.

[Naughtymonkey]

JVK, on what basis does this 6 types of immune system rest??, ie. is it HLA class?? It seems to me that this work must be crucial to how pheromones work and to a large extent the differences that people on this forum observe when using them. Is one of the types more popular than the others? are their ethnicity/gender differences in terms of \"popularity\"??

[DrSmellThis]

Yes; someone needs to explore this line of reasoning.

[jvkohl]

So that I don\'t provide misinformation, it\'s best to check out the links from my site to Wedekind, and to Ober. Reading the abstracts, or getting the entire article is always the best way to learn. Besides, in many cases
I can\'t trust what I think I remember reading. When I have time, I review the article again--but am currently too pressed for time to do so.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

<blockquote><font class=\"small\">In reply to:</font><hr>

Naughtymonkey wrote:
\"on what basis does this 6 types of immune system rest??, ie. is it HLA class?? It seems to me that this work must be crucial to how pheromones work and to a large extent the differences that people on this forum observe when using them. Is one of the types more popular than the others? are their ethnicity/gender differences in terms of \"popularity\"??

<hr></blockquote>
Here\'s a theory: how about women (and men) do look for mates who have a good amount of variety in their immune sytems from themselves; however, a male or female with a strong scent (either cops or -none) might make up for some lack of variety, as proof of the person being made up of \"good stock\" so to say. Thus a man or woman with such a signature (phero signature) might have broader appeal than someone with out such a sig. Eh? If anybody saw \"Steven Spielberg presents TAKEN\" on sci-fi, I think this idea is pretty much taken straight out of that. Afterall I think for the most part pretty much every happy couple wants to have healthy babies.

[Watcher]

THe theroy has its merits what about women that go for status and money that outweights sex appeal. The lack of variety certainly doesnt exist in society but in the past it may have. The phero signature is stronger than anything else thats around so thats why they gravtitate towards it.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

There are always exceptions ... one of my college instructors used to say (he may still be saying it but I\'m not around to hear it, but anyway): \"the second rule of sociology: some do, some do not.\" I can\'t remember if he ever told us the first rule. He wasn\'t a sociology instructor btw.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Anyway if a woman is going for status and money she probably isn\'t all that interested in mating, IMHO

[Watcher]

True the only thing i can say about pheromones alongside these other theroies and intersecting with them is that they increase the opportunites of women reacting positively to my presence giving me a greater chance of sex and other interaction events. Its just becomes easier.

[jvkohl]

I think the differences are HLA classifications, but I\'m relatively uninformed about the immunological correlates. A college, however, Teresa Binstock, has detailed aspects of the immune system as involved in determination of sexual orienation.. You can find her paper via a Medline search, and other info via an internet search. There\'s also a link from my site to a conference on the MHC (i.e., human HLA) and behavior. If you thought neuroendocrinology was tough, be prepared for more trouble with neuroimmunology.