Political ideology helps us match up thanks to the smell

Not everything in politics responds to rational principles. Interestingly, in the ideology There is also a side that is hormonal and that affects our most personal relationships.

The smell, political ideology and sexual attraction... An impossible cocktail?

At least, this seems to conclude an investigation published in the American Journal of Political Science, which suggests that people are more attracted to the smell of people whose political ideology is similar to yours. That is to say: we are not only capable of discriminating between "conservative" and "progressive" smells, but we also use this criterion, to a lesser or greater extent, to find a stable partner.

Investigation

To reach this conclusion, the researchers used a sample of 146 people between the ages of 18 and 40 who indicated their political positioning on a numbered scale ranging from "strongly progressive" to "strongly conservative". From these data, 21 people with extreme odors in one direction or another were chosen. After bathing with odorless soaps and shampoos, these people spent 24 hours with gauze taped to their armpits. During this time they were not allowed to smoke, drink, use deodorants, have sex, or sleep with another person or animal in bed.

The resulting samples were frozen and stored for up to a week later, at which point 125 people proceeded to sniff each of the samples in random order. In each case, they rated the attractiveness of these smells out of five points. In addition, these people and those who spent 24 hours with the gauze never saw each other.

Results

The results are surprising: There is a clear pattern of recognition and better appreciation of the smells of those whose political position is similar to their own, compared to those with an opposite position.

Once the data is exposed, it is the turn of the interpretation. A hypothesis that is considered from evolutionary psychology is that stable couples with ideologies Similar tend to create a more stable family context that favors the rearing of offspring, and thus successively. Therefore, the researchers note, it is not uncommon for political inclination to be one of the traits that stable couples have the most in common. Under the apparently simple idea of ​​political compatibility there may be a series of processes that affect not only our social environment, but even the plane of what sexual and breeding.

The similarity in terms of ideology and values ​​within a family can be very helpful (or avoid many problems) when it comes to effectively maintaining and educating children until they become adults. The perception of the smells of others would be, therefore, not only one of the mechanisms that reinforce this adaptation mechanism, but also a process that has the target on our most emotional and subjective.

The smell communicates

This would be one more test of to what extent the smell can provide data on the issuer and be a method of social communication, albeit on a rather unconscious level. Partner choice may be an even less rational experience than we think.