Wedekind

Wedekind

Wedekind (1995)

The sweaty T-shirt experiment – or investigating mate preference based on genetic makeup in relation to immune system functioning

  • The experiment studied whether females would be able to identify males who had a genetic make-up which, in combination with her own, would boost the immune system of potential children. The study focused on a particular complex of genes (MHC genes) in the immune system known for the ability to protect against pathogens.
  • A group of 94 students (half male and half female) participated in the experiment. The men were asked to sleep with a T-Shirt for two nights and keep it in a plastic bag.
  • After two days the women were asked to rate how agreeable they found the smell of the T-shirts. The women had to smell seven different T-shirts. One was a control. Three of them contained T-shirts from men with an immune system similar to their own. Three contained T-shirts from men with an immune system that was dissimilar to the women’s own – this should be the best match in terms of genes.
  • Results showed that women preferred the odors of men with an immune system dissimilar to their own. This lends support to the evolutionary explanations of mate selection in humans.

The experiment demonstrated that attraction was influenced by biological factors. The women preferred men with a genetic make-up that could increase the health of potential babies