What Does Power Smell Like?

For decades, psychologists have been trying to figure out whether hormones are quietly shaping our social lives through cues that feel invisible but may be hiding in plain… scent.

From people sniffing sweaty shirts in the laboratory to exotic dancers earning more money depending on where they are in their menstrual cycle, human attraction research often sounds like something out of a surreal sci-fi script.

The Smell of Dominance

In recent work published in Evolution and Human Behavior, Hofer and colleagues examined whether men’s testosterone levels influence social perceptions. Volunteer men provided saliva samples to measure testosterone and wore cotton T-shirts to collect natural body odor. About 800 participants then provided ratings of the scent without knowing anything else about the donor. Interestingly, men with higher testosterone were rated as more dominant.

This aligns with modern work showing that testosterone is not a simple aggression hormone but instead tunes people into status dynamics. It enhances competitive motivation and sensitivity to hierarchy. And this is one study in a long line of research showing that hormones may leave a biological trace that other people can detect through scent.

Classics in Sweaty Shirt Research

The idea that scent conveys biological information became widely known after a 1995 study by Swiss researcher Claus Wedekind. Male participants wore T-shirts for two nights, and women rated the scents. Women preferred the odors of men whose major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes were more dissimilar to their own. The MHC is critical for immune functioning, so the finding suggested a potential evolutionary bias toward partners who would produce immune diverse offspring.

The idea is not that people consciously know anything about immune genes. Rather, they respond to odor cues shaped by MHC differences without knowing why.

This line of study later expanded to include developmental stability. For instance, one study reported that women near ovulation preferred the scent of more symmetrical men, who were thought to signal developmental robustness (Thornhill & Gangestad, 1999). These findings helped launch a massive wave of research on how scent, fertility, and hormones interact.

Cycles, Scent, and Shifting Attraction

Some of the boldest claims in this field involve menstrual cycle shifts in attraction. Early studies suggested that near ovulation, when estradiol peaks, women show stronger preferences for cues linked to reproductive fitness, such as facial masculinity, deeper voices, and more symmetrical partners. It is important to note that larger and better controlled studies have found that these effects are often weak or inconsistent, especially for facial masculinity preferences (Jones et al., 2018).

Nevertheless, several scent-related findings remain robust. Men reliably rate the scent of women sampled during high fertility as more attractive than scent from low fertility phases (Singh & Bronstad, 2001). Male testosterone levels rise when exposed to the scent of ovulating women, which suggests a biological sensitivity to fertility cues that men are not aware of consciously (Miller & Maner, 2010). Women also show modest increases in sexual desire near ovulation, although not necessarily a preference for more masculine partners (Shimoda et al., 2021).

Even if the magnitude of these cycle shifts has been overstated, the scent-based effects continue to replicate consistently, and more-so than many of the visual ones (e.g., attraction and facial symmetry).

Hormones in the Club

One of the most widely-cited real-world examples comes from a 2007 study conducted in the field laboratory known as “Gentleman’s Club.”

For 60 days, lap dancers recorded their menstrual cycles and tip earnings. Interestingly, dancers earned the most during their estimated fertile window. They earned less during the luteal phase (the second half of the menstrual cycle, starting after ovulation and ending when menstruation begins) and the least during menstruation. Dancers using hormonal contraception showed no cycle-related pattern (Miller et al., 2007).

The study did not identify an exact mechanism. It could be subtle behavioral shifts in women when estradiol rises. It could be changes in scent or movement style. It could also be unconscious shifts in men’s responsiveness. Regardless, the findings showed that hormonal variation can have measurable effects… and varying applications!

What Are We Actually Smelling?

People are not smelling hormones directly, but hormones influence the chemicals released by the body, which then shape odor. For instance, testosterone alters the composition of sweat. Estradiol affects skin and scent. Immune genes alter the bacterial communities on the skin and the odor molecules they produce.

Importantly, human beings are influenced by scent-related cues, but likely not in the dramatic ways seen in some other animals. Rodents, for example, show strong pheromonal effects that can synchronize estrous cycles or shift fertility in response to the scent of other females or nearby males. Humans do not seem to have comparable mechanisms. In fact, the famous idea of menstrual cycle synchrony in humans has not held up under rigorous testing and modern research (Yang & Schenk, 2006).

Still, scent can carry subtle biological information about hormones, fertility, immune compatibility, and social status. None of these odor cues completely dictate who someone will date or how they will behave, but they contribute a biological layer beneath conscious attraction and social judgment.