Your Kiss is on My Evaluation List

Kissing seems like a harmless enough practice. On the surface it just looks like a romantic gesture, but kissing is deeper than that. When kissing occurs especially if it is an open mouth kiss chemicals and hormones are exchanged that can tell a person a lot about the person that they are kissing whether they consciously realize it or not. In a study by Susan M. Hughes, Marissa A. Harrison, and Gordon G. Gallup a deeper assessment of kissing was conducted. The article is entitled “Sex Difference in Romantic Kissing among College Students: An Evolutionary Perspective”. In this article the importance of kissing to each member of the sexes is evaluated, and what exactly it is that kissing can convey to the opposite sex.

In this study a total of 1,041 college students, mainly in the age bracket of 18-24, were giving a survey to fill out in their psychology class. A smaller percentage of the study group was 25 or older. The individuals who reported never having kissed someone romantically were left out of the study so the data comes from individuals who have had romantic kissing experiences. Also only people who preferred only or mostly kissing members of the opposite sex were included because the study was “examining opposite sex relations as it relates to mating strategies”.

When people kiss many different hormones and chemicals are exchanged. When people kiss olfactory cues are sent to the brain, and there also is a possibility for the transfer of sebum (the oils from our skin) from the contact of the skin surfaces around the mouth. So when open mouth kissing occurs there can be an exchange of sebum there that would carry hormonal and pheromone messages. Also the taste of some ones mouth as well as the smell of their breath can be an indicator of health problems that may not be readily noticeable without kissing. Also men may like to swap more spit than women do, overall, because there are hormones and proteins that can be introduced via the saliva that can make a woman more sexually receptive. For example the mucus membrane in the mouth is permeable to testosterone.

In the study it was shown that in general females place more importance on kissing then males do. This may be because women’s chemoreceptors are more sensitive than those of men. This also might be why men are shown to prefer wetter kisses because it may take them longer and they may need more of whatever the chemical may be to make any subconscious assessment about their partner. Men place much less importance on kissing when it comes to sexual relations as well. More men don’t find it necessary to kiss before having sex with someone, and they also take kissing people they are in short term relationships with lighter than women do. More men are shown to take kissing as an indicator that a woman wants to have sex with them. Woman find kissing more, overall, important to a relationship than men do, but in most cases both sexes agree that kissing is more important in long term relationships than in short-term relationships.

Women have more jealously than men do when their short term or long term partner kisses another person especially if that kiss is open mouthed. The reason that women tend to be more jealous is because females can only have so many children in their life time so they are looking for a stabile and a good mate. Men have the opportunity to contribute many more genes to future generations than women do. One way that a man can try and resolve a fight over such issues as jealousy is yet again kissing. It is shown in the studies that one way that men try to reconcile a fight is by kissing. Whether or not this works every time is another story.

Women are also more likely not to have sex with someone if they are a bad kisser than men are. Not only can the way that a person kisses contribute to whether or not their partner likes them, there are also many different other variables that are taken into account before some people will even consider kissing. Whether or not a man has good teeth was very important in this study as to if the woman would kiss the man. Men did not find teeth as much as an important factor as women but they did find that the overall attractiveness of the woman’s face, and also her body was more important.

So kissing can tell us a whole lot about a person without even having to ask them, it can be used to encourage sexual relations, to make up after a fight, and most importantly kissing is yet another interesting facet of sexual selection in humans.

Side note: Bonobos and common chimpanzees, which are closely genetically related to humans, also use kissing in lots of the same ways that humans do.