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A preliminary trial exploring perfume preferences in adolescent girls
Abstract
Despite the growing interest in the psychological influence of fragrance, researchers have not fully examined the role of fragrance in adolescence. Fragrances often become incorporated in daily routines and social interactions for the first time during this period of enormous physiological and psychosocial change. The current study served as a preliminary trial to explore preferred fragrances in the social world of adolescent girls. Twenty-seven adolescents wore their favorite perfume or an alternative fragrance on two separate days during two different weeks. We found that participants rated the alternative fragrance as less pleasant than their favorite fragrance. The alternative fragrance did not directly affect social behavior. Instead, reduced perceived pleasantness of the alternative fragrance compared with the favorite fragrance was associated with reduced reported social enjoyment in questionnaires and with reduced use of words indicating intimacy in narratives. Associative models and implications for future studies are considered.
Fragrances surround our daily experiences and may affect our perception of the environment through effects on social behavior. Social behavior acquires a particularly important resonance during adolescent development, yet to date, it is unclear what role the olfactory environment, including the perception of fragrances, may play in adolescent experience. Given that adolescence is a time of enormous change biologically, cognitively and socially, fragrance use may interact with such developments. The current study served as a preliminary trial to explore how disrupting the olfactory environment would be associated with changes in questionnaires and narratives examining social behavior in adolescent girls. Our findings suggest that researchers should consider the integration of fragrance in adolescents' social experiences.
... Research on perfumes has mainly focused on how fragrances impact the social behavior and create stereotyped associations of the people wearing the perfumes (Sczesny and Stahlberg 2002;Freyberg and Ahren 2011). However, gender stereotypes have often been in focus when studying perfumes, and the perfumes chosen as stimuli often consist of "typical" feminine and masculine odors. ...
... Fiore (1992) showed that individuals wearing a typical feminine perfume were described as having less typical masculine traits than someone not wearing a typical masculine perfume. Freyberg and Ahren (2011) showed how adolescent girls felt more satisfied about their everyday life while wearing their own favorite perfume instead of an alternative perfume, where the alternative perfume was categorized as a feminine odor. Lindqvist (2012) showed that while applying a gendersensitive approach (cf. ...
The perception of fragrances has been a growing field of interest, where perfumes classified as either typically feminine or typically masculine primarily have been used as stimuli. The current study explored gender associations and preferences of more “unisex” perfumes found in the middle of a gender continuum of fragrances, both when the fragrances were applied on humans, and when they were presented in glass bottles. Blindfolded participants indicated if they wanted to use the fragrances themselves, if they wanted their partner to use the perfumes, scaled gender associations (femininity and masculinity) for each perfume and tried to guess the gender of the person each perfume was applied on when not presented in a bottle. Results show that the gender of the person that the perfume was applied on did not affect the participants' preference or their gender scaling. Moreover, the preference did not differ between female and male participants, indicating that the commercial gender categorization is less important to the perfume consumers.
Practical Implications
On the commercial market, most perfumes are classified as either feminine or masculine, although the odor quality of feminine and masculine odors are overlapping and constitute a continuum rather than two separate clusters of odors. Earlier research has shown that participants tend to prefer perfumes positioned in the middle of this gender continuum. The current study investigates gender associations and preferences of perfumes from the middle of the gender continuum while these are applied on humans. When blindfolded participants evaluated their perception of the perfumes in this study, it became clear that neither the gender of the humans that the perfumes were applied on, nor the commercial gender labeling of the perfumes were important to their perception. Consequently, the commercial gender categorization does not seem to be sufficient for all perfumes. Instead, the classification of perfumes could be according to other aspects, e.g., according to odor quality.
... Even though the human sense of smell is much less sensitive, and olfaction seems to play a much lesser role in our lives compared to that of animals, and particularly dogs, there is a surprisingly high number of publications dedicated to smell preferences in humans, compared to the extremely low number of similar publications dedicated to dogs [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Further, in other species, such as mice, in which olfaction plays a crucial role in many aspects of life, there are a number of publications related to olfaction, including smell preferences [22,23]. ...
The available evidence on dogs’ scent preferences is quite limited. The purpose of this study was to verify the canine response to selected odors that may also be preferred by humans. The experiment was performed using 14 adult dogs (10 female and 4 male) of different breeds, body size, and age (1–14 years). During the experiment, dogs were exposed to 33 odor samples: a neutral sample containing pure dipropylene glycol (control) and 32 samples containing dipropylene glycol and fragrance oils. The dog was brought to the experimental area by its handler, who then stopped at the entrance, unleashed the dog, and remained in the starting position. The dog freely explored the area for 30 s. All dog movements and behavior were recorded and analyzed. The methodology of observing the dogs freely exploring the experimental area allowed us to determine the smells that were the most attractive to them (food, beaver clothing). Our study shows that dogs interacted more frequently with the scents of blueberries, blackberries, mint, rose, lavender, and linalol.
... In one UK study, 79% of the women and 60% of the men sampled reported using a deodorant every day (Roberts et al., 2010). People use fragrance and deodorize themselves for various reasons, including everything from the avoidance of being stigmatized through to enhancing the sense of personal appeal and confidence (Freyberg & Ahren, 2011;Waskul & Vannini, 2008). ...
In recent decades, there has been an explosion of research into the crossmodal influence of olfactory cues on multisensory person perception. Numerous peer-reviewed studies have documented that a variety of olfactory stimuli, from ambient malodours through to fine fragrances, and even a range of chemosensory body odours can influence everything from a perceiver’s judgments of another person’s attractiveness, age, affect, health/disease status, and even elements of their personality. The crossmodal and multisensory contributions to such effects are reviewed and the limitations/peculiarities of the research that have been published to date are highlighted. At the same time, however, it is important to note that the presence of scent (and/or the absence of malodour) can also influence people’s (i.e., a perceiver’s) self-confidence which may, in turn, affect how attractive they appear to others. Several potential cognitive mechanisms have been put forward to try and explain such crossmodal/multisensory influences, and some of the neural substrates underpinning these effects have now been characterized. At the end of this narrative review, a number of the potential (and actual) applications for, and implications of, such crossmodal/multisensory phenomena involving olfaction are outlined briefly.
... Considerable work is available on the impact of emotion on eating [2], and on the impact of odor on emotion [3,4]. For example, Rétiveau et al. [5], and Freyberg & Ahren [6] found significant relationships between odor perception of fragrances and mood or emotion in female participants, and Kergoat et al. [7] found that the emotional construct "affect" had an effect on the perception of tactile softness. Similarly, the impact of emotion on eating [8,9] also has been studied and the alteration of moods can consciously or subconsciously affect the liking of a particular food [10]. ...
Food commonly is associated with emotion. The study was designed to determine if a spice blend (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves) high in antioxidants can evoke changes in consumer emotions. This was an exploratory study to determine the effects of these four spices on emotions. Three extruded, dry snack products containing 0, 4, or a 5% spice blend were tested. One day of hedonic and just-about-right evaluations (n = 100), followed by three days of emotion testing were conducted. A human clinical trial (n = 10), using the control and the 4% samples, measured total antioxidant capacity and blood glucose levels. The emotion "Satisfied" increased significantly in the 5% blend, showing an effect of a higher spice content. The 4% blend was significantly higher in total antioxidant capacity than the baseline, but blood glucose levels were not significantly different.
... It is questionable whether an average adolescent would know the concept of "complexity" even on an intuitive level. However, this group of consumers is highly relevant to the study as they are undergoing many changes and are a large market in the Western world, both through their parental influence and through their own spending power (O'Dougherty et al. 2005;Popper and Kroll 2005;Freyberg and Ahren 2011). A number of studies have looked at hedonic responses of children and adolescents toward food-related stimuli (Reverdy et al. 2010;Kildegaard et al. 2011;Olsen et al. 2012;Mielby et al. 2012b), but so far only Reverdy et al. (2010) has measured the level of surprisingness as a measurement of perceived complexity for children. ...
Complexity is an important parameter in the food industry because of its relationship with hedonic appreciation. However, difficulties are encountered when measuring complexity. The hypothesis of this study was that sensory descriptive analysis is an effective tool for deriving terms to measure adolescents' perception of complexity of pictures of fruit and vegetable mixes. A sensory panel evaluated 10 descriptive attributes, including simplicity and complexity, for 24 pictures of fruit and vegetable mixes. The descriptive analysis found strong inverse correlation between complexity and simplicity. An adolescent consumer group (n = 242) and an adult consumer group (n = 86) subsequently rated the pictures on simplicity and attractiveness. Pearson's correlation coefficients revealed strong correlations between the sensory panel and both consumer groups' usage of simplicity. This suggests that simplicity can be used to measure perceived complexity. In relation to attractiveness, different optimal levels of simplicity of pictures of fruit mixes were found for segments of the adolescent consumer group.
These results potentially extend the applications of the sensory descriptive analysis procedure as it was found to be an effective tool to derive a term to measure adolescents' perception of complexity for pictures of food. This method can also be potentially extended to other types of stimuli. This method is thought to be extended to other situations where terms are needed to measure other consumer groups' perception of challenging parameters. For food practitioners, this gives new opportunities to measure important but challenging parameters.
... Fiore (1992) showed that individuals wearing a typical feminine perfume were been described as less masculine than someone not wearing a typical feminine perfume. Freyberg and Ahren (2011) showed how adolescent girls felt more satisfied about their everyday life while wearing their own favourite perfume instead of an alternative feminine perfume. ...
On the commercial market, most perfumes are categorized as either feminine or masculine, although the odour quality of feminine and masculine odours are overlapping and constitute a dimension rather than two separate clusters of odours. Earlier research has shown that typical perfume consumers tend to prefer perfumes positioned in the middle of this gender-dimension. The current study investigates the preference of perfumes from the middle of the gender-dimension while these are applied on human skin. The blindfolded participants indicated if they wanted to use the fragrance and if they wanted their partner to use the perfume, and tried to guess the gender of the person each perfume was applied. Results show that the gender of the human did not affect the preference. Moreover, the preference did not differ between female and male participants, indicating that the commercial gender categorization is less important to the perfume consumers. Consequently, the commercial gender categories do not seem to be sufficient for all perfumes. Instead, the categorization of perfumes could be according to other aspects, e.g. according to odour quality.
This chapter considers the evolution of discrete time-intensity (DTI) among the broader class of time-intensity (TI) methods, looking at DTI applications across multiple product categories and the difficult trade-offs faced when making decisions about method selection and the impact of test protocols, technical considerations and consequences. A variation of time-intensity (TI) scaling, discrete TI (DTI) involves rating of single or multiple sensory attributes at discrete points in time. The chapter covers a few case studies that highlight applied use of the DTI method. Measurement of product quality, establishment of product specifications, shelf life and consumer acceptance throughout consumption are some of the most common uses for DTI methods. Fresh, refrigerated, canned, frozen and shelf-stable bakery and beverage foods are candidates for investigation in DTI studies, where it is applicable for examining aspects of storage, preparation and consumption.
To consider friendships and their significance through the life course requires, first, differentiation of deep structure (i.e., reciprocity) from surface structure (i.e., the social exchange) and, second, assessment within a multifaceted framework that simultaneously emphasizes having friends, the identity of one's friends, and relationship quality. Having friends is correlated with a sense of well being across the life span, but developmental outcome also depends on the identity of one's friends as well as the quality of one's relationships with them. Greater attention needs to be given to the manner in which friendships differ from one another, continuities and changes across major developmental transitions, and differentiation of developmental pathways through which friendship experience contributes to individual outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Presents a triangular theory of love, which deals both with the nature of love and with loves in different kinds of relationships. It is suggested that there are 3 components: (a) intimacy encompassing the feelings of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness experienced in loving relationships; (b) passion encompassing the drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, and sexual consummation; and (c) decision/commitment encompassing, in the short term, the decision that one loves another, and in the long term, the commitment to maintain that love. The amount of love one experiences depends on the absolute strength of the 3 components, and the kind of love one experiences depends on their strengths relative to each other. The components interact with each other and with the actions that they produce and that produce them so as to form a number of different kinds of loving experiences. The triangular theory of love subsumes other theories and can account for a number of empirical findings in the research literature, as well as for a number of experiences with which many are familiar firsthand. It is proposed that the triangular theory provides a comprehensive basis for understanding many aspects of the love that underlies close relationships. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Affect is considered by most contemporary theories to be postcognitive,
that is, to occur only after considerable cognitive operations have
been accomplished. Yet a number of experimental results on preferences,
attitudes, impression formation, and decision making, as well as
some clinical phenomena, suggest that affective judgments may be
fairly independent of, and precede in time, the sorts of perceptual
and cognitive operations commonly assumed to be the basis of these
affective judgments. Affective reactions to stimuli are often the
very first reactions of the organism, and for lower organisms they
are the dominant reactions. Affective reactions can occur without
extensive perceptual and cognitive encoding, are made with greater
confidence than cognitive judgments, and can be made sooner. Experimental
evidence is presented demonstrating that reliable affective discriminations
(likedislike ratings) can be made in the total absence of recognition
memory (oldnew judgments). Various differences between judgments
based on affect and those based on perceptual and cognitive processes
are examined. It is concluded that affect and cognition are under
the control of separate and partially independent systems that can
influence each other in a variety of ways, and that both constitute
independent sources of effects in information processing. (139 ref)
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examined the effects of implicitly presented odors on the emotional content of memory narratives. Participants were exposed to low levels of perfumes or no odors while they reconstructed a memory from childhood and a recurrent dream. Narratives were analyzed for emotional content using the Linguistic and Inquiry Word Count program. Exposure to perfumes increased the percentage of positive emotion words used by participants in recalling both dreams and childhood memories. In addition, exposure to odors decreased the percentage of negative emotion words that men used in their narratives, whereas the opposite effect was found for women. Discussion focuses on gender differences in written emotional expression, possible ways by which perfumes may exert their effects, and the usefulness of using ambient odors and objective content analysis when studying emotions in memories.
Several studies have shown that preferences can be strongly modulated by cognitive processes such as decision making and choices. However, it is still unclear whether choices can influence preferences of sensory stimuli implicitly. This question was addressed here by asking participants to evaluate odors, to choose their preferred odors within pairs, to reevaluate the odors, and to perform an unexpected memory test. Results revealed, for the first time in the study of olfaction, the existence of postchoice preference changes, in the sense of an overvaluation of chosen odors and a devaluation of rejected ones, even when choices were forgotten. These results suggest that chemosensory preferences can be modulated by explicit choices and that such modulation might rely on implicit mechanisms. This finding rules out any explanation of postchoice preference changes in terms of experimental demand and strongly challenges the classical cognitive-dissonance-reduction account of such preference changes.
Social experiences are central to the adolescent experience (Hartup & Stevens, 1997). The current study examined how this emphasis on social behavior would be reflected in both quantitative and qualitative measures. To do this, 57 adolescent girls (aged 11-19 years) completed questionnaires about their achievements and social and relaxation activities. They also composed a sample of a personal experience. Results demonstrated that social activities were among the most time-consuming and enjoyable activities of their day and were engaged in voluntarily. Analysis of their writing samples demonstrated that adolescents incorporated more affiliation themes than achievement or power themes. However, quantitative measures did not predict qualitative measures. Such findings demonstrate the importance of incorporating multiple methods of measurement in adolescent research.
In this study, 40 Japanese, 44 German and 39 Mexican women were presented with 18 everyday odorants. They were asked to rate them for intensity on a six-point scale from not detectable to very strong, for pleasantness on an 11-point scale from -5, to neutral at 0, to +5, and for familiarity on a six-point scale from completely unknown to extremely familiar. Consistent positive correlations were found between paired rating scores for the three measures, and although they were not particularly strong (r(s) range, 0.19-0.60), for most odorants all three correlations were significant. Similar results were obtained whether the data were analyzed on an individual or a national basis. Most notable were the consistent positive correlations between perceived intensity and ratings of familiarity and hedonic strength. It is suggested that the perceived intensity of the odorants depended not only on stimulus concentration but probably also on experience-dependent factors.
Odors naturally provoke emotions that are pleasant or unpleasant. Prior studies have demonstrated the effects of pleasing odors on cognition and mood perception, but no studies have reported if they influence pain perception. In the present study, we measured the effect of, and relationship between, different odors on mood and experimental pain perception. Results show that odors significantly influence mood in both women and men. Compared to a neutral odor, pleasant odors produced a positive mood while unpleasant odors produced a negative mood. However, the effect of odor on pain was gender specific, as only women experienced the effects of odor on pain perception. Because no relationship was found between mood and pain perception, it could suggest that different mechanisms are involved in the emotional aspects of mood and pain perception. These results and their potential clinical implications are discussed.
The words people use in their daily lives can reveal important aspects of their social and psychological worlds. With advances in computer technology, text analysis allows researchers to reliably and quickly assess features of what people say as well as subtleties in their linguistic styles. Following a brief review of several text analysis programs, we summarize some of the evidence that links natural word use to personality, social and situational fluctuations, and psychological interventions. Of particular interest are findings that point to the psychological value of studying particles-parts of speech that include pronouns, articles, prepositions, conjunctives, and auxiliary verbs. Particles, which serve as the glue that holds nouns and regular verbs together, can serve as markers of emotional state, social identity, and cognitive styles.
This study examined late adolescents' self-defining memories about relationships. Participants were 88 European Americans (mean age = 19 years) who reported 3 self-defining memories of their choosing and were selected for the study because they reported a memory about parents and/or peers. Memory narratives were coded for themes of separation, closeness, and conflict and for 2 kinds of meaning: learning lessons and gaining insight. Parent memories emphasized separation more so than peer memories, which emphasized closeness. Within parent memories, however, separation and closeness were equally prevalent. Parent separation was exemplified by experiences of parental divorce, parent closeness by comforting a grieving parent, and peer closeness by episodes of first-time romance. Conflict was more prevalent in parent than peer memories and was associated with meaning-making. Findings are discussed in terms of the usefulness of self-defining memories for illuminating contexts of relationship development in late adolescence and for understanding the emergence of identity and the life story.
Using educational attainment to indicate socioeconomic status, the authors examined models of agency and effects of choice among European American adults of different educational backgrounds in 3 studies. Whereas college-educated (BA) participants and their preferred cultural products (i.e., rock music lyrics) emphasized expressing uniqueness, controlling environments, and influencing others, less educated (HS) participants and their preferred cultural products (i.e., country music lyrics) emphasized maintaining integrity, adjusting selves, and resisting influence. Reflecting these models of agency, HS and BA participants differently responded to choice in dissonance and reactance paradigms: BA participants liked chosen objects more than unchosen objects, but choice did not affect HS participants' preferences. Results suggest that HS and BA models of agency qualitatively differ, despite overlap between HS and BA worlds.
The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of the essential oils of orange and lavender on anxiety, mood, alertness and calmness in dental patients. Two hundred patients between the ages of 18 and 77 years (half women, half men) were assigned to one of four independent groups. While waiting for dental procedures patients were either stimulated with ambient odor of orange or ambient odor of lavender. These conditions were compared to a music condition and a control condition (no odor, no music). Anxiety, mood, alertness and calmness were assessed while patients waited for dental treatment. Statistical analyses revealed that compared to control condition both ambient odors of orange and lavender reduced anxiety and improved mood in patients waiting for dental treatment. These findings support the previous opinion that odors are capable of altering emotional states and may indicate that the use of odors is helpful in reducing anxiety in dental patients.
Employing a longitudinal design, we examined intimate affect and intimate behaviors in the social interactions of adolescent boys and girls. A total of 128 adolescents were observed in a semistructured interaction with a same-gender friend in Grades 9,10, and 11. Developmental changes were evident. Intimacy based on discussion and self-disclosure increased between Grades 9 and 10, and the capacity for sustained intimate affect increased between Grades 10 and l l. These developments occurred for both boys and girls. Moreover, the boys and girls did not differ in their sustainment of shared affect in interactions with their friends. However, they did differ in intimate behaviors: The girls were more likely than the boys to establish intimacy through discussion and self-disclosure; the boys were more likely than the girls to establish intimacy through shared activities. The implications of these findings regarding development and differential gender patterns of intimacy are discussed.
This paper explores young adolescents' experience of basic daily tasks: personal maintenance (e.g., grooming and eating) and household maintenance (e.g., chores and errands). Quantity of time, companionship, and subjective states in these activities were examined during one week in the lives of 401 5th-9th graders with the Experience Sampling Method (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson, 1987). Our findings show that these tasks are particularly subject to sex typing. Girls engaged in grooming more often than boys, and this time increased in the higher grades, while boys showed no age effects. Boys did more outside chores while girls did more indoor chores. Girls were also more likely to carry out household tasks with family while boys did more chores alone. An examination of subjective states during household maintenance revealed that older girls reported a greater sense of motivation and choice than younger girls, but boys' experience did not differ. Experience of maintenance as socialization for adult activities is discussed.
The present study addressed the issue of whether people who use perfume improve their "visual" interpersonal impression. This expectation comes from the possibility that those who wear perfume may modify their nonverbal behaviour through positive mood changes generated by the pleasant odour of perfume or through an increase of public self-consciousness. Thirty-one Japanese females were assigned to either a perfume or a no-perfume group. A screening test held in advance confirmed that all the participants in the perfume group preferred the smell of the perfume used in this study. They participated in an interview and answered questions asked by a female confederate. In the middle of the interview, the interviewees in the perfume group put on the perfume. The improvement of their nonverbal behaviour in the latter half of the interview was evaluated by 18 neutral observers, who watched silent video clips of the interviews. The observers were not informed that some of the interviewees used perfume. The results of observer ratings showed that the interviewees in the perfume group showed significantly less nonsymbolic movement (touching their hair or nose, or shifting their posture such as rotating on a swivel chair) when wearing perfume. Analysis of the video clips showed that the interviewees in the perfume group decreased their nonsymbolic movement for about 6 s per minute after putting on the perfume. The female observers also rated the interviewees in the perfume group as more self-confident. These findings suggest that wearing perfume inhibits behaviours that project negative impressions. Analysis of the subjective mood showed that the inhibition of an interviewee's nonsymbolic movement might have resulted from a wearer's positive mood change. Although several methodological issues limit the conclusions drawn from these results, the present study showed that wearing perfume has the potential to cause changes in nonverbal behaviour and to improve visual impressions.
In a preliminary study, passersby in a large shopping mall were significantly more likely to help a same-sex accomplice (by retrieving a dropped pen or providing change for a dollar) when these helping opportunities took place in the presence of pleasant ambient odors (e.g., baking cookies, roasting coffee) than in the absence of such odors. Participants also reported significantly higher levels of positive affect in the presence of pleasant odors. In a second study, the order in which passersby were exposed to a helping opportunity and rated their current mood was systematically varied. Results similar to those of the first study were obtained; order of task had no effect on either mood or helping, but helping was significantly greater in the presence of pleasant fragrances than in their absence. In addition, there was some evidence that fragrance-induced increments in helping were mediated by increments in positive affect.
Fourth and sixth graders' friendship motivation was assessed via thematic coding of stories told in response to pictures. Children scoring high in friendship motivation at both grades reported more factual information about their best friends, revealed `deeper', more reciprocal understandings of the meaning of their own friendships with their best friends, and showed greater stability over time in their best-friend relationships than did children scoring low on the motive. Friendship motivation was also associated with teacher ratings of `friendly', `affectionate', `co-operative', `sincere', `happy', `mature', `imaginative', and `popular'. Girls scored higher in friendship motivation than boys. The new construct friendship motivation and its attendant methodology, adapted from personality research on intimacy motivation in adults, are compared to more conventional contemporary constructs and methods employed in the study of the development of children's friendships.
Using self-report, this paper explored whether a malodour's source (self, liked person, stranger) influences hedonic responding. In Study 1, participants were presented with vignettes describing various encounters with malodours. Negative affect increased when body malodours emanated from a stranger rather than oneself (the source effect). Study 2 replicated this finding using a smell diary, in which participants recorded their hedonic responses to real odours. Study 3 determined that this source effect was not due to a social status or a halo effect. Study 4 examined the role of exposure and attachment. Exposure, but not attachment, best accounted for the source effect. Study 5 examined whether perceived disease risk varied by source and whether this could account for the source effect. The findings suggested that there are two mechanisms by which disgust responses to malodours can be modulated to reflect the disease risk of their source: implicitly, by mere exposure, and explicitly, by knowledge of risk. In the discussion, we argue that avoiding contact with disease-causing agents is adaptive, and that this is implicitly modulated by exposure, so that the cues for disease emanating from people encountered less frequently are treated with more caution. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Olfaction is often referred to as a multidimensional sense. It is multidimensional in that approximately 1000 different receptor types, each tuned to particular odor aspects, together contribute to the olfactory percept. In humans, however, this percept is nearly unidimensional. Humans can detect and discriminate countless odorants, but can identify few by name. The one thing humans can and do invariably say about an odor is whether it is pleasant or not. We argue that this hedonic determination is the key function of olfaction. Thus, the boundaries of an odor object are determined by its pleasantness, which--unlike something material and more like an emotion--remains poorly delineated with words.
After interviews with teenagers, Youniss and Smollar find that, though adolescents seek independence from the parent-child bond, they do not abandon the relationship. "A must for anyone interested in adolescent behavior."âEdward Z. Dager, Contemporary Sociology
The effect of odors on the mood of 56 women ranging in age from 45 to 60 years was determined using the POMS (Profile of Mood States). The 56 subjects were divided into four groups of 14 subjects each on the basis of hormonal status. Group 1 consisted of 14 women who were still menstruating; group 2 consisted of 14 women who were no longer menstruating and taking estrogen; group 3 consisted of 14 women who were no longer menstruating and taking estrogen and progesterone; and, group 4 consisted of 14 women who were no longer menstruating and taking no hormone replacement. Use of pleasant odors significantly improved scores on tension, depression, and confusion factors. In addition, women using estrogen replacement with or without progesterone had better mood scores than those who did not, which is consistent with previous studies.
Ninety subjects between the ages of 18 and 35 viewed 24 slides when the testing room was scented with no odor or one of two pleasant scents (baby powder or chocolate). Six slides were of babies, six were of chocolate items and 12 were control slides of pine trees or the Orient. In pilot testing the chocolate slides were rated as being congruent with the chocolate scent and incongruent with the baby powder scent; the baby slides were rated as being congruent with the baby powder scent and incongruent with the chocolate scent. Subjects viewed the slides at their own pace while a computer recorded how long each slide was viewed. During a second viewing, subjects rated the slides and answered questions about their own mood and health. Congruency did not play a role in the findings. Pleasant odors had certain effects compared to no odor (i.e. longer looking time, better mood and lower hunger ratings), while other effects were related to specific odors (i.e. arousal was highest in the chocolate condition and there were fewer health symptoms reported in the baby powder condition). These findings suggest that pleasant odors may have some general effects due to their hedonic value, while associations individuals have with particular pleasant odors may influence other variables.
We tested the hypothesis that isolated steroids, claimed to act like pheromones, affect human psychological state or mood. In the first experiment, we established that two steroids, Delta4, 16-androstadien-3-one and 1,3,5(10)16-estratetraen-3-ol, modulated emotional states within 6 min of exposure. In men and women, neither steroid had specific effects on states of alertness or negative-confused mood. However, both steroids increased positive stimulated mood state in women but decreased it in men. These psychological findings do not parallel the reported sexually specific effects of these two steroids on the surface potential activity of putative vomeronasal epithelium. In a second experiment on women, we replicated that Delta4,16-androstadien-3-one modulated their general mood state, even when women were not aware of its odor and gave identical olfactory descriptions for the steroid and the control carrier solutions. In this within-subjects, repeated-measures experiment, androstadienone prevented the deterioration in general mood which occurred during exposure to the clove oil carrier solution in the laboratory environment. Thus, androstadienone appears to modulate affect, rather than releasing stereotyped behaviors or emotions. It is premature to call these steroids human pheromones. They are nonetheless psychologically potent, mandating future work delineating their function-i.e., whether these steroids are communicative chemosignals, context specific, or related to unconscious associations. In light of these modulatory effects and the complexity of human behavior, the function of chemosignals and pheromonal systems in a variety of species may need to be expanded to include the concept of modulators, as well as the traditional releasers, primers, and signaling compounds.
This paper describes the development and administration of a measure (a self-report questionnaire) to assess the participation of adolescents in leisure activities. Questionnaire items were generated through a content analysis of focus group interviews with 130 young people aged 12 to 18 years. Specifically, the activities of approximately a thousand adolescents were investigated through a three-factor leisure typology--achievement, social, and time-out leisure--together with the leisure parameters of enjoyment, freedom of choice, and frequency of participation. Further, leisure engagement was examined based on gender and age (i.e., changes in activity participation across the adolescent years). The results are discussed in terms of the practical and theoretical implications of the relationship between gender and age in leisure activity participation.
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of the schools participating in the study We also thank the research assis-tance of Rebecca Abrahamson The sweet smell of helping . . . : Effects of pleasant ambient fragrance on prosocial behavior in shopping malls
- Leora Alvarez
- Kele Berger
- Jessica Masket
- Rebecca Masterson
- Itamir Neuhaus
- Weller
- R A References Baron
, parents, teachers and administrators of the schools participating in the study. We also thank the research assis-tance of Rebecca Abrahamson, Mike Alvarez, Leora Berger, Kele Masket, Jessica Masterson, Rebecca Neuhaus and Itamir Weller. REFERENCES BARON, R.A. 1997. The sweet smell of helping... : Effects of pleasant ambient fragrance on prosocial behavior in shopping malls. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 23, 498–503.