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The Smell of Virtue: Clean Scents Promote Reciprocity and Charity

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... For example, individuals exposed to pleasantly scented air are less likely to create conflict in their social relationships and more likely to favor collaboration and compromise (Baron, 1990). They also develop more altruistic behaviors (De Lange et al., 2012;Liljenquist et al., 2010). In pleasantly scented places, strangers are more willing to interact with each other (Zemke and Shoemaker, 2008). ...
... Fragrance is an indicator of cleanliness. In general, the presence of perfumes in a place suggests that the place is clean (Holland et al., 2005;Liljenquist et al., 2010) because the vast majority of detergent products are scented and, by association of ideas, a scented place gives the impression of having been recently cleaned. Studies on olfaction have confirmed that humans rarely believe that pleasant scents are artificial in places (Li et al., 2007). ...
... When evaluating other users of a place, they are unconsciously influenced by ideas and feelings associated with the ambient scent (Baker et al., 2002). For example, individuals placed in a pleasantly scented place are judged more virtuous than those in an unscented place (Liljenquist et al., 2010), and virtuous behaviors are associated with the scent of cleanliness (Zhong and Liljenquist, 2006). ...
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In the context of sharing services, this research examines how ambient scent can improve the perception of the presence of other sharers. Four experiments conducted in real conditions (open-plan workspaces, car-sharing services, rail-stations, and library) show that the diffusion of a clean scent promotes positive attitudes toward sharing space with others. Three alternative explanations are assessed: 1) perceived cleanliness of the space; 2) other users' behaviors; and 3) user's mood. The results indicate that throughout the four experiments, the effect of scents is mediated only by the positive mood induced by the scent.
... Through tangible interaction, we can recreate the experience of communicating with people and nature and embed elements of this at home. Studies have shown how multisensory interaction (including smell-changing) can change human behaviour [23,33], have anti-depressive effects [63], and enhance their overall wellbeing [32]. Our motivation also stems from the call of researchers and practitioners in the HCI and interaction design community (shared by Dalsgaard [8]) indicating that developing new forms of remote social communication is one of the ways to address "How can we contribute to shaping the new normal?" ...
... Such interactive modalities did not only help them in improving their mental wellbeing, but also align with relevant studies showing the health impacts of reduced exposure to nature, interaction with others, and loss of indicators of time [2,4] where people miss touching, seeing, hearing, and smelling the world. These design concepts also tie well with previous work on how such challenges could be tackled through multisensory interaction (including audio feedback [43], colour-change [10], and smell-change [23,33]) and enhance the overall wellbeing [32]. Therefore, if we aim to design for users' wellness, we should be designing more of such senses-engaging modalities, and less of buttons, screens, and motorized machine interactions. ...
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This paper describes our collaborative journey of creating everyday interactive artefacts to help us think, reflect, and live through self-isolation. Through a co-design approach, we designed interactive homeware objects (that we collectively refer to as ‘COVIDware’) to address the challenges of isolation during the pandemic. Five artefacts were developed by self-isolated designers as interactive art installations. We discuss how each creator reflected on her design concept, process, and encounter through concepts of critical making, speculation, and engagement via in-the-isolated-wild deployments. By empowering early researchers/enthusiasts to design ‘with’ smart-materials, and off-the-shelf items, we reflect on how these homey interfaces can enhance people’s wellbeing beyond screen-based interactions. Despite not collaborating in the making process, our findings from the designer’s making process show how all the designed artefacts shared attributes of biophilic design, imperfection, and unconventional interactions with the overarching goal of promoting wellbeing, and meaningful connection with nature, self, and others.
... For example, the heart rate of participants can slow down when he or she is viewing the natural landscape (Goetz et al., 2010;Stellar et al., 2011;Taylor et al., 2001;Wells & Evans, 2003). Apart from the effect on health and cognition, the environment also affects moral and immoral behaviours (Liljenquist et al., 2010;Weinstein et al., 2009). For instance, Keizer et al. (2005) has demonstrated that individuals are prone to engage in more immoral behaviours when they are in a cluttered environment. ...
... For instance, Keizer et al. (2005) has demonstrated that individuals are prone to engage in more immoral behaviours when they are in a cluttered environment. Researchers believe that damage and dirt of the environment promotes delinquency (Liljenquist et al., 2010). People are also more likely to exhibit generous behaviours in environments with green plants (Mayer & Frantz, 2004;Nisbet et al., 1991.). ...
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Aestheticians pointed out that the long immersion in the beautiful environment plays an important role on the moral education. The research mainly tested the opinion and examined the influence of the environmental aesthetics on moral behaviours and immoral behaviours. Meanwhile, we also further explored the possible pathways for environmental aesthetics influencing moral education, the mediating role of moral disengagement. We invited 334 junior high school students to complete relevant questionnaires. The results found that the higher environmental aesthetics, the lower moral disengagement, and further the higher moral behaviours (the number of donations) and the lower immoral behaviours (lying behaviours). The results also found that the mediating role of moral disengagement in the relationship between environment aesthetics and immoral behaviours. But the moral disengagement didn’t play a mediating role in the relation between environmental aesthetics and moral behaviours. These results demonstrated the effect of environmental aesthetics on moral education.
... In pleasantly scented places, consumers are oriented toward positive inferences toward others (Huber and McCann 1982). Fowler and Bridges (2012) and Liljenquist, Zhong, and Galinsky (2010) show that the diffusion of a pleasant scent encourages consumers to judge others as courteous. Ambient scents encourage consumers to adopt a positive and caring mindset toward other human beings (Fredrickson 2001;Zemke and Shoemaker 2007); they also facilitate peer perceptions and helping behaviors (Baron 1997;Bitner 1990). ...
... This article shows that the impact of ambient scents on consumer comfort with frontline employees and shows that consumer comfort mediates the link between ambient scents and perceived product quality and service. Few studies in social psychology had emphasized the positive impact of pleasant scents on interactions between human beings (Fowler and Bridges 2012;Liljenquist, Zhong, and Galinsky 2010;Baron 1997;Bitner 1990) but they did not consider interactions between frontline employees and consumers. Recent research on olfaction focuses on the impact of ambient scents on the overall quality of the customer experience (e.g., Silva et al. 2021) but does not specifically study the impact of scents on consumers-employee's relationships (Biswas 2019). ...
Article
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Many sales and service interactions with frontline employees take place in scented places. This research focuses on the effect of ambient scents on consumer comfort with frontline employees and subsequently on the perceived quality of product and service offers. Two experimental studies carried out in actual setting in Paris, in taxis (242 respondents interacting with drivers) and in a small shop (120 respondents interacting with advisors), show that consumer comfort with frontline employees and perceived quality are higher (lower) in the presence of an ambient scent when the frontline employees maintain strong (low) physical proximity with consumers. This study shows the impact of ambient scents in consumers-employee’s relationships and questions their relevance when social interactions are constrained by distancing rules.
... Consumers do not only leave their environment cleaner, but the scents even motivate them to exhibit "cleaner" (i.e., virtuous) behavior. Liljenquist et al. (2010) show that consumers exposed to a scent that they perceive as "clean," are more likely to trust other people and to want to be more socially involved by, for example, donating to a charitable cause. Corresponding scents can also improve the perception of the presence of other consumers in a sharing service space such as car-sharing services, railway stations, or libraries. ...
Chapter
People largely perceive their environment visually and visual impressions are often available before those of the other senses. Therefore, how retail environments are visually designed is an important driver of retailers’ success by guiding consumer behavior and contributing to a generally pleasant atmosphere. Eye-catching designs can draw attention and unique design concepts can communicate a brand’s image. Popular examples are the Hans im Glück restaurant chain and the Apple Stores with their brand-specific visual concepts. Many retailers also make use of social media-ready visual design elements and, for example, house selfie walls or even design “instagrammable” structures such as Bikini Mall Berlin, which installed a wall of plants and flowers with a swing in front that not only allowed visitors to take pretty pictures but also staged brands. In this chapter, we explore how visual design elements such as lighting, color, and product arrangements affect consumer behavior. We provide guidance on how to integrate visual design elements in stores and also discuss the role of in-store technologies in shaping customer experiences.
... Consumers do not only leave their environment cleaner, but the scents even motivate them to exhibit "cleaner" (i.e., virtuous) behavior. Liljenquist et al. (2010) show that consumers exposed to a scent that they perceive as "clean," are more likely to trust other people and to want to be more socially involved by, for example, donating to a charitable cause. Corresponding scents can also improve the perception of the presence of other consumers in a sharing service space such as car-sharing services, railway stations, or libraries. ...
Chapter
If brick-and-mortar retail were a company stock, most analysts would probably recommend that investors should sell it. Currently, improved online shop systems, faster logistics, and a generation of consumers who spend a significant amount of their time online are all driving the increasing share of online purchases. This also holds for products that managers long assumed would be exclusively sold in stationary retail stores. The consequences are obvious in many cities: Empty city centers and vanishing retail stores increasingly characterize the urban landscape. Despite decades of dead sayings, physical stores are not dead. On the contrary, for example, roughly 90% of retail revenues in Germany are generated in physical stores and major US retailers such as Target and Walmart have announced multi-billion-dollar investments in their physical stores in an effort to improve customer experience and target new markets. One reason that stationary retail is alive and well is that physical stores have an unbeatable advantage over online retail. They can create multisensory experiences by providing consumers with sensory stimulation across their various senses. We provide insights into the latest research findings on sensory marketing relating to vision, sound, and scent as well as their interaction—with some surprising results.
... Consumers do not only leave their environment cleaner, but the scents even motivate them to exhibit "cleaner" (i.e., virtuous) behavior. Liljenquist et al. (2010) show that consumers exposed to a scent that they perceive as "clean," are more likely to trust other people and to want to be more socially involved by, for example, donating to a charitable cause. Corresponding scents can also improve the perception of the presence of other consumers in a sharing service space such as car-sharing services, railway stations, or libraries. ...
Chapter
After more than 40 years of research on the use of music in retail environments, there is no doubt that music influences consumer behavior at the point of sale. A meta-analytic review of 25 studies covering a range of different types of music has shown that music has a positive influence on consumers’ shopping experience and buying behavior. Indeed, marketing practice has long recognized this effect and taken advantage of it. Not surprisingly, music has become one of the most frequently used stimuli in the atmospheric design of retail environments. This is not only due to music’s potential to elicit favorable consumer responses but also because it is relatively easy and inexpensive to implement in retail environments. In this chapter, we discuss how different properties of music such as tempo and volume affect consumer behavior and provide an overview of guiding questions for the use of music in retail environments.
... Consumers do not only leave their environment cleaner, but the scents even motivate them to exhibit "cleaner" (i.e., virtuous) behavior. Liljenquist et al. (2010) show that consumers exposed to a scent that they perceive as "clean," are more likely to trust other people and to want to be more socially involved by, for example, donating to a charitable cause. Corresponding scents can also improve the perception of the presence of other consumers in a sharing service space such as car-sharing services, railway stations, or libraries. ...
... Consumers do not only leave their environment cleaner, but the scents even motivate them to exhibit "cleaner" (i.e., virtuous) behavior. Liljenquist et al. (2010) show that consumers exposed to a scent that they perceive as "clean," are more likely to trust other people and to want to be more socially involved by, for example, donating to a charitable cause. Corresponding scents can also improve the perception of the presence of other consumers in a sharing service space such as car-sharing services, railway stations, or libraries. ...
Chapter
The previous chapters described the relevance and impact of individual sensory stimuli on consumer behavior. In retail, however, the reality is considerably more complex. Consumers inevitably perceive retail environments and products in a multisensory way (i.e., simultaneously with all their senses). Thus, the presence of one sensory stimulus (e.g., scent) can influence how consumers react to another stimulus (e.g., music). Specifically, stimuli that appeal to different sensory modalities reinforce or complement one another, thereby influencing the perception and evaluation of the retail environment, the retailer, individual products, or even brands. Combining a scent with specific background music can, for example, lead to an enhanced shopping experience compared to using scent or music in isolation. In general, a multisensory approach has stronger effects on consumers than simply adding other stimuli appealing to the same sensory modality. The chapter highlights the concept of multisensory congruence, where stimuli that fit well together enhance evaluations of the retail environment, products, and brands. Additionally, we discuss the concept of crossmodal correspondences, illustrating how perceptions in one sensory modality can influence perceptions in another sensory modality.
... 30 Ironically, extending their theory of moral cleansing, Katie Liljenquist, Chen-Bo Zhong, and Adam D. Galinsky used Windex's smell in a psychological experiment to function as the avatar of "cleanliness". See (Liljenquist et al. 2010). 31 While these domestic workers are immigrants to the U.S., so are their (white et al.) nonindigenous employers. ...
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Oral histories of Latina domestic workers in the United States feature hybrid narratives combining accounts of illness and “toxic discourse”. We approach domestic workers’ illnesses and disabilities in a capacious, extra-medical context that registers multiple axes of precarity (economic, racial, and migratory). We are naming this context “settler maintenance”. Riffing on the specific and general valences of “maintenance” (i.e., as a synonym for cleaning work, and as a term for the practices and ideologies involved in a structure’s upkeep), this term has multiple meanings. First, it describes U.S. domestic workers’ often-compulsory use of hazardous chemical agents that promise to remove dirt speedily, yet that imperil domestic workers’ health. The use of these chemicals perpetuates two other, more abstract kinds of settler maintenance: (1) the continuation of socioeconomic hierarchies between immigrant domestic workers and settler employers, and (2) the continuation of (white) settlers’ extractive relationship to the land qua private property. To challenge this logic of settler maintenance, which is predicated on a lack of care for care workers, Latina domestic workers have developed alternative forms of care via lateral networks and political activism.
... The groundwork for whether head movement inuences consumer behavior may be found in the literature on embodied cognition, which suggests that bodily experiences can impact cognitive functions (Barsalou 2008;Cho and Ahn 2020;Goldin-Meadow and Beilock 2010). Research on embodied cognition has predominantly focused on how bodily states or movements impact attitudes, emotions, judgments, and decisions, particularly in the context of persuasive messages or charitable behaviors (Lakoff, Johnson, and Sowa 1999;Landau, Meier, and Keefer 2010;Liljenquist, Zhong, and Galinsky 2010;Spellman and Schnall 2009). ...
... Several aspects of our analysis could be applied more broadly to behavioral ethics research that entails interventions that do not introduce information relevant for ethical reasoning. For instance, research has suggested that performing mathematical calculations causes unethical behavior (Wang, Zhong, & Murnighan, 2014;Zhong, 2011); that signing a form before, rather than after, completion reduces lying (Shu, Mazar, Gino, Ariely, & Bazerman, 2012); and that various forms of physical cleansing can remove ill effects associated with unethical conduct (Liljenquist, Zhong, & Galinsky, 2010;Zhong & Liljenquist, 2006). The authors assert that noncognitive processes underlie these effects. ...
Article
Research on ethical norms has grown in recent years, but imprecise language has made it unclear when these norms prescribe “what ought to be” and when they merely describe behaviors or perceptions (“what is”). Studies of ethical norms, moreover, tend not to investigate whether participants were influenced by the prescriptive aspect of the norm; the studies primarily demonstrate, rather, that people will mimic the behaviors or perceptions of others, which provides evidence for the already well-substantiated social proof theory. In this review article, we delineate three streams of norms research in business ethics: behavioral, perceptual, and prescriptive. We argue that by properly categorizing norms, and designing studies to investigate when prescriptions, more than mere mimicry, improve ethical outcomes in organizations, researchers can enhance managers’ efforts to promote ethical outcomes in organizations.
... A person nodding while listening to a persuasive message increases his/her susceptibility to persuasion (Wells and Petty 1980). Similarly, experiencing clean scents increases one's tendency to reciprocate trust and offer charitable help (Liljenquist, Zhong, and Galinsky 2010). A person adopting an expansive body posture affects a sense of power and related action tendencies despite not being in a powerful role (Huang et al. 2011). ...
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Can a piece of cloth influence the way we live? Athleisurewear, a portmanteau of the words “athletic” and “leisure” has emerged as fashionable activewear which is worn for both exercising and as everyday casual wear. Athleisurewear consumers are inspired by the “fitspiration” movement where their intentions are to appear fit and healthy to the society they inhabit. Athleisurewear sales are forecast to surpass all other forms of casual apparel in the coming years. Motivated by these intriguing discussions, this report systematically reviewed 39 studies involving the athleisurewear trend which consisted of 9 journal articles, 5 conference papers, 2 book chapters, 1 thesis, 2 industry reports and 20 online fashion blogs/news. Commercially published academic literature on athleisurewear was scarce and identified the trend as under-researched. Yet much literature exists in gray literature sources which were fashion blogs/news. We suggest three main themes derived from these literatures: (1) Athleisurewear and fit-inspired lifestyle; (2) Enclothed cognition and athleisurewear; (3) Athleisurewear and the need for sustainability.
... Some researchers have suggested that transparency is a paradoxical moral metaphor, which contains both a positive concept containing ideas of "social responsibility, social justice, environmental safety, and true democracy" and a negative concept associated with "invisibility, pretense, lawlessness, and violence" [31]. In addition, some researchers have studied the olfactory sensory dimension, indicating that fresh and clean smells can promote benign behaviors such as volunteering and donating and can increase tendencies to reciprocate trust and provide charitable help [32]. Electromyography-based techniques also found a high degree of similarity in the facial motor activity elicited by people experiencing taste aversion (caused by unpleasant tastes), basic aversion (caused by photographs of pollutants), and moral aversion (caused by unfair treatment in economic games), and researchers found that bad tastes elicited the same nasal and oral rejection responses as moral aversion did, suggesting that bad tastes may be associated with immorality through metaphorical linkage [33]. ...
Article
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The study of moral conceptual metaphors has been an important topic in recent years. In Chinese culture, the concepts of curvature and straightness are given certain semantic contents, in which curvature refers to being sly while straightness refers to having integrity. In the present study, we used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) paradigm (Experiment 1) and the Stroop paradigm (Experiment 2) to investigate whether there are metaphorical representations of curvature and straightness in moral concepts. The results revealed that the mean reaction time in compatible trials (i.e., moral words accompanied by a straight pattern and immoral words accompanied by a curved pattern) was significantly shorter than that in incompatible trials (i.e., moral words accompanied by a curved pattern and immoral words accompanied by a straight pattern). The Stroop paradigm showed that reaction times were significantly reduced when moral words were presented in a straight font, but there was no significant difference between the presentation of immoral words in a straight font and that in a curved font. The results suggest that mental representations of moral concepts are associated with straightness and curvature in Chinese culture.
... Transparent glass barriers designed to separate or isolate people provide visual spaciousness but can decrease privacy (Marquardt et al., 2015). Pleasant citrus scents can facilitate trust and reciprocity between strangers (Liljenquist et al., 2010). Loud ambient noise is likely to drive people closer together so they can hear each other speak (Lloyd et al., 2009). ...
Article
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Research and theory in nonverbal communication have made great advances toward understanding the patterns and functions of nonverbal behavior in social settings. Progress has been hindered, we argue, by presumptions about nonverbal behavior that follow from both received wisdom and faulty evidence. In this article, we document four persistent misconceptions about nonverbal communication—namely, that people communicate using decodable body language; that they have a stable personal space by which they regulate contact with others; that they express emotion using universal, evolved, iconic, categorical facial expressions; and that they can deceive and detect deception, using dependable telltale clues. We show how these misconceptions permeate research as well as the practices of popular behavior experts, with consequences that extend from intimate relationships to the boardroom and courtroom and even to the arena of international security. Notwithstanding these misconceptions, existing frameworks of nonverbal communication are being challenged by more comprehensive systems approaches and by virtual technologies that ambiguate the roles and identities of interactants and the contexts of interaction.
... Allerdings hinterlassen Konsumenten nicht nur ihre Umgebung sauberer; die Düfte motivieren sie sogar zu "saubererem", sprich tugendhaftem Verhalten. So zeigen Liljenquist et al. (2010), dass Konsumenten, die einem, als sauber wahrgenommenen, Duft ausgesetzt sind, anderen Personen eher vertrauen und sich verstärkt sozial engagieren wollen, beispielsweise indem sie für einen wohltätigen Zweck spenden. ...
... Individuals who were not consciously aware of the scent used rated faces as less likable after an unpleasant odor than a pleasant one [4]. Further, after smelling citrus, people displayed more positive behaviors of offering help and reciprocating trust [5]. ...
... The embodied cognition theory was extended vastly to sensory marketing research, which suggests that integration of sensory inputs constitutes consumer experience and influences their behaviors (Krishna & Schwarz, 2014;Wen & Leung, 2021). As such, individuals' five sensestouch (Williams & Bargh, 2008;Zhong & Liljenquist, 2006), taste (Dann & Jacobsen, 2003;Meier et al., 2012), smell (Liljenquist et al., 2010), hearing (Wilson et al., 2019) and sight (Raghubir & Krishna, 1999), have all been examined by researchers. Among these five senses, sight was the dominant sense, being most memorable and recognizable (Agapito, 2020;Krishna, 2012) and the most important factor for future research (Sun & Lv, 2021). ...
Article
Dark-light spectrum was used to express the depth of dark experience in dark tourism. Based on embodied cognition theory, this paper examined the visual expression of tourists' dark tourism experience. Five consecutive studies were conducted including analysis of tourists' photos in online reviews of 53 dark tourism destinations worldwide, charcoal pencil painting tasks of selected dark tourism sites in lab experiments, and field experiment. Results showed that tourists with darker experience tend to use deeper visual darkness to express their feelings, in the forms of painting and photographs, even when the cognitive process (i.e., expression in the form of words) is omitted. This psychological mechanism explains the scientific principle behind dark tourism spectrum. Our research suggests a new way of interpretation of tourist image data (e.g., photos) and sheds light for effective management of tourist experience.
... In the field of olfaction, several disciplines and approaches have already tackled the issue of individual perception, including historiographies of odors through the centuries 192,193 , the role of smell in social interactions and moral judgements [194][195][196] , as well as its cultural significance in different populations 127,132 , giving us precious accounts on the subjective experience of smell through space and time. Nonetheless, experimental researchers still lack a proper descriptive model of subjective experience for their protocols, partly due to the traditional opposition between objective experiments and subjective reports. ...
Thesis
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Odor perception is an essential function in humans, allowing for hazard prevention, food detection and social communication. However, this sense is often underestimated, especially regarding the ability to identify and describe odors through language. In this PhD, we aimed to better understand the subjective experience of smell, its diversity, and its neural correlates. To this end, we first introduced olfaction with its specificities and the importance of hedonics in odor perception. Then, we investigated interindividual variability in olfaction through a series of studies and showed that olfactory perception comprises both a shared and a diverse component depending on the odorants, with little effect of common factors of variation like age or sex. Also, we showed that the relation between chemical structure, receptors and perception of odors is influenced by the degree of interindividual variability, a finding important for the ongoing stimulus-percept issue in olfactory research. Through this bibliographic and experimental work, we show that there is a lack of reflection on the way we measure perception, and that its subjective nature has been under considered in contemporary research. We thus discuss the place of subjectivity in science and several methodologies that were proposed to better integrate first-person reports in experimental protocols. From these approaches, we set up a new study collecting unbiased subjective reports of odors, to construct a descriptive model of olfactory experience. We found that contrary to common belief, people can talk about odors, using references to diverse categories, including associated memories, qualitative description, source, impact, use and difficulty. With data mining, we were also able to get a fine-grained characterization a few perceptual profiles for the odors. Next, we considered the ongoing debate around the neural basis of consciousness, and the proposed methodologies to relate first-person data with cerebral activity measurements. Another study thus attempted to relate the subjective experience of odors with the evoked brain activity. The results open new ways to construct imaging protocols with a better inclusion of first-person accounts. In conclusion, we argue that subjective data has an important place in experimental research that it must be rigorously collected to fully understand human perception. We also emphasize the importance of integrating different disciplinary approaches to get a global picture of our objects of study.
... Experimental studies have found that pleasant ambient scents improved agreeableness and several measures of work cooperativity (Baron & Bronfen, 1994;Marchlewska et al., 2016). A familiar scent highly associated with cleanliness has even been shown to promote prosocial behaviors, such as reciprocating trust and charity (Liljenquist et al., 2010). These findings imply that if pleasantly scented cleaning products are used in the workplace; employees might be friendlier and more cooperative, which in turn may improve work productivity and outcomes. ...
Article
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Humans have deliberately scented their environment for purpose or pleasure for millennia. In the contemporary marketplace most consumers prefer and purchase scented versions of common household products. However, the drivers of this consumer preference have not been elucidated. To explain the attraction to scent in household products we propose a novel three-factor framework, comprising functional benefits (malodor mitigation, base odor coverage, freshening), in -use experience benefits (cleanliness, efficacy, pleasure), and emotional benefits (increasing in confidence, mood and nostalgia). To support this framework, we present new data from a market research survey on US consumer purchasing habits and attitudes towards home cleaning, laundry, and air freshening products. Further substantiating our framework, a focused review of olfactory psychological science illustrating the central role of scent in cognition, wellbeing, motivated behavior, and social behavior, as well as sensory marketing research highlights the benefits and implications of scent in consumer household products. Based on our three-factor framework we go on to discuss the potential for scent to influence health and raise issues to consider (such as potential negative responding to fragranced products). We conclude by showcasing new opportunities for future research in olfactory science and on scented household products that can advance the positive impacts of scent.
... Human thoughts and behaviors are not only influenced by information that is interpreted consciously, such as language and numerical values, but also by sensations and perceptions that are perceived unconsciously, such as colors, scents, and the atmosphere created by the manner of speaking. For example, smelling soap makes us want to wash [7] and changing the color of a product package makes us feel that the product is different even though it contains the same thing [8]. ...
... Additionally, clean scents seems to influence feelings of virtue, leading to increased reciprocity and charity [55]. ...
Article
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Today’s washing appliances are much more efficient than those of a decade ago, but the environmental benefits of this efficiency are counteracted by shifts in consumer behavior. Initiatives to reverse these shifts have often proven futile, indicating a basic lack of clarity on why we clean our clothes. This article is an explorative review with the aim of identifying dominant factors that shape how we do our laundry. The results can be used both as an introduction to laundry research in general, as well as a baseline for future interdisciplinary research. Three guiding principles are presented that describe the most influential factors underlying laundering: (1) technology changes conventions, while social context dictates technology acceptance; (2) technological solutions are often suggested to influence consumers, but individual concerns seem to override the effect of such interventions; (3) consumers are guided by social conventions, rooted in underlying psychological dynamics (e.g. moral dimensions of cleanliness). Looking at these principles it is understandable why interventions for sustainability are failing. Many interventions address only a part of a principle while disregarding other parts. For example, consumers are often informed of the importance of sustainability (e.g. “washing at lower temperature is good for the environment”), while questions of social belonging are left out (e.g. “many of your neighbors and friends wash at lower temperature”). To increase the possibility of a lasting change, it would be beneficial if instead all of the three principles could be addressed given the specific consumer group of interest.
... Previous research has identified that the color of a room impacts the amount of food consumed (Stroebele and De Castro, 2004), perceived crowding in a restaurant impacts approach-avoidance behaviors (Hwang et al., 2012), and music preference increases the time spent in a restaurant (Caldwell and Hibbert, 2002). Further, emitting an ambient scent associated with cleaning products leads individuals to be tidier when eating (Liljenquist et al., 2010). Ambient scents also impact consumption, as limited exposure (< 30 seconds) to an indulgent scent increases purchases of unhealthy foods, while the reverse was found for an extended exposure (> 2 minutes) to the scent (Biswas and Szocs, 2019). ...
Article
Atmospheric factors within a retail environment provide efficient and effective methods for influencing customer behavior. Drawing on the concept of sensory compensation, this research investigates how ambient lighting influences taste perceptions. Three studies demonstrate that dim lighting enhances taste perceptions. The results of Studies 1a and 1b provide support that low lighting positively influences consumers' perceived taste of single taste dimension foods (e.g., sweet). Study 2 shows the number of taste dimensions (e.g., sweet vs. sweet and salty) stimulated serves as a boundary condition, attenuating the significant effect of dim lighting on taste perceptions.
... In the aural dimension, music of the slow rhythm makes individuals stay longer in restaurants and increases the consumption (Milliman, 1986). In the olfactory dimension, clean smell can significantly increase an individual's donation behavior (Liljenquist et al., 2010), whereas for the taste sense, individuals who eat sweet candy are more likely to help others (Meier et al., 2012). In the dimension of tactile sense, individuals tend to have a higher sense of social closeness if they felt warmth through handshakes with others . ...
Article
Research in dark tourism has been ongoing for over two decades. Although in practice, many dark tourism destinations adjusted the lighting of the display environment to influence tourist experience, little is known about the sensory stimulation of non-text related content (e.g., lighting of the environment or darkness of visual materials) on dark tourists' psychological experience. This study examined the influence of visual darkness on tourists' dark experience and explored the relationship between visual darkness and psychological darkness through a content analysis of online comments and photos for 30 dark tourism destinations worldwide, followed by four experiments. Results showed that the stimulation of visual darkness affected dark tourists’ psychological experience and behavioral intentions (including recommendation intention and touch preference), and such embodied effect existed in both two-dimensional plane and three-dimensional space. The study provides many practical implications for experience creation of dark tourism destinations.
... Recent studies have found that such metaphorical mental links may not only be triggered by physical cleanliness but also potentially by environmental factors such as brightness, temperature, and smell. People exposed to contrasting environmental conditions (e.g., darkness vs. brightness; cold vs. warmth; clean scents vs. disgusting scents) will display different moral judgments and behaviors (Liljenquist, Zhong, & Galinsky, 2010;IJzerman & Semin, 2009;Meier, Robinson, & Clore, 2004;Meier, Robinson, Crawford, & Ahlvers, 2007;Schnall, Haidt, Clore, & Jordan, 2008;Williams & Bargh, 2008;Zhong, Bohns, & Gino, 2010;Zhong & Leonardelli, 2008), but there is some controversy over the conclusions of these studies (Corke, Lynott, Wortman, Connell, Donnellan, Lucas, et al., 2014;Lynott, Corker, Wortman, Connell, Donnellan, Lucas, et al., 2014;Williams, 2014). ...
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Cleanliness connotes cleanness, hygiene, and beauty. Physical cleanliness is also a metaphor for moral purity, as proposed in recent literature. However, cleanliness means not only physical cleanliness but also environmental cleanliness. The article proposes that environmental cleanliness and physical self-cleanliness may metaphorically influence immoral behaviors in the workplace, and their effects may be different. The current study conducted a 2 (environmental cleanliness: clean vs. dirty) × 3 (self-cleanliness: hands-cleansing vs. face-cleansing vs. non-cleansing) between-subjects field experiment with employees as participants in a Chinese enterprise. One-hundred-seventy-seven employees volunteered to participate in the experiment. It was found that a clean workplace, rather than physical self-cleansing, renders harsh moral judgment regarding immoral workplace behaviors. The participants were less willing to accept immoral workplace behaviors in a clean environment than in a dirty environment, while self-cleanliness (hands-cleansing or face-cleansing vs. non-cleansing) had no significant influence on employees’ moral judgments of immoral workplace behaviors. In addition, the significant effects of environmental cleanliness were found in all the ten dimensions of immoral workplace behaviors. The findings reveal the metaphorical association between environmental cleanliness and the concept of higher social moral norms, and confirm that environmental cleanliness is a key factor leading to moral metaphorical effects. This result provides unique insight to the social significance of environmental cleanliness, and has important implications to prevent immoral workplace behaviors. A theoretical framework is proposed to explain why environmental cleanliness is more likely to affect moral judgment involving organizational interests than self-cleanliness. Considering most previous research has been done with samples of college students, this study is especially valuable through a field experiment on actual employees.
... At the same time, however, it should be noted that olfactory priming effects have not always proven so easy to replicate (see Smeets and Dijksterhuis, 2014, for a review). There is also a separate line of empirical research, and hence potential opportunity, to use scent functionally to enhance the passengers' multisensory experience/nudge to engage in more prosocial behaviors (e.g., Schiffman and Siebert, 1991;Gueguen, 2001;Spence, 2002Spence, , 2021bHolland et al., 2005;Liljenquist et al., 2010;De Lange et al., 2012;Henshaw et al., 2018), while at the same time possibly also improving their mood (e.g., Warren and Warrenburg, 1993;Spence, 2020c). Finally, it is worth noting how a pleasant scent was introduced onto bus services and mass transit in Singapore the hope that it might help nudge more people to use public transport (cf. ...
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There is undoubtedly growing interest in the role of scent in the design of multisensory experiences. However, to date, the majority of the research has focused on its use in the (static) built environment. As highlighted by this narrative review, somewhat different challenges and opportunities arise just as soon as one starts to consider olfaction in the case of transportation–what might be called “scent in motion.” For instance, levels of anxiety/stress while traveling are often higher (especially in the case of air travel), while, at the same time, the passenger's personal space is frequently compromised. Four key functional roles for scent in the context of passenger transportation are outlined. They include the masking of malodour, the introduction of branded signature scents, short-term olfactory marketing interventions, and the functional use of scent to enhance the experience of travel. In the latter case, one might consider the use of scent to help reduce the stress/anxiety amongst airplane passengers or to give the impression of cleanliness. Meanwhile, in the case of driving, scents have been suggested as an inoffensive means of alerting/relaxing the driver and may also help tackle the problem of motion sickness. The specific challenges associated with scent in motion are reviewed and a number of future opportunities highlighted.
... Evaluating the evidence on fragrance effects on person perception, and the underlying cognitive mechanisms, where they are known, or have been suggested, may also help those wishing to critically evaluate the popular psychology literature that has developed around the suggestion that perfume can be used as an effective tactic of impression management in social and organizational settings (Baron, 1988;Levine & McBurney, 1986;Lobmaier et al., 2020;Newsweek, 1984;Zemke & Shoemaker, 2007), in non-verbal communication, and in order to engage in behavioural, or sensory, nudging (Baron, 1980;Cowley et al., 1977;De Lange et al., 2012;Ebster & Kirk-Smith, 2005;Gueguen, 2001;Gustavson et al., 1987;Hold & Schleidt, 1977;Hirsch, 1993;Hirsch & Gruss, 1999;Kirk-Smith & Booth, 1980;Liljenquist et al., 2010;Razran, 1940;Sczesny & Stahlberg, 2002;Taylor, 1968, p. 53). 4 As might have been expected, and as we will see later, there has also been extensive commercial interest in supporting claims around the role of fragrance in attraction/attractiveness-i.e., both in terms of a fragrance's ability to boost the wearer's self-confidence, but also to influence how they are perceived by others (Berliner, 1994;Hirsch, 2006). But, one might ask, are all the attributes/dimensions of person perception equally affected by the presence of scent/malodour, or are some judgments more malleable/important than others? ...
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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.
... Research in moral psychology has long investigated this matter. There is evidence of a strong correlation between clean smells and fairer attitudes, and of the role of olfactory stimuli to moral choices in general (Schnall et al. 2008;Liljenquist et al. 2010). Likewise, there have been many studies dedicated to inducing feelings of disgust which indicated a correspondence between unpleasant scents and a stronger predisposition for moral condemnation (Landy and Goodwin 2015;Cecchetto et al. 2017;. ...
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This interdisciplinary volume brings together specialists from different backgrounds to deliver expert views on the relationship between morality and emotion, putting a special emphasis on issues related to emotional shocks. One of the distinctive aspects of social existence today is our subjection to traumatic events on a global scale, and our subsequent embodiment of the emotional responses these events provoke. Covering various methodological angles, the contributors ensure careful and heterogeneous reflection on this delicate topic. With eleven original essays, the collection spans a wide variety of fields from philosophy and literary theory, to the visual arts, history, and psychology. The authors cover diverse themes including, philosophical approaches to political polarization; the impact of negative emotions such as anger on inter-relational balance; humour and politics; media and the idea of progress; photography and trauma discourse; democratic morality in modern Indian society; emotional olfactory experiences; phenomenological readings of spatial disorientation, and the significance of moral shocks. This timely volume offers crucial perspectives on contemporary questions relating to ethical behaviours, and the challenges of a globalized society on the verge of political, financial and emotional collapse.
... Indeed, individuals' subjective perception of odors, especially of body odors, can involve social judgments (e.g. differentiating between the outgroup or ingroup) or even bear a moral dimension (Liljenquist et al. 2010;Skarlicki et al. 2013). Anthropological work in diverse populations and social systems reveals that odors are important in the construction of reality, and that they are associated with culturally assigned contextual significance (Almagor 1990). ...
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Although olfaction is a modality with great inter-individual perceptual disparities, its subjective dimension has been let aside in modern research, in line with the overall neglect of consciousness in experimental psychology. However, following the renewed interest for the neural bases of consciousness, some methodological leads have been proposed to include subjectivity in experimental protocols. Here, we argue that adapting such methods to the field of olfaction will allow to rigorously acquire subjective reports, and we present several ways to do so. This will improve the understanding of diversity in odor perception and its underlying neural mechanisms.
... So, for example, according to the results of a couple of published studies, people engage in significantly more cleaning, and are more likely to pick up rubbish, with a citrus cleaning scent in the air (Holland et al., 2005;De Lange et al., 2012; though see also Toet et al., 2013, for evidence suggesting that scents may have somewhat different effects in virtual environments). Meanwhile, other researchers have reported that the presence of 'clean' ambient scents (a spray of citrus-scented Windex) can also promote reciprocity (in a one-shot anonymous trust game) and charitable behavior (e.g., as assessed by the intention to volunteer; Liljenquist et al., 2010). At the same time, however, the robustness of a number of these smell-induced behavioral priming effects have also been questioned by researchers (Smeets and Dijksterhuis, 2014; see also Doyen et al., 2012). ...
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The majority of the world’s population now lives an urban existence, spending as much as 95% of their lives indoors. The olfactory atmosphere in the built environment has been shown to exert a profound, if often unrecognized, influence over our mood and well-being. While the traditionally malodorous stench to be found indoors (i.e., prior to the invention of modern sanitation) has largely been eliminated in recent centuries, many of the outbreaks of sick-building syndrome that have been reported over the last half century have been linked to the presence of a strange smell in the environment. At the same time, however, there is also growing evidence that consumer behavior can be manipulated by the presence of pleasant ambient odors, while various aromatherapy scents are said to improve our mood and well-being. This Anglophone review focuses primarily on indoor western urban developed spaces. Importantly, the olfactory ambience constitutes but one component of the multisensory atmosphere and ambient odors interact with the visual, auditory, and haptic aspects of the built environment. Surprisingly, the majority of published studies that have deliberately chosen to combine ambient scent with other sensory interventions, such as, for example, music, have failed to increase store sales, or to enhance people’s mood and/or well-being, as might have been expected. Such negative findings therefore stress the importance of considering multisensory congruency while, at the same time, also highlighting the potential dangers that may be associated with sensory overload when thinking about the effect of ambient smell on our well-being.
Chapter
You have probably often entered a room and immediately noticed a typical scent. The targeted use of scents has long since ceased to be an exception. Companies like Abercrombie & Fitch, Motel One, and Singapore Airlines have long routinely used ambient scents in their sales and service environments. In doing so, the companies pursue two primary goals. On the one hand, the use of ambient scents is intended to create a pleasant atmosphere. On the other hand, their use aims at communicating a distinctive and likable brand identity. For example, the signature scent of Hugo Boss comprises a mix of basil, oak moss, and bergamot to convey superiority and prestige. This chapter addresses how companies can employ ambient scents to produce desirable effects. It also highlights that the “ideal scent” depends on a variety of consumer characteristics and situational parameters. As such, this chapter illustrates that consumers perceive scents differently based on their origin, gender, and purchasing situation, which complicates the use of scents in stationary retail environments.
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Physical cleansing is a human universal. It serves health and survival functions. It also carries rich psychological meanings that interest scholars across disciplines. What psychological effects result from cleansing? What psychological states trigger cleansing? The present meta-analysis takes stock of all experimental studies examining the psychological consequences and antecedents of cleansing-related thoughts, feelings, and behaviors (e.g., feeling less guilty after cleansing; spontaneously cleansing oneself after thinking of unwelcomed sexual encounter). It includes 129 records, 230 experiments, and 551 effects from 42,793 participants. Effect sizes were synthesized in random-effects models using robust variance estimates with small-sample corrections, supplemented by other techniques. Outliers were excluded using leave-one-out diagnostics and sensitivity analysis. Publication bias was assessed and corrected for using eight methods. Theoretical, methodological, sample, and report moderators were coded. After excluding outliers, without bias correction, the synthesized effect size estimate was g = 0.315, 95% CI [0.277, 0.354]. Using various bias correction methods, the estimate ranged from g = 0.103 to 0.331 and always exhibited considerable heterogeneity. Effect sizes were especially large for behavioral measures and varied significantly between sample types, sample regions, and report types. Meanwhile, effects were domain-general (observed in the moral domain and beyond), bidirectional (physical cleansing ↔ psychological variables), and robust across theoretical types, manipulation operationalizations, and study designs. Limitations included mixed replicability, suboptimal methodological rigor, and restricted sample diversity. We recommend future studies to (a) incorporate power analysis, preregistration, and replication; (b) investigate generalizability across samples; (c) strengthen discriminant validity; and (d) test competing theoretical accounts.
Chapter
Experimental data shows that people placed in orderly rooms donate more to charity and make healthier food choices that people placed in disorderly rooms. On the other hand, people placed in disorderly rooms show more creativity. In this paper, we provide a possible explanation for these empirical phenomena.
Chapter
You have probably often entered a room and immediately noticed a typical scent. The targeted use of scents has long since ceased to be an exception. Companies like Abercrombie & Fitch, Motel One, and Singapore Airlines routinely use ambient scents in their sales and service environments. In doing so, the companies pursue two primary goals. On the one hand, the use of ambient scents is intended to create a pleasant atmosphere. On the other hand, their use aims at communicating a distinctive and likeable brand identity.
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Getting help is often difficult for people who trigger disgust (e.g., homeless, sick, or disabled people) as well as the charities representing them because of low trust in these groups. Prior research has demonstrated that physical contact can help increase generosity. However, it is difficult to trigger this phenomenon—called Midas Touch Effect—when people feel disgust and are uncomfortable with interpersonal touch. This research examines touch-related vocabulary (e.g., “I would be touched,” “anyone who I can contact”) as an alternative, non-physical way for prompting the Midas Touch Effect. This research examines if such a vocabulary may reduce the negative effects of disgust on trust, and thus increase the willingness to donate. Across two studies, it is shown that while disgust has a negative effect on trust and willingness to donate to a homeless person when no touch-related vocabulary is used, no such negative effect is observed when the message includes touch-related vocabulary.
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The physical environment plays an important role in moral cognition. Previous research has demonstrated that the physical environment affects individual moral judgment. Investigators have argued that the environment influences moral judgment through emotion and cognition, such as during metaphor processing. Following the intensification of urbanization and increases in population size, the phenomenon of a narrow environment has become more common. However, the relation between environmental spaciousness and moral judgment has not been thoroughly examined. We examined the effect of environmental spaciousness (spaciousness vs. narrowness) on moral judgments in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2. Results showed that participants report a higher rating score of moral judgment in more spacious environments compared with narrow environments. We further explored the roles of emotion and metaphor in the relation between environmental spaciousness and moral judgments. We found support for a partial mediation effect of emotion in the relationship between environmental spaciousness and moral judgment. The results also supported an association between the concept of spaciousness and tolerant cognition. Spacious environments may elicit positive emotions and more tolerant cognition, which in turn influences moral judgment. These results provide new evidence for the influence of the environment on moral judgments, and more attention may be warranted to incorporate this relationship in environmental design.
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The environment affects moral behavior. Previous research found that a beautiful environment leads to pro-social behavior, which is related to behavioral intention. However, the effect of environmental aesthetic value on immoral and moral behavior remains unclear. Therefore, in the present study, we explored the effect of environmental aesthetic value on behavioral intention and its possible mechanisms. We conducted four experiments. Experiment 1 adopted the priming paradigm and IAT paradigm to explore the relationship between environmental aesthetic value and behavioral intention. It used photographs of the environment as priming stimuli and scene drawings of behavior as target stimuli. The results showed that participants had a higher intention to engage in moral behavior in an environment with a high aesthetic value, and a lower intention to engage in immoral behavior, compared to in an environment with a low aesthetic value. Similarly, an environment with a low aesthetic value was related to immoral behavior. Experiment 2 further explored the possible mechanism for the above results: changes in moral judgment. The results showed that moral judgment in different environments may lead to different behavioral intentions. The current study extends prior research by demonstrating the effect of environmental aesthetic value on behavioral intention and moral judgment, and good knowledge about the relationship between environmental aesthetic value and moral behavior. In addition, it provides a new hypothesis for the relationship between environment and behavior according to the results of the environment–behavior matching hypothesis, which can provide a new perspective on moral education.
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Chapter
Although scholarship on the senses and sensory history has been fast expanding over the last decades, the importance of smell tends to be somewhat overlooked in favour of the other senses, in particular vision, already regarded by the likes of Plato as a superior sense. The ephemeral nature of smell, and the inherent difficulties in interpreting its sensory information, help explain this lack of attention. Smell is, however, one of the most intriguing senses, pivotal in the perception of ourselves and others, and deeply connected to our emotions and moral decisions. Medical and cultural historians, as well as anthropologists and psychologists, have emphasised the key role olfaction plays across time and place, not only through rituals, or as a means of diagnosing disease, but also as a warning mechanism regarding threats and dangerous environments, and ultimately, dangerous, stinky people (Classen C., Howes D., Synnott A. 1994; Reinarz, J. 2014; Jenner, M. 2011).
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Cognitive dissonance is a kind of ambivalence in which your apprehension of the fact that you performed or want to perform an action of which you disapprove gives rise to psychological distress. This, in turn, causes you to solicit unconscious processes that can help you reduce the distress. Here we look at the role that cognitive dissonance plays in explaining the inner workings of racism. We distinguish between three types of racist acts: inadvertent bigotry, habitual racism, and explicit racism. Unlike inadvertent bigots, habitual and explicit racists are racially motivated and they therefore are responsible for their racial acts. But unlike the explicit racists, habitual racists aren’t immediately aware of their racial motives. As habitual racists hold overt egalitarian attitudes, the conflict between their over attitudes and their covert racial motives are a potential source of distress. To avoid having to face their racial motives, they tend to turn to confabulation. While explicit racists aren’t bothered by a similar form of cognitive dissonance, their explicit racial attitudes and desires to cause black people to suffer are at odds with majority public opinion, which can be a source of shame. To escape this kind of negative self-realization, explicit racists seek to justify their actions as honorable or as necessary for the good of society. We conclude by briefly pondering how cognitive dissonance can be used as a strategy for transforming habitual and explicit racists.
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The scent was so heavenly fine that tears welled into Baldini’s eyes. He did not have to test it; he simply stood at the table in front of the mixing bottle and breathed. The perfume was glorious. It was to Amour and Psyche as a symphony is to the scratching of a lonely violin. And it was more. Baldini closed his eyes and watched as the most sublime memories were awakened within him. He saw himself as a young man walking through the evening gardens of Naples; he saw himself lying in the arms of a woman with dark curly hair and saw the silhouette of a bouquet of roses on the windowsill as the night wind passed by; he heard the random song of birds and the distant music from a harbor tavern; he heard whispering at his ear, he heard I-love-you and felt his hair ruffle with bliss, now! Now at this very moment! He forced open his eyes and groaned with pleasure. This perfume was not like any perfume known before. It was not a scent that made things smell better, not some sachet, some toiletry. It was something completely new, capable of creating a whole world, a magical rich world, and in an instant you forgot all the loathsomeness around you and felt so rich, so at ease, so free, so fine … -from Perfume by Patrick Süskind Introduction As Süskind has reminded us in his evocative description of the power of scent, the slightest hint of perfume can transform the present into the past; it can re-create entire sensory experiences by providing an emotional link between past events initially experienced through separate senses; it can make memories seem real and tangible.
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In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
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The autobiographical memory bump is an increase in the frequency of reported autobiographical memories (AMs) from a particular age range, and has been reported by numerous investigators (for reviews, see Conway, M. A. & Rubin, D. C. (1993). The structure of autobiographical memory. In A. F. Collins, S. E. Gathercole, M. A. Conway & P. E. Morris, Theories of memory. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum; Rubin, D. C., Rahhal, T. A. & Poon, L. W. (1998). Things learned in early adulthood are remembered best. Memory and Cognition, 26, 3-19) to occur in the second and third decades of life. Invariably, word labels have been used as AM cues but, given that a popular interpretation of the anecdotal 'Proust phenomenon' is that odours evoke AMs which are especially aged, we wondered if a different pattern in the AM bump might emerge if AMs were cued by odours rather than labels. Here we report an attempt to substantiate this aspect of the 'Proust phenomenon' by comparing the distributions of memories across the lifespan when cued by odour and label. Data showed that, in line with previous studies, the bump for label cues was found to peak between ages 11 and 25 years and was confirmed to be quadratic in form. In contrast, the odour-cued memory distribution peaked at 6-10 years and decreased linearly thereafter. In the earliest age interval, 6-10 years, the proportion of AMs retrieved in response to odour cues was significantly greater than that for the label cues. These results provide empirical support for the Proust phenomenon, and have more general implications for the structure and age distribution of stored AMs. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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Metaphors such as icy stare depict social exclusion using cold-related concepts; they are not to be taken literally and certainly do not imply reduced temperature. Two experiments, however, revealed that social exclusion literally feels cold. Experiment 1 found that participants who recalled a social exclusion experience gave lower estimates of room temperature than did participants who recalled an inclusion experience. In Experiment 2, social exclusion was directly induced through an on-line virtual interaction, and participants who were excluded reported greater desire for warm food and drink than did participants who were included. These findings are consistent with the embodied view of cognition and support the notion that social perception involves physical and perceptual content. The psychological experience of coldness not only aids understanding of social interaction, but also is an integral part of the experience of social exclusion.
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Black is viewed as the color of evil and death in virtually all cultures. With this association in mind, we were interested in whether a cue as subtle as the color of a person's clothing might have a significant impact on his or her behavior. To test this possibility, we examined whether professional football and ice hockey teams that wear black uniforms are more aggressive than those that wear nonblack uniforms. An analysis of the penalty records of the National Football League and the National Hockey League indicate that teams with black uniforms in both sports ranked near the top of their leagues in penalties throughout the period of study. On those occasions when a team switched from nonblack to black uniforms, the switch was accompanied by an immediate increase in penalties. The results of two laboratory experiments indicate that this finding can be attributed to both social perception and self-perception processes--that is, to the biased judgments of referees and to the increased aggressiveness of the players themselves. Our discussion focuses on the theoretical implications of these data for an understanding of the variable, or "situated," nature of the self.
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Physical cleansing has been a focal element in religious ceremonies for thousands of years. The prevalence of this practice suggests a psychological association between bodily purity and moral purity. In three studies, we explored what we call the “Macbeth effect”—that is, a threat to one's moral purity induces the need to cleanse oneself. This effect revealed itself through an increased mental accessibility of cleansing-related concepts, a greater desire for cleansing products, and a greater likelihood of taking antiseptic wipes. Furthermore, we showed that physical cleansing alleviates the upsetting consequences of unethical behavior and reduces threats to one's moral self-image. Daily hygiene routines such as washing hands, as simple and benign as they might seem, can deliver a powerful antidote to threatened morality, enabling people to truly wash away their sins.
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Recent theorizing in moral psychology extends rationalist models by calling attention to social and cultural influences (J. Haidt, 2001). Six studies using adolescents, university students, and adults measured the associations among the self-importance of moral identity, moral cognitions, and behavior. The psychometric properties of the measure were assessed through an examination of the underlying factor structure (Study 1) and convergent, nomological, and discriminant validity analyses (Studies 2 and 3). The predictive validity of the instrument was assessed by examinations of the relationships among the self-importance of moral identity, various psychological outcomes, and behavior (Studies 4, 5, and 6). The results are discussed in terms of models of moral behavior, social identity measurement, and the need to consider moral self-conceptions in explaining moral conduct.
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How, and for whom, does disgust influence moral judgment? In four experiments participants made moral judgments while experiencing extraneous feelings of disgust. Disgust was induced in Experiment 1 by exposure to a bad smell, in Experiment 2 by working in a disgusting room, in Experiment 3 by recalling a physically disgusting experience, and in Experiment 4 through a video induction. In each case, the results showed that disgust can increase the severity of moral judgments relative to controls. Experiment 4 found that disgust had a different effect on moral judgment than did sadness. In addition, Experiments 2-4 showed that the role of disgust in severity of moral judgments depends on participants' sensitivity to their own bodily sensations. Taken together, these data indicate the importance-and specificity-of gut feelings in moral judgments.
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We designed an experiment to study trust and reciprocity in an investment setting. This design controls for alternative explanations of behavior including repeat game reputation effects, contractual precommitments, and punishment threats. Observed decisions suggest that reciprocity exists as a basic element of human behavior and that this is accounted for in the trust extended to an anonymous counterpart. A second treatment, social history, identifies conditions which strengthen the relationship between trust and reciprocity.
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In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented.
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Three studies explored whether odor can influence people's cognition and behavior without their being consciously aware of the influence. In two studies, we tested and confirmed that when participants were unobtrusively exposed to citrus-scented all-purpose cleaner, the mental accessibility of the behavior concept of cleaning was enhanced, as was indicated by faster identification of cleaning-related words in a lexical decision task and higher frequency of listing cleaning-related activities when describing expected behavior during the day. Finally, a third study established that the mere exposure to the scent of all-purpose cleaner caused participants to keep their direct environment more clean during an eating task. Awareness checks showed that participants were unaware of this influence. The present studies reveal the nonconscious influence that olfactory cues can have on thinking and doing.
Generosity: Virtue in the civil society
  • T R Machan
Machan, T.R. (1998). Generosity: Virtue in the civil society. Wash-ington, DC: Cato Institute.
Swann's way (C.K. Scott-Moncrieff, Trans.) New York: The Modern Library. (Original work published 1913) Disgust as embodied moral judgment
  • M Proust
  • S Schnall
  • J Haidt
  • G L Clore
  • A H Jordan
Proust, M. (1928). Swann's way (C.K. Scott-Moncrieff, Trans.). New York: The Modern Library. (Original work published 1913) Schnall, S., Haidt, J., Clore, G.L., & Jordan, A.H. (2008). Disgust as embodied moral judgment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1096–1109.
Swann’s way (Scott-Moncrieff C.K., Trans.) New York: The Modern Library
  • Proust M.
  • Scott-Moncrieff C.K.