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Smells Like Clean Spirit Nonconscious Effects of Scent on Cognition and Behavior
Abstract
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.
... Cognitive approach (direct route). Prior research (Biswas et al., 2014;Holland et al., 2005) examined cognitive processes underlying the perception of odors and subsequent behaviors as well as scents' ability to stimulate cognition of which individuals are aware during evaluative tasks involving memory, learning and thinking. Furthermore, the cognitive processing of odor may directly influence the way consumers experience the environment and attach meaning to products, especially scents that are congruent with specific products may positively influence product evaluation (Mitchell et al., 1995;Spangenberg et al., 1996). ...
... Despite the significance of cognitive processes (Biswas et al., 2014;Holland et al., 2005) and emotional processes (Dörtyol, 2021;Spangenberg, et al., 2006;Walsh et al., 2011), underlying odor perception in purchase decisions, our understanding of consumers' motivation to extract and use odor information is limited. Diverging from existing consumer odor EJM literature, we took a holistic approach to NFS, by integrating emotional approach (hedonic NFS) and cognitive approach (utilitarian NFS) to explain NFS phenomenon and its influence on important consumer outcomes (e.g. ...
... A major difference between our NFS and the NTS scale (Dörtyol, 2021) based on the approach-avoidance framework is that the latter assumes that consumers' responses to scent are mostly affective reactions to products and environments. While the literature has indicated that both cognitive processes (Biswas et al., 2014;Holland et al., 2005) and emotional processes (Dörtyol, 2021;Spangenberg et al., 2006;Walsh et al., 2011) underlie odor perception in purchase decisions, our NFS framework takes a holistic approach demonstrating that individual differences in motivation to extract and to use odor EJM information involve both cognitive and emotional responses and processes. In support of this conjecture (and contrasting to NTS; Dörtyol, 2021), our NFS results show that both hedonic and utilitarian motivations co-exist and can be activated to different levels in the different settings. ...
This research examines the conditions under which individuals’ olfaction is actively engaged in purchase decisions. Consequently, it introduces the concept of need for smell (NFS) to measure differential motivation for the extraction and use of odor information in buying contexts. A 10-item NFS scale was developed that consists of hedonic and utilitarian dimensions.
The scale’s dimensionality and construct validity were
examined in five studies. The moderating role of NFS, and the mediating role of emotions, in the relationship between odor perception and consumer responses, were examined. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analyses and customized PROCESS models.
The results show that NFS is a two-dimensional construct. The results further support the scale’s internal structure as well as its reliability, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. NFS moderates the relationship between odor perception and consumer responses, and emotions mediate this relationship. While hedonic NFS strengthens the impact of odor perception on consumer responses, utilitarian NFS weakens this effect.
This work is one of the first attempts to explain motivational differences in active engagement of olfaction, especially in purchase decisions. As a critical step in exploring olfactory information processing, the study demonstrates the relevance and functionality of NFS construct and NFS scale. The study extends the consumer scent research by introducing NFS and illustrating the interplay of odor perception, and NFS on consumer responses to scent stimuli.
... The effectiveness of smell primes has been established in the lab, in Vir- 57 tual Reality (VR), and in the field. The citrus-like smell of all-purpose cleaner, for in- 58 stance, caused participants to clean more crumbs from the table [21], a finding later con- 59 ceptually replicated with laundry odor causing more motivated handwashing in a VR 60 setting [22]. Similar findings were obtained in a 'noisier' real-life setting: train passengers 61 left the train wagon in a cleaner state when they sat in a citrus-scented train wagon com-62 pared to a non-scented wagon [23]. ...
... In the case of 111 second-hand clothing, a fresh laundry smell would actually be incongruent with the typi-112 cally associated musty smell; yet, this odor increases the value of a second-hand clothing 113 item through increased perceptions of hygiene [33], making a purchase more likely. 114 Other odors, such as citrus, semantically prime the concept of cleanliness [21,23] of the 115 store surroundings, but expectedly do not increase the value of the clothing product per se. 116 As goal-directed actions are related towards the products, we therefore expect a fresh 117 laundry odor-specific increase in the value of the second-hand product, if the utilitarian 118 model holds. ...
... However, it has remained unknow how 143 broad or specific this concept is when it comes to odors cueing cleanliness. Aside from the previously used laundry odor [22,33], we use a citrus-like smell that is also semanti-145 cally congruent with cleanliness [21]; yet, it expectedly has no utilitarian benefit when it 146 comes to increasing the value of the second-hand clothing product. In other words, as the 147 hygiene of the second-hand clothes is a concern, priming customers with general cleanli-148 ness of the environment through citrus odor will probably have no effect on the aforemen-149 tioned outcome measures, other than potentially increasing affective hedonic gratifica-150 tion [38]. ...
The clothing industry is one of the biggest polluters impacting the environment. Set in a sustainable environment, this study addresses whether certain ambient odors can influence the purchase of secondhand clothing. This study fulfilled three aims, increasing methodological, statistical, and theoretical rigor. First, replicating the finding that fresh laundry odor can boost purchasing behavior in a secondhand store - this time in a larger sample, using a fully counterbalanced design, in a pre-registered study. Second, assessing the effectiveness of another cleanliness priming control condition (citrus odor) unrelated to the products at hand, to test hypotheses from a hedonic vs. utilitarian model. Third, combining questionnaire data tapping into psychological processes with registered sales. The results (316 questionnaires, 6781 registered transactions) showed that fresh laundry odor significantly increased the amount of money spent by customers compared to the no smell condition (replication) and compared to citrus odor (extension). Arguably, fresh laundry odor boosts the utilitarian value of the product at (second) hand by making it smell like non-used clothing, ultimately causing customers to purchase for greater amounts in this sustainable setting.
... This mechanism asserts that scent and colour trigger an overall affective reaction which may transfer to customers' environmental evaluations and their subsequent behaviours (Fazio, 2001;Klauer, 1997). Yet, scent and colour may simultaneously operate through a cognitive priming mechanism as well (e.g., De Lange et al., 2012;Holland et al., 2005;Babin et al., 2003;Chebat & Morrin, 2007). As argued previously, cognitive primes make specific concepts more accessible through cognitive activation of associations . ...
... Since the emergence of different priming mechanisms, scholars have been interested in priming the concept of cleanliness by using scents. Traditionally, typical cleaning scents (i.e., citrus, Lysol) are used to prime cleanliness (e.g., Birnbach et al., 2013;Holland et al., 2005;King et al., 2016;de Lange et al., 2012;Tobia et al., 2013). Recent evidence, however, shows that clean primes do not necessarily have to be related to the smell of cleaning detergents. ...
... Besides this affective process, scents may also be used to activate semantic and episodic knowledge in the brain (Degel et al., 2001). Exposure to the smell of citrus or pine may activate general associations to the concept of cleanliness or more specific associations with a cleaning detergent or cleaning activities in specific places, such as one's parental house or favourite restaurant (Holland et al., 2005). Such associations do not necessarily result in more positive perceptions of cleanliness; the match or congruence between scent and other environmental cues is crucial, according to Bosman (2006). ...
... The second, cognitive path is based on the associative learning paradigm where scents can become associated with specific information, emotion, or more general concepts (Herz, 2011;Holland et al., 2005). Once the association has taken place, scents can later serve as a retrieval cue and a priming factor. ...
... For example, citrus scents are commonly used in cleaning products and therefore associated with cleanliness. Some scents carry semantic meaning, which becomes activated upon scent encounter, and leads to increased mental accessibility of the associated concepts (Holland et al., 2005). Scents can make accessible concrete sensory concepts (e.g., cleanliness) or their referent abstract concepts (e.g., moral purity; Kock & Ringberg, 2019). ...
... In tourism context, a citrus ambient scent might lead consumers to perceive a hotel as cleaner (concrete concept) but also as more trustworthy (abstract concept; Kock & Ringberg, 2019) as cleanliness and morality are metaphorically associated. Studies have shown that a citrus ambient scent leads people to exhibit enhanced cleaning behavior such as keeping their desk cleaner after eating (Holland et al., 2005). Tourism research can investigate whether citrus scent in high-foot-traffic areas would lead tourists to refrain from littering. ...
... Hence, to test whether consumer 198 spending in a second-hand clothing store was related to the mere pleasantness of a diffused 199 odor (affect) or through its positive semantic associations with clean clothing items 200 (cognition), customers could smell a fresh linen scent, an equally pleasant vanilla 201 sandalwood odor, or regular store odor. Based on prior research (e.g., Chebat and Michon, 202 2003;de Groot et al., 2020a;Holland et al., 2005), the main hypothesis was that fresh linen 203 scent would increase spending in a second-hand clothing store compared to vanilla 204 sandalwood and regular store odor, due to a combination of affective and cognitive factors. ...
... Another limitation is in the mode of data collection, via a questionnaire. A 650 questionnaire only taps into explicit process and it is possible that the effects of smells on 651 mood and store evaluations escaped the customers' conscious awareness (e.g., Degel et al., 652 2001;de Groot et al., 2020a;Holland et al., 2005), making it more difficult to find mediation 653 effects using these explicit measures. Future research could make use of VR techniques, 654 controlled odor delivery, and implicit measures of mood and products aside from the current 655 explicit measures. ...
... both in a lab environment(Holland et al., 2005) and in a field study(de Lange et al., 2012). ...
Humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services exceeds what earth can regenerate in that year, creating an urgent need for more sustainable behavior. Here, the focus is on a particular factor that so far has been overlooked in facilitating sustainable behavior, namely smell. The two-fold aim of this study was (i) to investigate whether ambient scent could enhance customers’ subjective experience and spending behavior in a sustainable environment, and (ii) to elucidate the affective and cognitive pathways from scent to spending. To test this, a double-blind field experiment was designed where customers of a second-hand clothing store (N = 57) could face one of three conditions: fresh linen scent (pleasant and semantically priming ‘clean clothing’ increasing the products’ value), vanilla sandalwood scent (pleasant control odor), or regular store odor (odorless control). Buttressed by prior research, the fresh linen scent was expected to cause the strongest increase in spending behavior due to its positive semantic association with the product (i.e., clean clothing). The results indeed showed that fresh linen scent almost doubled consumer spending versus the odorless control and the pleasant control odor. Other factors potentially affecting consumer behavior (e.g., weekday, weather, odor awareness) were uncorrelated. Whereas a conceptually-driven mediation analysis showed that only fresh linen scent increased mood and evaluations of the store, staff, and products, these variables did not mediate the relation between scent and spending. An explorative structural equation model suggested cognitive priming to be mainly responsible for increasing consumers’ spending in the fresh linen condition by enhancing the general store evaluation. Further support is needed to corroborate the indirect findings that specific scents can follow a ‘cold’ semantic road and a ‘hot’ affective road to spending. At minimum, consumers are no ‘zombies’ that empty their pockets in the presence of whatever odor; the smell needs to have a meaningful link to the (sustainable) context at hand to influence consumer behavior.
... Then, the actual lexical decision task began. Participants were asked to indicate as quickly and accurately as possible whether a letter string appearing on a computer screen was an existing word, by pressing ''yes'' or ''no'' on the keyboard (Z for yes and M for no) (Holland et al., 2005). Across two cycles of 24 randomized trials, 12 non-words 21 and 12 real Dutch words (3 target and 9 control words) appeared at the centre of the screen for 2 seconds, after a fixation dot. ...
... As a result of this multi-method perspective, this thesis contributed to a fuller understanding of consumer routine disruption for sustainable behaviour change, first exploring consumer perceptions and then zooming in on decision-making, trade-off and variations across consumer groups (through a quantitate cyclic design). By adding beyond explicit measures, which captured self-reported and expressed responces (as in interviews or surveys), this thesis integrated implicit measures as well (e.g., lexical decision task and real-life observations of consumer disposal behaviour), often advocated by marketing and psychology researchers for their advantage to capture automatic and unconscious processes (Ariely, 2008;Gawronski et al., 2006;Holland et al., 2005;Nevid, 2010;Znanewitz et al., 2018). Thus, by also relying on more indirect and implicit methods, less biased by social desirability (i.e., the tendency to give socially acceptable responses to direct questions), this thesis alleviates the intention-behaviour gap, central in sustainability literature (Lindh et al., 2016;Magnier & Schoormans, 2017;Steenis et al., 2018;Steg et al., 2013). ...
... Fragrance also aids the consumer in completing their tasks either through encouraging proper usage or signaling when a task is complete. For example, Holland et al. (2005) demonstrated that a scent congruent with a cleaning task (in this case citrus scent and cleaning an office environment) made the concept of the task more cognitively accessible, and increased actual cleaning behavior. Additionally, scents in household consumer products provide signals to indicate that clothing, objects, as well as personal home and public spaces have been cleaned and sanitized or prepared to welcome guests (Crouse, 2010;Pink, 2005). ...
... Scented cleaning products assist the consumer in achieving their objective of cleaning and freshening their clothes and environment by reinforcing efficacy and providing "cleanliness" signals that help the consumer know what areas have been cleaned versus those that have not (Crouse, 2010;Holland et al., 2005;Pink, 2005). Scent can elevate emotions among consumers when they are performing mundane tasks, thus making theses chores more pleasant. ...
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.
... The environment in which people grow up and live shapes their behaviour and changes to the physical environment can have significant effects on their actions. People care more about climate change and donate more to environmental causes when local temperatures are high (Li, Johnson and Zaval, 2011) and unconsciously produce less litter when exposed to the smell of lemon, following a cognitive route from olfactory perception to behaviour (Holland, Hendriks and Aarts, 2005). Ecology has further deeper impacts on preferences. ...
... L'environnement dans lequel les gens grandissent et vivent influe leur comportement et les modifications de l'environnement physique peuvent avoir des effets importants sur leurs actions. Les gens se soucient davantage du changement climatique et font plus de dons à des causes environnementales lorsque les températures locales sont élevées (Li, Johnson and Zaval, 2011) et, inconsciemment, ils produisent moins de déchets lorsqu'ils sont exposés à l'odeur du citron, suivant ainsi un parcours cognitif allant de la perception olfactive au comportement (Holland, Hendriks and Aarts, 2005). L'écologie a des répercussions encore plus profondes sur les préférences. ...
The works compiled in this thesis are concrete examples of how methods, insights and evidence from behavioural science and economics could enlighten policy makers wishing to understand and reinforce pro-environmentalism. The 1st part is an application of methods and insights from psychology to environmental public policy and is the product of a collaboration with policy makers in the French Parisian region, to tackle two polluting behaviours: littering and household combustion. The 1st chapter shows how laboratory experiments using psychometric methods from vision research could be crucial to inform policy makers on how to maximise the effectiveness of littering interventions, by quantifying the increase in visual salience following a change in the colour of trash bins in an urban setting. The 2nd chapter, using a field experimental setting, shows that while information provision is not enough to change household combustion behaviour, increasing the salience of indoor pollution by combining feedback provision and social comparison is effective in changing behaviour and decreasing indoor air pollution. The 2nd part of this thesis examines the relationship between socioeconomic status and the psychological mechanisms underlying pro-environmentalism and behavioural interventions. The 3rd chapter shows that the positive association between socioeconomic status and pro-environmental attitudes is partially mediated by individual time preferences. Chapter 4 is a short review suggesting that socioeconomic backgrounds could moderate the effectiveness of popular environmental behavioural interventions that leverage on biases likely to be heterogeneous across income groups.
... According to the majority of the research that has been reviewed here, it would appear that olfactory cues, no matter whether (or even if ) they are related to an individual often influence various aspects of person perception, typically operating at a sub-conscious level (see Capparuccini et al., 2010;Li et al., 2007;Novak et al., 2015; see also Coleman, 2021;Holland et al., 2005;Kirk-Smith et al., 1983;Parma et al., 2012). Such crossmodal and multisensory effects can be seen as running counter to the widespread dominance of the visual in everyday life (see Hutmacher, 2019, for a review), and the long history of downplaying the importance of the olfactory sense in humans (see McGann, 2017, for a review). ...
... Relevant here, both odorants were judged as being equally pleasant, hence ruling out a valence-based explanation for the different pattern of results obtained with the two scents.6 At the same time, however, and as we will see later, odours do not always have to be perceived consciously in order to influence human performance (e.g.,Holland et al., 2005;Li et al., 2007). 7 A perfume thatPaukner (1965) once memorably described by as being similar to an 'ideal erogenous perfume' . ...
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.
... Along with the lavender, the choice to employ the lemon fragrance rather than other fragrances like rosemary or jasmine was made taking into account the ordinary olfactive experience of the individuals during a train journey. Besides being associated with the idea of cleaning, lemon aroma is typically used as aroma for all-purpose cleaners [40,70,77,78] and can be considered a congruent odor with the tested environment (i.e. virtual train). ...
... In addition, previous research showed that lavender was capable to improve concentration and work efficiency [112]. On the other hand the lemon aroma has been traditionally associated to activation [72] and employed in all-purpose cleaners, like train cleaning [40,70,77,78], representing a congruent odor with the tested environment (virtual train). ...
Scents have the ability to affect peoples’ mental states and task performance with to different extents. It has been widely demonstrated that the lemon scent, included in most all-purpose cleaners, elicits stimulation and activation, while the lavender scent elicits relaxation and sedative effects. The present study aimed at investigating and fostering a novel approach to evaluate users’ experience with respect to scents’ effects through the joint employment of Virtual Reality and users’ neurophysiological monitoring, in particular Electroencephalography. In particular, this study, involving 42 participants, aimed to compare the effects of lemon and lavender scents on the deployment of cognitive resources during a daily life experience consisting in a train journey carried out in virtual reality. Our findings showed a significant higher request of cognitive resources during the processing of an informative message for subjects exposed to the lavender scent with respect to the lemon exposure. No differences were found between lemon and lavender conditions on the self-reported items of pleasantness and involvement; as this study demonstrated, the employment of the lavender scent preserves the quality of the customer experience to the same extent as the more widely used lemon scent.
... 3 The prime commonly comes in the form of a stimulus that activates associated memories (Callen et al., 2014) or concepts (Cohn et al., 2015). The stimuli may be explicit in the form of words (Drouvelis et al., 2015) or the recollection of past experiences (Bogliacino et al., 2017) or implicit in the form of music (North et al., 1999), images (Vohs et al., 2006), unscrambling sentences (Bargh et al., 1996), temperature (Williams & Bargh, 2008), odor (Holland et al., 2005), and even subliminal stimuli (McKay et al., 2011). An underlying theory that offers a coherent explanation of these effects with regard to economic decision-making has thus far been absent. ...
This paper provides evidence for the following novel insights: (1) People’s economic decisions depend on their psychological motives, which are shaped predictably by the social context. (2) In particular, the social context influences people’s other-regarding preferences, their beliefs and their perceptions. (3) The influence of the social context on psychological motives can be measured experimentally by priming two antagonistic motives—care and anger—in one player towards another by means of an observance or a violation of a fairness norm. Using a mediation approach, we find that the care motive leads to higher levels of cooperation which are driven by more optimistic beliefs, a different perception of the game as well as by a shift towards more pro-social preferences.
... On the contrary, an object-dependent classification (e.g., cat, water, pistol) will result in endless terminology without us having defined precisely which element of the stimulus the person associates with fear (e.g., a pistol can be the sound of a shot, the smell of gunpowder, the memory of a movie or news where someone is shot). In parallel with fears triggered by vestibular clues, it is also interesting that smells can implicitly influence cognition and motivate behavior outside of consciousness without people realizing it (Holland et al., 2005). A previous study (de Groot et al., 2017) suggests that associations of the CS/US type can be formed without being aware of their formation. ...
The quality of the defensive response to threats depends on the elements that trigger the fear response. The current classification of phobias does not account for this. Here, we analyze the fear-eliciting elements and discern the different types of fears that originate from them. We propose Pain, Disgust, Vasovagal response, Visual-vestibular and postural interactions, Movement and Speed, Distance and Size, Low and mid-level visual features, Smell, Territory and social status as core elements. We subdivide phobias the elements most frequently triggered by them and their impact on behavior. We discuss the implications of a clinical conceptualization of phobias by reconsidering the current nosology. This conceptualization will facilitate finding etiological factors in defensive behavior expression, fine-tuning exposure techniques, and challenging preconceived notions of preparedness. This approach to phobias leads to surprising discoveries and shows how specific responses bear little relation to the interpretation we might later give to them. Dividing fears into their potentially fear-eliciting elements can also help in applying the research principles formulated by the Research Domain Criteria initiative.
... Specifically, the information received from modalities is processed to a highly abstract form, which can be interpreted by perceptual and linguistic systems (Imschloss and Kuehnl, 2019). For example, when people smell citrus, a perception of cleanliness is evoked because cleaning products generally have a citrus smell (Holland et al., 2005). In venues with citrus scent, individuals may be more willing to be in contact with the furniture and fittings because of a perception of cleanliness. ...
Purpose
Through a critical synthesis and reflection on the theoretical foundations and empirical evidence related to sensory marketing, this study aims to offer meaningful insights for hospitality operators and provides future research directions on sensory marketing in hospitality.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on an extensive review of sensory marketing studies across disciplines, this paper presents critical discussions of the theories and findings on the five senses in the context of hospitality.
Findings
The critical synthesis and discussion indicate that sensory marketing is highly relevant and applicable to operations in various hospitality sectors such as hotels and restaurants. Still, empirical evidence is required to lend support to the discussions. Although scholarly interest in sensory marketing has surged in the past decade, some research streams, such as sensory incongruence, cross-modal correspondence and sensory intensity, have yet to be extended. These under-researched areas provide directions for future hospitality research.
Practical implications
Through discussions of empirical evidence related to the five senses, mental simulation, cross-modal correspondence and sensory congruence, this paper provides implications for managing customers’ sensory experiences and behavior in hospitality settings.
Originality/value
Despite the increase of research on sensory marketing in the past decade, its full implications in the context of hospitality remain unknown. Through a critical synthesis and reflection on the hospitality literature, this paper offers research directions for a systematic expansion of sensory marketing.
... To give just a few examples of the ubiquity of such crossmodal effects, note only how pleasant scents can be used to help to enhance the perceived softness and whiteness of the hotel's towels (see Vickers and Spence, 2007;Spence, 2022a). Meanwhile, the use of a citrus scent has been shown to help to make a space look cleaner (Holland et al., 2005), while at the same time also nudging people toward leaving less mess (De Lange et al., 2012). 5 The presence of a pleasant ambient fragrance may exert a positive influence on social interaction (Zemke and Shoemaker, 2007;Zemke and Shoemaker, 2008). ...
This narrative review discusses the literature on contemporary sensory marketing as it applies to hotel design. The role of each of the guest’s senses in the different stages of the customer journey are highlighted, and the functional benefits (to the guest’s multisensory experience), and likely commercial gains, of engaging more effectively with the guest’s non-visual senses, both individually, and in combination, are reviewed. While the visual elements of hotel design are undoubtedly important, the hotelier neglects the non-visual senses at their peril, given the negative effect of poor design on the customers’ overall multisensory experience (and ratings). A number of the crossmodal effects and multisensory interactions that have been suggested to modulate the guest’s experience of hotels (and resorts) are discussed. Mention is also made of the nature effect/biophilic design and how it is increasingly being incorporated in total design to help deliver on guest/customer well-being; the latter is a theme that has grown rapidly in relevance for those working in the hospitality sector. Taken together, there are numerous opportunities for hotel managers to ‘sensehack’ their guests’ multisensory experiences through environmental psychology The originality of this review stems from the analysis of the hierarchy of the guest’s senses and an explanation of how multisensory interactions affect sensory marketing in the design of hotel experiences for guests.
... Amongst these, the conscious access to smells in terms of involuntary habituation, conscious content, attentional control, post-perceptual processing, and memory, seem to contrast other senses (Arshamian et al., 2020;Köster, 2002;Stevenson & Attuquayefio, 2013;Zucco, 2003). The subconscious processing of smells has been noted for its capacity to shift behavior (Gustavson et al., 1987;Holland et al., 2005;Mas et al., 2019;Olsson et al., 2006). Several studies have shown correct recollection behaviors without explicit recognition (Degel et al., 2001;Degel & Köster, 1999;Köster, 2002;Olsson & Cain, 2003) and findings suggest that odors alter cognition and behavior largely at a subconscious level (Prehn et al., 2006;Wisman & Shrira, 2015;Ye et al., 2019;Zhou et al., 2014;Zhou & Chen, 2008). ...
Conflicting multisensory signals may alter embodiment to produce self-identification with a foreign body, but the role of olfaction in this process has been overlooked. We studied in healthy participants how sex (male and female sweat odors) and gender (male and female cosmetic scents) olfactory stimuli contribute to embodiment. Participants saw, on a head mounted display, the first-person perspective of a sex mismatching person. Synchronous visuotactile stimulation was applied to enhance illusory embodiment. Simultaneously, they smelled either sex- or gender- congruent or incongruent stimuli. We assessed implicit (skin conductance responses to visual threats) and explicit (questionnaire) measures of embodiment. Stronger responses to threat were found when participants smelled the sex-congruent compared to the sex-incongruent odor, while no such differences were found for the cosmetic scents. According to the questionnaire, embodiment did not differ between conditions. Post-experimental assessment of the presented cues, suggest that while both sweat odors were considered generally male, cosmetic scents were not. The presented scents were generally not associated to the embodied body. Our results suggest that sex-related body odors influence implicit but not explicit aspects of embodiment and are in line with unique characteristics of olfaction in other aspects of cognition.
... The reason for the highest sensitivity level being the visual domain may be that people are used to obtaining the most information from visual senses directly and conveniently, and people access external information and recognise things through sensory organs, primarily visual functions [50]. The reason for the higher sensitivity of the olfactory domain and the auditory domain may also be their direct and convenient perception method, and ambient odours have repeatedly proven to be able to influence both mood and behaviour in people [73][74][75][76]. The olfactory and auditory modalities would significantly contribute to a more comprehensive perception and evaluation of the indoor environments [48]. ...
Sensory stimuli in an architectural space play an important role in the human perception of the indoor environment, no matter whether they are static or dynamic, isolated, or combined. By enhancing some perceptions in the sensory stimuli, the overall perceptions of an architectural space can be improved, especially for an intelligent architectural space. As yet, there are few studies reported about the sensory perception mechanism for the sensory stimuli operation in the architectural experience. In this research, a wooden micro building was prepared for the study of the sensitivity level of participants to various sensory stimuli in the same and in different sensory domains. Participants’ visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and kinaesthesia perceptions were discussed statistically in terms of the sensitivity level. Based on the study, the effect of a single dynamic sensory stimulus (a dynamically coloured light) on the participants’ perception was studied in a paper architectural model from two aspects including preference and emotion. The dynamically coloured light was discussed statistically in terms of the level of preference. The study showed that there are significant differences among participants’ levels of sensitivity to the different sensory domains and to the different sensory stimuli. In particular, the sensitivity level to the stimulus that is the colour of a space is the highest of all stimuli. As a single changing sensory stimulus, a dynamically coloured light can lead to significant mood fluctuations and changes in the preference level. In particular, yellow is the favourite colour of light. The object of this study is expected to provide a theoretical foundation that is related to sensory choice, sensory perception enhancement and the combination forms of sensory perceptions. Based on the theoretical foundation, the perception design of overlapped multi-sensory stimuli and a single dynamic stimulus can be conducted to improve the quality of the indoor environment of normal and intelligent multi-sensory architecture.
... Our interest in using primes to increase hand hygiene compliance was stimulated by a study that used an olfactory prime (a citrus smell) to encourage people to keep their surrounding environment clean (14), and a second study that used visual primes (pictures of people's eyes) to encourage prosocial behaviors (15). These studies highlighted key mechanisms for promoting behavior change that might generalize to hand hygiene in hospital settings. ...
Background
Research conducted in the United States suggests that two primes (citrus smells and pictures of a person's eyes) can increase hand gel dispenser use on the day they are introduced in hospital. The current study, conducted at a hospital in the United Kingdom, evaluated the effectiveness of these primes, both in isolation and in combination, at the entry way to four separate wards, over a longer duration than the previous work.
Methods
A crossover randomized controlled trial was conducted. Four wards were allocated for 6 weeks of observation to each of four conditions, including “control,” “olfactory,” “visual,” or “both” (i.e., “olfactory” and “visual” combined). It was hypothesized that hand hygiene compliance would be greater in all priming conditions relative to the control condition. The primary outcome was whether people used the gel dispenser when they entered the wards. After the trial, a follow up survey of staff at the same hospital assessed the barriers to, and facilitators of, hand hygiene compliance. The trial data were analyzed using regression techniques and the survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Results
The total number of individuals observed in the trial was 9,811 (female = 61%), with similar numbers across conditions, including “control” N = 2,582, “olfactory” N = 2,700, “visual” N = 2,488, and “both” N = 2,141. None of the priming conditions consistently increased hand hygiene. The lowest percentage compliance was observed in the “both” condition (7.8%), and the highest was observed in the “visual” condition (12.7%). The survey was completed by 97 staff (female = 81%). “Environmental resources” and “social influences” were the greatest barriers to staff cleaning their hands.
Conclusions
Taken together, the current findings suggest that the olfactory and visual priming interventions investigated do not influence hand hygiene consistently. To increase the likelihood of such interventions succeeding, future research should focus on prospectively determined mechanisms of action.
... Amongst these, the conscious access to smells in terms of involuntary habituation, conscious content, attentional control, post-perceptual processing, and memory, seem to vary in contrast with other senses (Arshamian et al., 2020;Köster, 2002;Stevenson & Attuquayefio, 2013;Zucco, 2003). In fact, the subconscious processing of smells has been noted for its capacity to shift behavior (Gustavson et al., 1987;Holland et al., 2005;Mas et al., 2019;Olsson et al., 2006). Several studies have shown correct recollection behaviors without explicit recognition (Degel et al., 2001;Degel & Köster, 1999;Olsson & Cain, 2003) and findings suggest that odors alter cognition and behavior largely at a subconscious level (Prehn et al., 2006;Wisman & Shrira, 2015;Ye et al., 2019;Zhou et al., 2014;Zhou & Chen, 2008). ...
Research has shown that conflicting multisensory signals may alter embodiment to the point of self-identifying with a foreign body, but the role of olfaction in this process has been overlooked. Here, we study in healthy participants how sex (male and female sweat odors) and gender (male and female cosmetic scents) olfactory stimuli contribute to embodiment. Participants saw from the perspective of a sex mismatching person in virtual reality and received synchronous visuo-tactile stimulation to elicit illusory embodiment of the seen body while smelling either sex- or gender- congruent stimuli. We assessed implicit (skin conductance responses to visual threats) and explicit (questionnaire) measures of embodiment. Stronger responses to threat were found when participants smelled the sex-congruent compared to the sex-incongruent odor, while no such differences were found for the cosmetic scents. According to the questionnaire, embodiment did not differ between conditions. Post-experimental assessment of the presented cues, suggest that while both sweat odors were considered generally male, cosmetic scents were not. The presented scents were generally not associated to the embodied body. Our results suggest that sex-related body odors influence implicit but not explicit aspects of embodiment and are in line with unique characteristics of olfaction in other aspects of cognition.
... This network is associated with the norepinephrine/locus coeruleus system and involves the main areas of the frontal cortex and the dorsal visual pathway leading to the parietal lobe. The orienting network selects attentional information from that obtained by the senses to direct attention to the location of a relevant The pleasantness of odors plays important roles in human cognition, behavior, and emotion (Holland et al., 2005), and the pleasantness of odors has demonstrated effects on shifting visuospatial attention (Rinaldi et al., 2018), enhancing alertness (Warm and Dember, 1991;Shimizu et al., 2008), improving attention accuracy or task efficiency (Scholey et al., 2008;Liu et al., 2019), and attentional wayfinding (Hamburger and Knauff, 2019). However, the meta-analysis study demonstrated that the studies of olfactory odor processing leading a study bias which are more based on pleasant odor stimuli and few studies taking a contrast study between pleasant odors and unpleasant odors (Zou et al., 2016). ...
Attention to unpleasant odors is crucial for human safety because they may signal danger; however, whether odor concentration also plays a role remains debated. Here, we explored the effects of two concentrations of pleasant and unpleasant odors on the attention network, comprising the alerting, orienting, and executive control networks. Behavioral responses were examined using the Attention Network Test, while electrophysiological responses were examined by assessing N1 and N2 amplitudes in 30 young men. We found that irrespective of odor concentration, an unpleasant odor induced larger cue-related N1 and N2 amplitudes in the alerting and executive control networks at occipital and frontal electrode sites and that was only paralleled by a reduced behavioral response time of cue-related trails in the alerting network. Thus, our results do not provide supporting evidence for a concentration-dependent effect, but they do suggest that more attentional resources are allocated to alerting-relevant stimuli to improve behavioral response times to a potential threat in young men.
... 4 Then, the actual lexical decision task began. Participants were asked to indicate as quickly and accurately as possible whether a letter string appearing on a computer screen was an existing word, by pressing ''yes'' or ''no'' on the keyboard (Z for yes and M for no) (Holland et al., 2005). Across two cycles of 24 randomized trials, 12 non-words 5 and 12 real Dutch words (3 target and 9 control words) appeared at the center of the screen for 2 seconds, after a fixation dot. ...
Sustainable packaging innovations are becoming increasingly available in the marketplace. However, their communication to consumers remains a challenging task, as neither their distinctiveness nor their higher sustainability level is recognized. Contributing to research in environmental psychology, the current work conceptualized and tested the new concept of meaningful reminder as a strategy to communicate such distinctiveness and higher sustainability. To understand how a meaningful reminder can be created and used, this research investigated how eco explicit (logos, labels and statements) and implicit packaging design cues (auditory, tactile and visual elements) combine and interact and how such a combination can be used to the advantage of sustainability, to increase sustainability salience, perception and sustainable disposal behavior of the packaging and its content. Across three lab studies and different measures (lexical decision task, thought listing task, self-reported scales and observations of consumers’ disposal behavior), we identify the conditions under which combining explicit and implicit cues can be counterproductive, not leading to any increase or even a decrease in sustainability salience and perception. However, under different conditions, we show how sustainability salience, perception of packaging sustainability and even consumer sustainable disposal behaviour can be positively affected.
... For example, scents that are perceived to be more associated with one or other gender alter gender-congruent shopping behaviour (Doucé et al., 2016;Spangenberg et al., 2006). Furthermore, subliminal presence of citrus scent, an odour associated with cleanliness, can influence hygienic behaviour (Holland et al., 2005;King et al., 2016), while odours associated with faeces and vomit trigger behaviour associated with disgust and avoidance, including more positive attitude towards safe sex (Tybur et al., 2011) and more conservative attitudes towards sexual behaviour (Adams et al., 2014). ...
Voice characteristics are important to communicate socially relevant information. Recent research has shown that individuals alter their voices depending on the context of social interactions and perceived characteristics of the audience, and this affects how they are perceived. Numerous studies have also shown that the presence of bodily odours can elicit psychological changes in people. Here, we tested whether the presence of male axillary odour would influence vocal modulations in courtship contexts. We analysed differences in vocal parameters and attractiveness ratings across 950 recordings from 80 participants as they responded to opposite-sex target stimuli. Using these, we tested whether men’s and women’s vocal parameters and perceived attractiveness differed in the presence or absence of the odour. We expected women to speak with increased voice F0, and men to lower their pitch, when exposed to male body odour, especially if it were of high quality. However, neither the presence of male odour, its quality, nor the addition of androstadienone produced any consistent changes in vocal parameters. Nevertheless, rated stimulus attractiveness was predicted by F0 and especially F0 variability, suggesting that this is a key parameter in signalling attraction during human courtship, and supporting the idea that vocal modulations are context-sensitive.
... 14. One thing to watch out for here, though, is that lemon is one of those scents that people often associate with cleaning products rather than with the citrus fruit (Hickman, in press;Holland et al., 2005; see Spence, 2020f). 15. ...
The matching of scents with music is both one of the most natural (or intuitive) of crossmodal correspondences and, at the same time, one of the least frequently explored combinations of senses in an entertainment and multisensory experiential design context. This narrative review highlights the various occasions over the last century or two when scents and sounds have coincided, and the various motivations behind those who have chosen to bring these senses together: This has included everything from the masking of malodour to the matching of the semantic meaning or arousal potential of the two senses, through to the longstanding and recently-reemerging interest in the crossmodal correspondences (now that they have been distinguished from the superficially similar phenomenon of synaesthesia, with which they were previously often confused). As such, there exist a number of ways in which these two senses can be incorporated into meaningful multisensory experiences that can potentially resonate with the public. Having explored the deliberate combination of scent and music (or sound) in everything from “scent-sory” marketing through to fragrant discos and olfactory storytelling, I end by summarizing some of the opportunities around translating such unusual multisensory experiences from the public to the private sphere. This will likely be via the widespread dissemination of sensory apps that promise to convert (or translate) from one sense (likely scent) to another (e.g., music), as has, for example already started to occur in the world of music selections to match the flavour of specific wines.
... It will therefore remain for future research to determine whether this reflects a genuine crosscultural difference in source-object attribution (who knows, perhaps pine-scented cleaning products are simply much less common in Korea than in North America), or whether instead the different response/association elicited speaks to the particular perceptual qualities of the pine scents used in the various situations. 5. Here, though, it is worth noting that lemon is one of those scents that people often associate with cleaning products rather than with the citrus fruit (Holland et al., 2005; see Spence, 2020c). 6. ...
There has long been interest in both the tonic and phasic release of scent across a wide range of entertainment settings. While the presentation of semantically congruent scent has often been used in order to enhance people’s immersion in a particular context, other generally less successful attempts have involved the pulsed presentation of a range of scents tied to specific events/scenes. Scents have even been released in the context of the casino to encourage the guests to linger for longer (and spend more), at least according to the results of one controversial study. In this narrative review, I want to take a closer look at the use of scent in a range of both physical and digital environments, highlighting the successes (as in the case of scented theme park rides) and frequent failures (as, seemingly, in the context of scent-enabled video games). While digitally inducing meaningful olfactory sensations is likely to remain a pipe dream for the foreseeable future, the digital control of scent release/delivery provides some limited opportunities to enhance the multisensory experience of entertainment. That said, it remains uncertain whether the general public will necessarily perceive the benefit, and hence be willing to pay for the privilege.
... 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. ...
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.
... In fact, research on scents has shown that manipulations of ambient scent are able to impact the construction process with or without consumers being aware of this influence (e.g., Girard et al. 2019;Holland et al. 2005;Li et al. 2007). Nevertheless, the power of such manipulations is not without limitations. ...
Marketing has started exploring ambient scents’ diverse effects and the psychological
mechanisms through which they affect consumer behaviour. Recent research focuses on ambient scents’ perceived temperature’s impact on consumer behaviour. In this research, we first replicate prior research by showing that consumers exposed to a warm (vs. cool) ambient scent prefer premium over regular brands – also in an FMCG context. Broadening the perspective, we show that ambient scent’s effect can be generalized to general elections. Specifically, we present initial evidence that the diffusion of a warm (vs. cool) ambient scent nudges potential voters to opt for right-wing instead of moderate political parties. We conjecture that the effect of perceived scent temperature on brand preferences and voting behaviour is a symbolic way of compensating for temperature perceptions.
... As well as positively influencing our mood and emotion, it has been suggested that certain semantically meaningful scents are also capable of priming specific behaviors (e.g., Baron, 1990). 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). ...
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.
In the present study, we examined whether the cross-modal effect can be obtained between odors and colors, which has been confirmed under olfactory recognizable conditions and also occurs under unrecognizable conditions. We used two flavors of red fruits such as strawberries and tomatoes for this purpose. We also aimed to compare whether similar cross-modal effects could be achieved by setting the flavors at recognizable (liminal) and unrecognizable (subliminal) concentrations in the experiment. One flavor at a normal concentration (0.1%, Liminal condition) and one at a concentration below the subliminal threshold (0.015%, Subliminal condition), were presented, and the color that resembled the smell most closely from among the 10 colors, was selected by participants. Except for the subliminal tomato condition, each odor was significantly associated with at least one color ( p < 0.01). Participants selected pink and red for liminal strawberry (0.1%) ( p < 0.05), pink for subliminal strawberry (0.015%) ( p < 0.05), and orange for liminal tomato (0.1%) ( p < 0.05), but there was no color selected for subliminal tomato (0.015%) ( p < 0.05). The results of this study suggest that the flavor of tomato produced a cross-modal effect in liminal conditions, but not in subliminal conditions. On the other hand, the results of the present study suggest that the flavor of strawberries produces a cross-modal effect even under subliminal conditions. This study showed that cross-modal effects might exist, even at unrecognizable levels of flavor.
There are a number of key features which make olfaction difficult to study; subjective processes of odor detection, discrimination and identification, and individualistic odor hedonic perception and associated odor memories. In this systematic review we explore the role functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has played in understanding olfactory perception in humans. fNIRS is an optical neuroimaging technique able to measure changes in brain hemodynamics and oxygenation related to neural electrical activity. Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, results of this search found that generally the majority of studies involving healthy adult subjects observed increased activity in response to odors. Other population types were also observed, such as infants, individuals with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dysosmia. fNIRS coverage heavily favored the prefrontal cortex, temporal and parietal regions. This review finds that odor induced cortical activation is dependent on multiple factors, such as odorant type, gender and population type. This review also finds that there is room for improvement in areas such as participant diversity, use of wearable fNIRS systems, physiological monitoring and multi-distance channels.
Despite the popularity of using indulgent food scents to boost sales of indulgent food in retail settings, research has only recently shown that the duration of the indulgent scent influences consumer motivation in food consumption. We conceptually replicate and extend Biswas and Szocs (2019). Specifically, we show that the effects of indulgent food scents on preference for indulgent food items, which Biswas and Szocs (2019) identify in joint decision tasks, hold when foods are evaluated separately. More importantly, we posit a novel mechanism for this effect. Based on counteractive-control theory, we propose that extended exposure to an indulgent olfactory cue influences motivation by activating one’s diet goal, resulting in reduced intended indulgent food consumption. A set of 5 studies offer systematic support to this proposition, and managerial and consumer implications are discussed.
The government has been asserting efforts to control the pandemic's infection rate by influencing people to comply with the health protocols. While these efforts aim to change people's behavior, behavior approaches like nudge are under‐utilized, which thus motivates this paper. Nudge is the form of persuasion where a simple and subtle trigger is applied to encourage expected behavior. We conducted two studies to identify the right visual cues that best increase handwashing behavior. In Study 1 (online), we created some posters with varying concepts and held an online survey with 1,648 participants. Exploiting a pre‐post design, we found that visual handwashing with foam and rhyming messages in the poster can lead to higher handwashing intention. In Study 2 (offline), we introduced four treatment types and observed the handwashing behavior of government officials and visitors using a hidden camera. With a total of 2062 people observed during the experiment, we found that while the treatment of procuring a proper facility did not yield a significant change in handwashing rate, our nudge treatment with the salient poster and salient footprints towards the sink increased the handwashing rate.
Attitudes towards spoken, signed, and written language are of significant interest to researchers in sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, communication studies, and social psychology. This is the first interdisciplinary guide to traditional and cutting-edge methods for the investigation of language attitudes. Written by experts in the field, it provides an introduction to attitude theory, helps readers choose an appropriate method, and guides through research planning and design, data collection, and analysis. The chapters include step-by-step instructions to illustrate and facilitate the use of the different methods as well as case studies from a wide range of linguistic contexts. The book also goes beyond individual methods, offering guidance on how to research attitudes in multilingual communities and in signing communities, based on historical data, with the help of priming, and by means of mixed-methods approaches.
This research contributes to the emerging interest in food morality by exploring the preference for and the effects of a particular food flavor (mint) on consumption behavior. More specifically, we examine how the refreshing oronasal properties of a specific food flavor (i.e., mint) systematically influence consumer preferences and food choice behavior. Across a pilot and two studies, we show that the refreshing properties of mint that can help dieters wash away the guilt associated with the consumption of “taboo” foods. We found that dieters tended to prefer “taboo” foods such as chocolate cookies (study 1) when they were mint-flavored. Further, after having consumed taboo food such as chocolate, dieters were more likely to prefer a mint- (vs. berry- or cinnamon-) flavored oral freshener (study 2). We also provide food marketers and public policy makers with new insights into how certain consumers (i.e., dieters) evaluate mint-flavored food products.
Proponents of situated affectivity hold that “tools for feeling” are just as characteristic of the human condition as are “tools for thinking” or tools for carpentry. An agent’s affective life, they argue, is dependent upon both physical characteristics of the agent and the agent’s reciprocal relationship to an appropriately structured natural, technological, or social environment. One important achievement has been the distinction between two fundamentally different ways in which affectivity might be intertwined with the environment: the “user-resource-model” and the “mind-invasion-model.” The twofold purpose of this paper is to complement the debate about situated affectivity in general and about “mind invasion” in particular by, firstly, connecting it to situationist research in social psychology and, secondly, broadening the perspective to not only accommodate decidedly detrimental “invasions” but also potentially beneficial forms of “mind shaping” that include the manipulation of an agent’s experiential life and behaviour through the moulding of both the agent’s environment and the agent’s body.
This conceptual review focuses on the importance of sensory processing in influencing consumer buying decisions. It gives an overview of sensory processing, along with the difference between sensory marketing and consumer sensory processing. In addition, it explores the relationship between the product sensory information and sensory evaluation. It provides information on the role of sensory information on sensory evaluation and consumer judgement. Moreover, the information on sensory congruence is provided to examine the multisensory congruence-effects on consumers’ judgements.
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.
Theoretical basics and practical aspects of Behavioral Economics
Abstract
Traditional Economics looks at the persons as at some kind of rational machine which takes into consideration all available information and then makes optimal decision. Reality is rather different. The behavioral economics claims that there is no rational «economic human” and probably will never exist. Person’s behavior is irrational and this irrationality is not random and clueless. Vice-versa - this irrationality is systemic and predictable.
Behavioral economics explores what affects people's economic decisions and the consequences of those decisions for market prices, returns, and resource allocation. Traditional economic research assumes that people's economic decisions are based on the rule of maximizing utility.
Behavioral economics uses experiments that observe human behavior in order to uncover how we think. Behavioral economics has been called the science of decision-making. It is a growing academic discipline which uses experiments that observe human behavior in order to uncover how we think. Behavioral economics is about understanding common decision mistakes that people make and why they make them. In particular, a large aspect of behavioral economics is concerned with the gap between intention and action.
Classical economic theory assumes that individuals are rational. However, in the real world, we often see irrational behavior – decisions which don't maximize utility but can cause a loss of economic welfare. It means economists need to take into account the potential for irrationality.
Successful marketers must have a profound understanding of the consumer’s thought process in order to create a successful marketing campaign. By understanding the consumer’s decision-making process, marketers are able to develop value propositions that really fit the consumer’s needs. The importance of understanding behavioral economics for marketers is immeasurable as it allows for a better understanding of the human mind. Behavioral economics allows marketing professionals to optimize marketing strategies and get real results.
In the article are reviewed applied aspects of behavioral economics, also theoretical and practical results of researches. These results will be useful in company management, for politicians, in private decision making as they give different perspective to rational-functional models. In case of ignoring the interdisciplinary approaches, integration of economics and psychology can result in waste of resources and wrong decisions.
Unconscious influences permeate the everyday life of consumers. The scope of unconscious influences is greatly enhanced when the operational definition of “unconscious” shifts from the anachronistic “subliminal” one—whether the person is aware of the triggering information itself—to the far more common situation of being unaware of the influence of that stimulus. People are often unaware of how external events influence their choices and behavior, which is a good reason not to rely on self‐report measures of mediating internal mental processes. What are the main forms of mundane unconscious influence? (1) The person's primary evolved needs and motives and active goal pursuits, which operate unconsciously to exert a transformative effect on selective attention, preferences, and purchases, and consumption. These can be triggered through common external means such as grocery store handouts and emails from the boss. (2) Immediate preconscious perceptual inputs from the external environment influence seemingly “free” conscious choices. Finally, (3) postconscious processes have the same effects but come from the carry‐over of conscious experiences from one situation into the next. This is the domain of “nudges” or “priming effects” with many field studies as well as meta‐analyses demonstrating their validity and replicability.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for sanitizing products has increased drastically. However, it is unclear what kind of cues contribute to the evaluation for the perceived sanitizing effect of sanitizing products. This study focused on olfactory cues and examined the influence of ethanol odor on the evaluation of the perceived sanitizing effect of wet wipe products. Participants were required to clean a desk using ethanol-containing (ethanol condition) and ethanol-free (smell-free condition) wet wipes. After the cleaning task, they evaluated their perceived sanitizing effect of the wet wipes. The results showed that the perceived sanitizing effect was larger under the ethanol condition than under the smell-free condition. It was also demonstrated that the awareness of the ethanol odor improved the evaluation. These results indicate that the ethanol odor as an olfactory cue plays a crucial role in the evaluation of perceived sanitizing effect.
Zusammenfassung Als Placebo-Effekte gelten die positiven Wirkungen einer Scheinsubstanz oder Scheinbehandlung. Ein Placebo versucht die positiven Wirkungen eines Arzneimittels oder einer Intervention nachzuahmen, ohne aber dabei das spezifische Arzneimittel oder die spezifische Behandlungsmethode zu beinhalten. Als Hauptmechanismen haben sich die Erwartungen auf das Behandlungsergebnis durch den Patienten, assoziative Lernprozesse sowie die Qualität der Beziehung zwischen Patienten und Behandler herausgestellt. Placebo-Effekte können aber auch vom Behandler oder Versuchsleiter ausgehen. Die Erwartungen eines Arztes oder Versuchsleiters auf den Ausgang einer Behandlung können die wahrgenommene Wirksamkeit des Patienten und somit die Ergebnisse der Intervention beeinflussen. Ähnliche Einflüsse auf den Ausgang eines Experimentes durch die Erwartungen des Experimentators sind in der Psychologie aus der Priming-Forschung bekannt. Begründungen, warum die Erwartungen eines Versuchsleiters das Experiment selbst beeinflussen, lassen sich in der Psychologie und der Quantenphysik finden. In dieser Arbeit werden die unterschiedlichen Wirkfaktoren des Placebo-Effekts aufgezeigt und in einem Online-Experiment nachgestellt. Der Einfluss der Erwartungen eines Versuchsleiters wird herausgearbeitet und mit verschiedenen Theorien aus der Psychologie und der Quantenphysik begründet. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeit geben einen Hinweis auf die Objektivität von wissenschaftlichen Studien und Experimenten. Diese scheint nicht immer gegeben zu sein, da auch die Erwartungen des Versuchsleiters einen Einfluss auf die Resultate haben. Das wäre auch eine Erklärung dafür, dass viele Replikationsstudien andere Ergebnisse liefern als die Originalstudien. Abstract The positive effects of a sham substance or treatment are considered placebo effects. A placebo tries to mimic the positive effects of a drug or an intervention, but does not include the specific drug or treatment. The main mechanisms that have emerged are expectations of the patient's treatment outcome, associative learning processes and the quality of the relationship between patient and practitioner. Placebo effects can, however, also originate from the practitioner or test director. A doctor's or investigator's expectations of the outcome of a treatment can affect the perceived effectiveness of the patient and thus the results of the intervention. Similar influences on the outcome of an experiment due to the expectations of the experimenter are known in psychology from priming research. Reasons why the experimenter's expectations influence the experiment itself can be found in psychology and quantum physics. In this work, the different active factors of the placebo effect are shown and simulated in an online experiment. The influence of the examiners' expectations is worked out and justified with various theories from psychology and quantum physics. The results of the present work give an indication of the objectivity of scientific studies and experiments. This does not always seem to be the case, as the investigator's expectations also have an influence on the results. That would also explain why many replication studies give different results than the original studies.
Odours constitute effective context cues, facilitating memory retrieval. Identifying factors which modulate the effectiveness of olfactory context cues can advance the understanding of processes underlying this effect. We hypothesized that the interplay of subjective stress and semantic relatedness between the odour and the learning material would modulate the effectiveness of an olfactory context cue. We further explored the effect of the odorant Hedione, which is a ligand for a putative human pheromone receptor (VN1R1). To this end, 120 participants watched a video of a stressful episode in which visual objects were present, that were either manipulated in the video (central objects) or not (peripheral objects). Participants rated their subjective stress afterwards. After 24 h, recognition and spatial memory of the objects in the video were tested. Ambient during encoding and recall was an odour related to the episode, an unrelated odour, Hedione or no odour. As a result, we observed a narrowing of recognition memory with increased subjective stress elicited by the video - but only if a semantically related odour was ambient. Moreover, higher subjective stress predicted enhanced spatial memory in the no odour condition, but not in presence of a semantically related or unrelated odour. When exposed to Hedione, higher subjective stress predicted impaired recognition and spatial memory of peripheral objects. Our findings stress the importance of considering semantic relatedness between the olfactory context and the encoded episode when applying odours as context cues for emotional or stressful memories.
Virginian cedarwood ( Juniperus virginiana L.) essential oil is an important component of a very large number of fragrances, used in cosmetics or household products. Clary sage ( Salvia sclarea L.) essential oil is well known in aromatherapy for its sedative property. The essential oils of Virginian cedarwood’s crushed barks and clary sage’s leaves were analyzed by GC/MS. Respectively, seven and seventeen compounds; representing 78% and 94.13% of the essential oils, were identified. The main components of the cedar oil are cedrene alpha (25%) and cedrol (20%). The main components of the clary sage oil are linalyl acetate (69.4%) and linalool (11.9%). Cedarwood oil exhibits significant relaxing activity, influencing physiological and biochemical parameters in human. This shows repercussions on situational stress. Virginian Cedarwood essential oil activity is compared with clary sage essential oil, which proved to be less efficient on stress relief.
The service experience, which comprises cognitive, emotional and sensory assessments, is important to encourage a modal shift from the private vehicle to public transport services use. However, knowledge on the effect of sensory cues, specifically ambient scent, on the consumer experience in olfactory-rich servicescapes, as public transport services, is still limited. This study conducted a field experiment within a Public Bus service, to explore the influence of ambient scent on the relationship between the perceived travel experience and emotions; and between emotions and travel memory, the attitude toward the company’s brand and passengers’ future behavioral intentions. The results show that ambient scent strengthens these relationships. The stronger influences of ambient scent were found on the relationships between travel experience and emotions, emotions and memory, and emotions and passengers’ future behavioral intentions. While adding to the scant knowledge on the topic, the results also suggest that ambient scent, as a marketing tool, should be looked at with closer attention by public transport managers.
The scientific enterprise has long been based on the presumption of replication, although scientists have recently become aware of various corruptions of the enterprise that have hurt replicability. In this article, we begin by considering three illustrations of research paradigms that have all been subject to intense scrutiny through replications and theoretical concerns. The three paradigms are one for which the corpus of research points to a real finding, one for which the corpus of research points to a significantly attenuated effect, and one for which the debate is ongoing. We then discuss what scientists can learn—and how science can be improved—through replications more generally. From there, we discuss what we believe needs to be done to improve scientific inquiry with regard to replication moving forward. Finally, we conclude by providing readers with several different approaches to replication and how these approaches progress science. The approaches discussed include multilab replications of many effects, multilab replications of specific effects, adversarial collaborations, and stand-alone applications.
Objective
We review the effects of COVID-19 on the human sense of smell (olfaction) and discuss implications for human-system interactions. We emphasize how critical smell is and how the widespread loss of smell due to COVID-19 will impact human-system interaction.
Background
COVID-19 reduces the sense of smell in people who contract the disease. Thus far, olfaction has received relatively little attention from human factors/ergonomics professionals. While smell is not a primary means of human-system communication, humans rely on smell in many important ways related to both quality of life and safety.
Method
We briefly review and synthesize the rapidly expanding literature through September 2020 on the topic of smell loss caused by COVID-19. We interpret findings in terms of their relevance to human factors/ergonomics researchers and practitioners.
Results
Since March 2020 dozens of articles have been published that report smell loss in COVID-19 patients. The prevalence and duration of COVID-19-related smell loss is still under investigation, but the available data suggest that it may leave many people with long-term deficits and distortions in sense of smell.
Conclusion
We suggest that the human factors/ergonomics community could become more aware of the importance of the sense of smell and focus on accommodating the increasing number of people with reduced olfactory performance.
Application
We present examples of how olfaction can augment human-system communication and how human factors/ergonomics professionals might accommodate people with olfactory dysfunction. While seemingly at odds, both of these goals can be achieved.
Building on theory in sensory marketing, mental simulation, and cue diagnosticity, this research investigates when consequential product sounds, or ancillary sounds generated by the normal operation of a product, can impact customers’ perceptions and behavioral intentions. Across four studies, we demonstrate how consequential product sounds coupled with imagery and phrasing of products in use can encourage customers into a mental space in which they can clearly envision using the product, also known as a process mindset. This mindset allows customers to use the amplitude of the consequential product sound to make inferences about its power, and subsequently enhances their willingness to pay for louder products (versus quiet products or those with no sound). Effects are attenuated when customers are encouraged into an outcome mindset, or a mental space in which they only consider the end benefits of using a product. We provide clear theoretical and managerial implications and, based on our findings, propose that retailers should consider incorporating consequential product sounds into customers’ shopping experiences, as these auditory cues can help to encourage a process mindset and thereby, positively impact customers’ willingness to pay.
Hearing is our highly sensitive warning system. As a sense, hearing has uniquely evolved to perform this alerting function and is perceptive to subtle ambient cues that are associated with threat. We propose that one aspect of sound that may cue such associations is pitch, such that low-pitch (vs. moderate pitch) background sound nonconsciously primes a threat response resulting in heightened anxiety among consumers. Furthermore, this emotional response manifests itself in the form of increased risk avoidance. Seven studies in varied domains demonstrate that low- (vs. moderate-) pitch background sound results in higher anxiety, which leads to risk-avoidant consumer choices—for instance, being willing to pay more for car insurance or choosing a food option with lower taste uncertainty.
The popular press has recently reported that managers of retail and service outlets are diffusing scents into their stores to create more positive environments and develop a competitive advantage. These efforts are occurring despite there being no scholarly research supporting the use of scent in store environments. The authors present a review of theoretically relevant work from environmental psychology and olfaction research and a study examining the effects of ambient scent in a simulated retail environment. In the reported study, the authors find a difference between evaluations of and behaviors in a scented store environment and those in an unscented store environment. Their findings provide guidelines for managers of retail and service outlets concerning the benefits of scenting store environments.
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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.
In the past century, a few hundred articles have been published about subliminal perception and applications such as subliminal persuasion. Subliminal persuasion refers to the subliminal presentation of stimuli by people (for example, advertisers) who intentionally try to influence our behavior. James Vicary claimed in 1957 that he increased the sales of popcorn and cola after subliminally flashing "Eat Popcorn" and "Drink Coke" in a New Jersey cinema. This chapter argues that subliminal persuasion and other applications of subliminal stimulation should be investigated, not ignored. It also present arguments for why it is impossible, or at least difficult, to maintain that all (important) behavior should be the result of conscious thought. A distinction is made between themanipulation of attitudes by subliminal evaluative conditioning, the influence of subliminal messages on consumer behavior, and the influence of subliminal messages on health.
Pleasant ambient odors are found to affect consumer decision making depending on whether the scents are congruent or incongruent with the target product class. Two different choice contexts are examined. In experiment 1, in a static-choice context, subjects in conditions in which the odor is congruent with the product class are found to spend more time processing the data, are more holistic in their processing, are more likely to go beyond the information given, are more likely to spread their choices evenly over the whole choice set than are subjects in the incongruent-odor conditions. In experiment 2, in a dynamic-choice context, subjects in the congruent conditions are more likely to exhibit behavior that is consistent with variety seeking than are subjects in the incongruent conditions. Copyright 1995 by the University of Chicago.
This study tested whether synthesized human male pheromones increase the sociosexual behavior of men. Thirty-eight heterosexual men, ages 26-42, completed a 2-week baseline period and 6-week placebo-controlled, double-blind trial testing a pheromone "designed to improve the romance in their lives." Each subject kept daily behavioral records for 6 sociosexual behaviors: petting/affection/kissing, formal dates, informal dates, sleeping next to a romantic partner, sexual intercourse, and self-stimulation to ejaculation (masturbation) and FAXed them each week. Significantly more pheromone than placebo users increased above baseline in sexual intercourse and sleeping with a romantic partner. There was a tendency for more pheromone than placebo users to increase above baseline in petting/affection/kissing, and informal dates, but not in self-stimulation to ejaculation or in formal dates. A significantly larger proportion of pheromone than placebo users increased in > or = 2 and > or = 3 of the 5 sociosexual behaviors involving a female partner. Thus, there was a significant increase in male sociosexual behaviors in which a woman's sexual interest and cooperation plays a role but not in male masturbation which involves only the man. These initial data need replication but suggest that human male pheromones affected the sexual attractiveness of men to women.
The present research examined how implicit racial associations and explicit racial attitudes of Whites relate to behaviors and impressions in interracial interactions. Specifically, the authors examined how response latency and self-report measures predicted bias and perceptions of bias in verbal and nonverbal behavior exhibited by Whites while they interacted with a Black partner. As predicted, Whites' self-reported racial attitudes significantly predicted bias in their verbal behavior to Black relative to White confederates. Furthermore, these explicit attitudes predicted how much friendlier Whites felt that they behaved toward White than Black partners. In contrast, the response latency measure significantly predicted Whites' nonverbal friendliness and the extent to which the confederates and observers perceived bias in the participants' friendliness.
On the basis of the idea that situational norms are mentally represented as associations between environments and normative behavior, it was proposed that an environment can automatically direct normative behavior. More specifically, when situational norms are well-established (e.g., when entering the library, one should be silent), an environment is capable of automatically activating mental representations of normative behavior and the behavior itself. In these experiments, participants were exposed to pictures of environments, and effects on accessibility of representations of normative behavior and on actual behavior were assessed. Results indicated that representations of behavior and actual behavior itself are activated automatically when (a) goals to visit the environment are active and (b) strong associations between environment and normative behavior are established.
This article describes a 2-systems model that explains social behavior as a joint function of reflective and impulsive processes. In particular, it is assumed that social behavior is controlled by 2 interacting systems that follow different operating principles. The reflective system generates behavioral decisions that are based on knowledge about facts and values, whereas the impulsive system elicits behavior through associative links and motivational orientations. The proposed model describes how the 2 systems interact at various stages of processing, and how their outputs may determine behavior in a synergistic or antagonistic fashion. It extends previous models by integrating motivational components that allow more precise predictions of behavior. The implications of this reflective-impulsive model are applied to various phenomena from social psychology and beyond. Extending previous dual-process accounts, this model is not limited to specific domains of mental functioning and attempts to integrate cognitive, motivational, and behavioral mechanisms.
The popular press has recently reported that managers of retail and service outlets are diffusing scents into their stores to create more positive environments and develop a competitive advantage. These efforts are occurring despite there being no scholarly research supporting the use of scent in store environments. The authors present a review of theoretically relevant work from environmental psychology and olfaction research and a study examining the effects of ambient scent in a simulated retail environment. In the reported study, the authors find a difference between evaluations of and behaviors in a scented store environment and those in an unscented store environment. Their findings provide guidelines for managers of retail and service outlets concerning the benefits of scenting store environments.
One hundred and fifty-two subjects, divided into eight groups, were exposed to a room with a low concentration of either orange or lavender and to an odorless room. In a careful double-blind procedure, neither the subjects nor the experimenters were made aware of the presence of the odors in the experimental conditions. Later they were asked to indicate how well each of 12 odor stimuli, including the experimental and control odors, befitted each of 12 visual contexts, including the exposure rooms. At the end of this session they rated the pleasantness and the familiarity of the odors, and identified them by name. Finally they were debriefed and asked specifically whether they had perceived the experimental odors anywhere in the building. The results of four subjects who answered positively to the latter question were omitted. The results confirm the earlier finding that non-identifiers implicitly link odor and exposure room, whereas identifiers do not show such a link. It is suggested that episodic information is an essential constituent of olfactory memory and that its function is comparable to that of form and structure in visual and auditory memory systems.
The popular and business press is enamored with the idea that the sense of smell can have strong effects on consumer responses to retail environments. The claims that odors have strong persuasive powers tantalize retailers looking for the competitive edge. Herein, we review the current paradigm of retailing-relevant olfaction research and find that "conventional wisdom" does not allow researchers or retailers to reliably predict olfaction effects. We suggest accessibility and availability theories as a way of explaining the current empirical research and as a method by which we can increase the reliability of capturing olfactory effects. We conclude by identifying fruitful areas of research in this interesting stimuli-that which we smell.
This chapter discusses the functional relation between perception and behavior. It presents a general perspective on perception and action along with elaborating the direct relation between perception and behavior and specifically on one consequence of this relation—namely, the imitation. The chapter describes the core concepts of social perception. Furthermore, the chapter examines all three forms of social perception that lead directly to corresponding overt behavioral tendencies. The cognitive approach that has dominated psychology for over 30 years has changed psychology's perspective on perception. Certainly, perception is essential for us to comprehend our environment but that does not mean that this understanding is an end in itself. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the perception-behavior link from a functional perspective. In specific, perception provides an understanding of the world. Social perception refers to the activation of a perceptual representation, which generally has a direct effect on social behavior. Perceptual inputs are translated automatically into corresponding behavioral outputs.
A number of ways of taxonomizing human learning have been proposed. We examine the evidence for one such proposal, namely, that there exist independent explicit and implicit learning systems. This combines two further distinctions, (1) between learning that takes place with versus without concurrent awareness, and (2) between learning that involves the encoding of instances (or fragments) versus the induction of abstract rules or hypotheses. Implicit learning is assumed to involve unconscious rule learning. We examine the evidence for implicit learning derived from subliminal learning, conditioning, artificial grammar learning, instrumental learning, and reaction times in sequence learning. We conclude that unconscious learning has not been satisfactorily established in any of these areas. The assumption that learning in some of these tasks (e.g., artificial grammar learning) is predominantly based on rule abstraction is questionable. When subjects cannot report the “implicitly learned” rules that govern stimulus selection, this is often because their knowledge consists of instances or fragments of the training stimuli rather than rules. In contrast to the distinction between conscious and unconscious learning, the distinction between instance and rule learning is a sound and meaningful way of taxonomizing human learning. We discuss various computational models of these two forms of learning.
The popular and business press is enamored with the idea that the sense of smell can have strong effects on consumer responses to retail environments. The claims that odors have strong persuasive powers tantalize retailers looking for the competitive edge. Herein, we review the current paradigm of retailing-relevant olfaction research and find that "con-ventional wisdom" does not allow researchers or retailers to reliably predict olfaction effects. We suggest accessibility and availability theories as a way of explaining the current empirical research and as a method by which we can increase the reliability of capturing olfactory effects. We conclude by identifying fruitful areas of research in this interesting stimuli–that which we smell.
Studies have shown that ambient aromas impact on consumers' behavior. To further investigate such effects, for one weekend, two slot-machine areas in a Las Vegas casino were odorized, each with a different aroma. A third slot-machine area served as an unodorized control. The amounts of money gambled in slot machines located in the three areas were measured and compared for the weekend of the odorization and for the weekends before and after as well, to control for extraneous variables. Our data show that the amount of money gambled in the slot machines surrounding Odorant No. 1 during the experimental weekend was greater than the amount gambled in the same area during the weekends before and after the experiment by an average of 45.11% (p = < 0.0001). Further, the amount of the increase appeared greater on Saturday when the concentration of odorant was higher: mean increase on Saturday was 53.42% (p = < 0.0001) versus mean increase on Sunday of 33.66% (p = < 0.003). The amounts of money gambled in the slot machines surrounding Odorant No. 2 and in the control area did not change significantly compared to the previous weekend and the weekend following the experiment. The likely mechanism of action of the effective odorant and the implications of these results are discussed. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
In two experiments the smelled sweetness of odors was increased by using them as flavorants of sucrose solution. Experiment 1 used blind experimenters to compare a target odor mixed with sucrose with a control odor mixed with water during masked training trials. The increased sweetness of the target odor was unaffected by whether or not subjects revealed some explicit knowledge of the contingencies in a post-conditioning recognition test. Experiment 2 found that such a conditioned increase in odor sweetness occurred whether training solutions were sipped from a cup or sucked through a straw. Using a frequency test designed to provide a sensitive assay of contingency awareness, there was still no indication that this affected conditioning. It was concluded that such modification of the taste-properties of odors results from implicit simultaneous associative learning and provides an example of learned synesthesia, (C) 1998 Academic Press.
Factors which govern the optimum perception of odours have not yet been defined. This has hindered the development of standard methods and instruments for measuring olfactory responses. As an initial step towards defining these conditions, inhalation rates and volumes, number of sniffs, and sniff duration were measured for twenty-three humans in odour-threshold and odour-intensity tests with pentyl acetate, 1-butanol, and diethylamine. Measurements were made with the aid of a hot-wire anemometer concealed within the outlet of an air-dilution olfactometer. Individuals varied markedly in their sampling techniques but maintained their characteristic sniffing patterns with different odours and olfactory tasks. Only three parameters consistently varied with odour concentration: total volume of odour sampled, total sampling time, and number of sniffs. Maximum inhalation rate was remarkably stable and was independent of the type, concentration, and pleasantness of odour. Values recorded for sniff volumes and inhalation rates indicate that most olfactometers in use do not accommodate human inhalation requirements during a sniffing episode. The many common characteristics in the varied sampling techniques of different subjects suggest that the techniques are close to those providing optimum odour perception. Whether these are inherited or developed through habit or experience is not known.
Two groups of women were compared for the timing of the onset of their menstrual cycles. One group was rubbed on the upper lip (directly beneath the nose) with a mixture of alcohol and underarm perspiration collected from a single female donor. The other group was rubbed with plain alcohol. The group which received the perspiration showed a significant shift in the timing of their menstrual cycles which conformed closely with the donor's monthly cycle. This is a preliminary study which supports the hypothesis that the time of menstrual onset may be modified by olfactory cues.
This review on menstrual synchrony in human females has four purposes: (a) to determine whether or not the phenomenon exists, and whether it differs in the various groups studied: roommates in dormitories, roommates in private residences, close friends, work groups, mothers-daughters; (b) to assess the magnitude of its effect, i.e., to what extent does the single factor of living together affect menstrual synchrony?; (c) to examine the effects of menstrual-related factors, social interaction factors, and personality on menstrual synchrony; (d) to assess whether the findings support a pheromonal or common environmental explanation of menstrual synchrony. Several methodological issues are also discussed.
Previous research has shown that trait concepts and stereotype become active automatically in the presence of relevant behavior or stereotyped-group features. Through the use of the same priming procedures as in previous impression formation research, Experiment 1 showed that participants whose concept of rudeness was printed interrupted the experimenter more quickly and frequently than did participants primed with polite-related stimuli. In Experiment 2, participants for whom an elderly stereotype was primed walked more slowly down the hallway when leaving the experiment than did control participants, consistent with the content of that stereotype. In Experiment 3, participants for whom the African American stereotype was primed subliminally reacted with more hostility to a vexatious request of the experimenter. Implications of this automatic behavior priming effect for self-fulfilling prophecies are discussed, as is whether social behavior is necessarily mediated by conscious choice processes.
One hundred and fifty-two subjects, divided into eight groups, were exposed to a room with a low concentration of either orange or lavender and to an odorless room. In a careful double-blind procedure, neither the subjects nor the experimenters were made aware of the presence of the odors in the experimental conditions. Later they were asked to indicate how well each of 12 odor stimuli, including the experimental and control odors, befitted each of 12 visual contexts, including the exposure rooms. At the end of this session they rated the pleasantness and the familiarity of the odors, and identified them by name. Finally they were debriefed and asked specifically whether they had perceived the experimental odors anywhere in the building. The results of four subjects who answered positively to the latter question were omitted. The results confirm the earlier finding that non-identifiers implicitly link odor and exposure room, whereas identifiers do not show such a link. It is suggested that episodic information is an essential constituent of olfactory memory and that its function is comparable to that of form and structure in visual and auditory memory systems.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled study of a synthesized putative female pheromone was conducted with regularly menstruating, university women (N=36, mean age=27.8). The pheromone formula was derived from earlier work investigating the underarm secretions of fertile, sexually active, heterosexual women. A vial of either synthesized pheromone or placebo was selected blindly and added to a subject's perfume. Subjects recorded seven sociosexual behaviors and reported them weekly across three menstrual cycles. Beginning with Day 8 of each cycle, the first cycle contained a 2-week baseline period followed by an experimental period of as many as 3 weeks each from the next two cycles for a maximum of 6 weeks. The 19 pheromone and 17 placebo subjects did not differ significantly in age, weight, body mass index, dating status or ethnicity nor in reported accuracy, back-filling data, perception of a positive effect or perfume use. Placebo subjects were significantly taller than pheromone subjects. Except for male approaches, subjects did not differ significantly at baseline in average weekly sociosexual behaviors. A significantly greater proportion of pheromone users compared with placebo users increased over baseline in frequency of sexual intercourse, sleeping next to a partner, formal dates and petting/affection/kissing but not in frequency of male approaches, informal dates or masturbation. Three or more sociosexual behaviors increased over baseline for 74% of pheromone users compared with 23% of placebo users. We conclude that this synthesized pheromone formula acted as a sex attractant pheromone and increased the sexual attractiveness of women to men.
The psychological basis of odor quality is poorly understood. For pragmatic reason, descriptions of odor quality generally rely on profiling odors in terms of what odorants they bring to mind. It is argued here that this reliance on profiling reflects a basic property of odor perception, namely that odor quality depends on the implicit memories that an odorant elicits. This is supported by evidence indicating that odor quality as well as one's ability to discriminate odors is affected by experience. Developmental studies and cross-cultural research also point to this conclusion. In this article, these findings are reviewed and a model that attempts to account for them is proposed. Finally, the model's consistency with both neurophysiological and neuropsychological data is examined.
Do we always know the reasons for our actions? Or is our behavior sometimes unknowingly and unintentionally influenced by what we have recently perceived? It has been traditionally assumed that the automatic influence of knowledge in memory is limited to people's interpretation of the world, and stops short of shaping their actual behavior. Researchers in experimental social psychology have begun to challenge this assumption by documenting how people's behaviors can be unknowingly influenced by knowledge that is incidentally activated in memory during social perception. We review findings that suggest that the social knowledge that is incidentally activated while reading words or imagining events subsequently affects participants' behaviors across a range of ostensibly unrelated domains.
The automaticity of social behaviour:Directeffectsoftraitconceptandstereotypeactivation on action
- J A Bargh
- M Chen
- L Burrows
Bargh, J.A., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. (1996). The automaticity of social behaviour:Directeffectsoftraitconceptandstereotypeactivation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 230– 244