The influence of scents on thoughts and behaviors

You may not realize it, but the power of scent is incredible – especially when it comes to non-verbal communication.

How often have you been preparing for an interview with a potential employer, left the house, and suddenly realized you forgot to put on your favorite perfume or cologne? Well, it happens to the best of us. But try not to make that mistake again, because...

The great power of scents

Smells have great power, especially when it comes to nonverbal communication. But that's not all. Eating a meal that included onions can negatively impact your judgment, according to research conducted by the Association for Psychological Science. We tend to think we're separated from our environment. But we're not. We create that environment. More and more studies are emerging that examine how our environment affects our well-being.

Onion vs lemon

In one experiment, 65 volunteers were asked to rate their impressions of a person's silhouette who smelled of onion, lemon, or nothing at all. The volunteers who smelled onion rated the person as more masculine, while the lemon-colored silhouettes were rated as more feminine, clean, and pleasant.

Floral scents encourage interaction

And how does this relate to moods in offices? A study conducted by Haviland-Jones determined how undetectable levels of floral scent affected human behavior. Rooms were scented with flowers, baby powder, and one room was left unscented. People in the floral room used about three times more words related to happiness and were more likely to interact.