RESEARCH DESCRIPTION Take it easy on the perfume! You might be setting yourself up for social rejection! By Jenny Allan January 2023 Researchers at Northwestern University and the Centre for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease in Chicago have uncovered the social power of smell! Dr. Wen Li and colleagues proved that smells in our everyday environments can affect our first impressions of other people. Everyday people were recruited to take part in this study, in which they were asked to smell three types of odours: some participants were asked to smell a citrus scent, some, anisole (a licorice-type scent), and the rest, the smell of valeric acid -- commonly known as sweat! Researchers categorized the citrus odour as pleasant, the licorice scent as neutral, and the sweat odour as unpleasant. After taking a good whiff of the scent, participants were shown pictures of strangers on a computer screen. They then rated their overall impressions of the faces they saw - were the faces attractive to them? Did they seem friendly? Did they seem "nice"? The results showed that, after sniffing the pleasant citrus odour, participants judged the faces they saw in a more favourable light! Conversely, when they sniffed the unpleasant sweat odour, participants reported less than flattering impressions of the faces they saw. Interestingly, the researchers also measured the heart rate of all participants to determine whether physiological changes would correspond with their written ratings as well as their exposure to the different scents. Dr. Li and colleagues indeed found that heart rate increased (indicating attraction) after the pleasant smell (and just prior to rating the stranger's face). The implications for socializing are clear: potential feelings of attraction might arise when you are around others who smell great! To find out more about this phenomenon, I took to the streets to ask everyday people what they thought about these results. Yasmin, a 24-year-old artist, said that the findings matched with her experiences, particularly those in the dating realm: "I can have amazing chat with a person on a dating app, agree to meet for coffee, but if they smell weird when we hug, then it's over for me. There's no way I'd see them again". Andrew, a 21-year-old undergraduate at a local university, had a slightly different perspective, saying that he is "more put off by intense smells, not so much the kind of smell". Hmm... could it be that self-identified men and women are affected differently by scent? Although naturopaths and other paramedical professionals have long touted the health benefits of aromatherapy for ailments ranging from snoring to migraines to constipation, psychologists now seem to have extended our understanding of how scent can impact our lives. The research provides evidence for the effects of scent on our social lives: meeting romantic partners, making good first impressions, and mending broken friendships all seem to be potential benefits of smelling great when you walk out that door.