Smelling pleasantly can certainly improve the chances of being positively evaluated – for example a pleasant smelling man will be perceived as more attractive than an unpleasant smelling one, as the experiment presented in a previous Smelly Facts post a few weeks ago demonstrated. But making a good impression does not just depend on how attractive we look. The pitch of our voice, our style of dress, what we say, and importantly, how we act all play a role in the way others perceive us. Recent research provides evidence that perfume might have the power to affect not only how attractive others perceive us as being, but also to improve the overall impression we make by affecting the way we actually act. The study dealt with non-verbal cues that affect interpersonal relations. Such cues can be either positive (smiling, maintaining eye-contact), or negative – in which case they are commonly termed as “Nonsymbolic Movement”. The non-verbal behaviors that fall under this category are generally seen as being evident of a self-denigrating posture, such as anxiety, tension and embarrassment (Harrigan, 1988, LeCompte, 1981). Examples of Nonsymbolic Movement include self-touching, such as touching the hair or nose, or shifting posture, such as crossing one’s legs while talking. Frequent Nonsymbolic Movement can, presumably, project a negative image. A study by Higuchi et al. in 2005, demonstrated that neutral observers of two groups of women (one group wearing perfume and one group not wearing perfume) found that the perfume-wearing group showed significantly less Nonsymbolic Movement. The observers also rated the perfume wearing group as much more self-confident. The researchers speculate that these effects occur either due to the fact that the pleasant smell of the perfume has a positive effect on the mood of the wearer, or due to its making the wearer more “self-conscious” in the social context. Notes: The observers were blind to the state of the women they were observing, that is, they were not informed which of the women they were observing were wearing perfume and which were not. The participants were Japanese and the perfume used in the experiment was Shisheido’s ‘‘Breath Garden–Tenderness Time’’.
References: Higuchi et al., 2005
Image: Originally uploaded by Brokenchopstick on Flickr
