Researchers in an olfaction lab discovered that people who have similar body odors become friends quickly.
Scientists initially found out that people normally prefer people with more in common, but not just age and activities. Many people subconsciously choose people who have similar genetics and appearance to themselves.
Later on, Inbal Ravreby, a graduate student in the lab of Noam Sobel, decided to test out if people make friends faster with people who smell similar to them. To do this, she first got together 20 pairs of fast friends, then had them start a small routine to make sure that these volunteers would not smell like other products or because of other reasons. They first stopped eating foods like garlic and onions, which make you smell different for a while. Then stopped using scented products like after-shave and deodorant, and also started using an unscented soap that the lab gave them. Afterwards, they put on a clean shirt that the lab provided, then slept in it so that that person’s scent was on the shirt.
Something interesting they discovered when giving these shirts to 25 other volunteers was that those who smelled similar to another person typically were quite close to their friends, but more different when compared to a stranger. To test this on a larger scale, Ms. Ravreby had 132 strangers all go through this test, then mirrored another person’s movement. Soon after, they filled out a survey if they felt connected to their partner. When these pairs of people smelled similar 71% of people felt a connection to their partner.
Now, the team has been moving on to see if they can modify people’s body odor to see if people who smell like each other will be more attracted to one another. If people are, then that will show that our sense of smell, like many other terrestrial mammals, does influence our decisions.
Scientists initially found out that people normally prefer people with more in common, but not just age and activities. Many people subconsciously choose people who have similar genetics and appearance to themselves.
Later on, Inbal Ravreby, a graduate student in the lab of Noam Sobel, decided to test out if people make friends faster with people who smell similar to them. To do this, she first got together 20 pairs of fast friends, then had them start a small routine to make sure that these volunteers would not smell like other products or because of other reasons. They first stopped eating foods like garlic and onions, which make you smell different for a while. Then stopped using scented products like after-shave and deodorant, and also started using an unscented soap that the lab gave them. Afterwards, they put on a clean shirt that the lab provided, then slept in it so that that person’s scent was on the shirt.
Something interesting they discovered when giving these shirts to 25 other volunteers was that those who smelled similar to another person typically were quite close to their friends, but more different when compared to a stranger. To test this on a larger scale, Ms. Ravreby had 132 strangers all go through this test, then mirrored another person’s movement. Soon after, they filled out a survey if they felt connected to their partner. When these pairs of people smelled similar 71% of people felt a connection to their partner.
Now, the team has been moving on to see if they can modify people’s body odor to see if people who smell like each other will be more attracted to one another. If people are, then that will show that our sense of smell, like many other terrestrial mammals, does influence our decisions.
