And, no, I don't mean are you happy when you smell things.
Okay, this is a little convoluted but I'll try to be clear. I get
an email newsletter from WebMD and the lead article this
week is "Does Your Sweat Stink?". The link from it goes
to a quiz on "body fluids" with the true/false question
"sweat has no smell" and the correct answer is "True",
it is the bacteria and probably funky stuff on your skin
that makes sweat stinky (incidentally, I got 10 out of 11
questions about various bodily fluids which would seem
to imply that I know my bodily fluids except when it comes
to drinking pee). If you want to test your knowledge of
bodily fluids (why am I reminded of the movie
"Dr. Strangelove"?) see:
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/rm-quiz-body-fluids
But, as I scanned down the email, there was a sentence
link that said "Is it Possible to 'Smell' Happiness?"
My first reactions was "What the, what the?" I mean,
sweat doesn't smell (I know because WebMD tells me
so), so how could a person exude "happiness" or
any other emotional state outside of their breath and/or
the other end. I clicked on the link and was brought to:
http://www.webmd.com/balance/news/20150526/do-people-transmit-happiness-by-smell
It was here that I read:
|"Human sweat produced when a person is happy induces
|a state similar to happiness in somebody who inhales this
|odor," said study co-author Gun Semin, a research professor
|in the department of psychology at Koc University in Istanbul,
|Turkey, and the Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada in
|Lisbon, Portugal.
A state of cognitive dissonance ensues: WebMD tells me
that sweat has no smell but now WebMD runs a story that
says that one can smell "happy" in sweat! I am confused.
I also have a disturbing vision of a TV commercial involving
Marty Seligman pitching a new perfume called "Happiness"
(shot in a Calvin Klein fashion, such as
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de1vyikBnsg
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnqO_4SD8YQ
The latter is basically eye candy for people who like that kind
of candy).
But I digress.
So, being the intellectually curious person that I am known to be,
I search out the original research article that served as the basis
for this media article and, Lo and Behold! it is an article in the
journal "Psychological Science". For the article, see:
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/26/6/684
And, since the APS thought this was research of immense importance
and significance to not only the scientific community but to the
world, here's the pop psych version that APS put out:
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/a-sniff-of-happiness-chemicals-in-sweat-may-convey-positive-emotion.html
NOTE #1: The chemicals are not pheromones but "chemosignals".
NOTE #2: Only women were used as subjects because of their
greater olfactory power.
NOTE #3: One reason why this research was done is apparently
there is evidence that there are chemosignals for negative emotions
and no one has studied positive emotions (boy, Seligman missed that
one).
NOTE #4: If there are chemosignals in sweat (detected as odors
via our olfactory system -- unless there's a licking manipulation I'm
missing), then why does WebMD say that sweat doesn't smell?
THEY LIES TO ME! Maybe. This raises questions about whether
I actually that pee question wrong.
So, what is the truth? Can we smell the emotional state of another?
Sniff a colleague and see if you can correctly guess his/her emotional
state. But don't be too obvious about it because you might come
off as being somewhat creepy (or cannibalistic).
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
P.S. I am absolutely sure that this has nothing to do with how
the research turned out but the APS pop version of the research
states at the end:
"The research was supported by Unilever Research & Development (AGR
01049/OIV120260)."
Unilever is multinational corporation and among its products are
Axe body spray and Lifebuoy soap; see:
http://www.unilever.com/brands/
They apparently also make Hellmann's mayonnaise but I'm not sure
that that is relevant. ;-)
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