Gaby et al. conducted a study exploring how visual and olfactory cues affect friendship formation among 40 female volunteers. The study involved evaluating friendship potential based on headshots, wearing T-shirts to collect scent data, and completing ratings related to scent and in-person interactions. Findings indicated a strong correlation between scent-based ratings and in-person evaluations. Notably, ratings after direct interactions influenced later scent-based assessments, pointing to the importance of learned preferences. However, the study's limitations include its focus on college-aged heterosexual women, suggesting further research is necessary across diverse populations.
“Everybody showed they had a consistent signature of what they liked,” said co-author Vivian Zayas of Cornell University.
The ratings made after live interactions accurately predicted changes in the assessments made in the final round of odor-based testing.
There was a strong correlation between the in-person evaluations of friendship potential and those based solely on smelling the T-shirts.
The authors acknowledged that their study was limited to college-aged heterosexual women and that there could be differences in how olfactory and other cues function in other groups.
#social-psychology #olfactory-cues #friendship-formation #interpersonal-attraction #experimental-study
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