Smells
When I posted last week about Cinnabon and Schlotzsky's, one of you (as usual) came up with a much more interesting angle. Adam Williams sent me a link to an article titled Do 'Clean' Smells Encourage Clean Behavior?, and here's a teaser:In two separate experiments, researchers were able to influence participants' behavior by exposing them to "cleanliness" in the form of a common cleaning agent's odor — in this case, citrus-scented Windex. It turned out that people who sat in a room spritzed with Windex were more likely to act fairly and charitably than those sniffing unscented air.
It's a very, very interesting concept, and it makes me wonder about other kinds of behavior--for example, does North Korea research whether certain smells in public places encourage respect for authority?
Orwell would have had a field day with this.
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