With a recent push of positive psychology and the fact that positive emotions are known to be important for overall well-being the international research team considered this an important subject to research.
The researchers split the research into two parts to differentiate the ‘senders’ of smells and the ‘receivers’. Once the research had been complete the researchers found some very interesting findings:
“Exposure to sweat from happy senders elicited a happier facial expression than did sweat from fearful or neutral senders”
That is to say that those who smelt the sweat from a happy ‘sender’ had a more positive facial expression than when they smelt a fearful ‘sender’. “We observed that exposure to body odor collected from senders of chemosignals in a happy state induced a facial expression and perceptual-processing style indicative of happiness in the receivers of those signals.”
While interesting results this research may also have further implications such as the use of nasal sprays that may induce happier states or feelings, it remains to be seen if they may be strong enough to provide a clinical benefit.
Category(s):Happiness
Source material from Psychology
