Abstract
People can accurately assess various personality traits of others based on body odor (BO) alone. Previous studies have shown that correlations between odor ratings and self-assessed personality dimensions are evident for assessments of neuroticism and dominance. Here, we tested differences between assessments based on natural body odor alone, without the use of cosmetics and assessments based on the body odor of people who were allowed to use cosmetics following their daily routine. Sixty-seven observers assessed samples of odors from 113 odor donors (each odor donor provided two samples – one with and one without cosmetic use); the donors provided their personality ratings, and the raters judged personality characteristics of the donors based on the provided odor samples. Correlations between observers’ ratings and self-rated neuroticism were stronger when raters assessed body odor in the natural body odor condition (natural BO condition; rs = 0.20) than in the cosmetics use condition (BO+cosmetics condition; rs = 0.15). Ratings of dominance significantly predicted self-assessed dominance in both conditions (rs = 0.34 for natural BO and rs = 0.21 for BO+cosmetics), whereas ratings of extraversion did not predict self-assessed extraversion in either condition. In addition, ratings of body odor attractiveness and pleasantness were significantly lower in natural BO condition than in BO+cosmetics condition, although the intensity of donors’ body odors was similar under both conditions. Our findings suggest that although olfaction seems to contribute to accurate first impression judgments of certain personality traits, cosmetic use can affect assessments of others based on body odor.
Highlights
Fragranced cosmetics can affect the way people are perceived by others, and this effect has been observed in several contexts
Body odor samples in the BO+cosmetics condition were assessed as more pleasant [F(1,106) = 19.1, p < 0.0001; η2p = 0.15] and more attractive [F(1,107) = 13.4, p < 0.001, η2p = 0.11] than were natural body odors, but there was no difference between the conditions in ratings of odor intensity (F(1,107) = 2.7, p = 0.10; η2p = 0.02)
We corroborated previous findings demonstrating congruent perception between self-assessments and ratings of dominance and neuroticism based on natural body odors
Summary
Fragranced cosmetics can affect the way people are perceived by others, and this effect has been observed in several contexts. Fragrances have been shown to influence perceptions of attractiveness (Baron, 1981; Dematte et al, 2007). The authors provide evidence that faces were rated as significantly less attractive when presented with an unpleasant ambient odor in comparison to the no-odor condition. Fragrances may modulate selfperception, including self-confidence, which may in turn influence the attractiveness of the person wearing the fragrance. This effect has been demonstrated in previous studies using video footage in which persons wearing a pleasant fragrance were judged as more attractive than those
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