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beget to know someone normally ask at least a minuscule conversation . But a new written report suggests you’re able to get a hint of an someone ’s personality through his or her scent alone .
participant in the survey assess , with some point of truth , how extroverted , anxious or dominant people were after only taking a puff of their apparel . The study is the first to test whether personality traits can be distinguish throughbody olfactory sensation .
While the friction match - up between reply by the judges and the judge were not thoroughgoing , they do propose that , when take shape a first effect , we take into account aperson ’s scent , as well as visual and audible cues to their personality trait , the researchers said .
We not only utter ourselves through our looks , " we also utter ourselves with how we reek , " say study research worker Agnieszka Sorokowska , a doctoral candidate at the University of Wroclaw , in Poland .
The study will be published in an coming issue of the European Journal of Personality .
Personality smells
Sorokowska and colleagues asked 30 men and 30 women to assume white cotton t - shirt for three consecutive night . participant could not practice fragrances , deodorants or easy lay , and could not smoke or booze or use up scented foods during the cogitation . Participants also took a personality test .
Shirts from the " odor presenter " were collected and fink by 100 men and 100 women . Raters were ask to sense the shirt ( placed in non - transparent plastic old bag ) and evaluate five personality traits of the presenter , on a musical scale of one to 10 . Each rater assessed six shirt , and each shirt was assessed by 20 raters .
The judges ' evaluation equal up with the self - judgement of the donors for threepersonality traits : extraversion ( the disposition to be outgoing and sociable)neuroticism ( the tendency to feel unquiet and moody)and ascendance ( the urge to be a leader ) .
The match were far from unadulterated . But the raters call the giver ’s level of extraversion and neuroticism through flavor about as accurately as participants in a different work forecast personality traits free-base on a video limn a person ’s behavior , Sorokowska said .
judgement of authorisation were most accurate in the case where an individual rater was tax the odour of someone who was the diametrical sex , suggesting such judgments are especially important when it comes to select a better half , the researchers said .
Odor and emotions
Extroversion , neuroticism and dominance are all trait that may , to some extent , be expressed physiologically , include through our emotion .
For instance , people who are neurotic may sweat more when they experience tenseness , which would change the bacteria in their underarms and make them smell different , the researcher said .
Personality traits may also be connect with the secernment of endocrine that could interpolate a persons ' scent . the great unwashed who are in high spirits in dominance may havehigher levels of testosterone , which in turn may change their stew glands , the researchers say .
The finding are preliminary and more studies need to be done to confirm the results , Sorokowska said . It ’s not clear whether the same link would be found in other culture known to have weak body odor , Sorokowska tell .
Pass it on : Some trait of an individual ’s personality can be assessed through smell , preliminary research suggests .
