Jos Mojet*, EP Köster, Nancy Holthuysen, Rob van Veggel, René de Wijk

Centre for Innovate Consumer Studies, Wageningen University and Research, the NetherlandsOdours can exert a strong influence on the evaluation of people and situations (Baron, 1981; Kirk-Smith & Booth,1992) and are strongly related with memory (Herz, 2005). On the basis of psychological theories about projection can be predicted that people judging other people will transfer their own feelings. To investigate the influence of flowers on people’s mood and thereby on the perception of other people, an explorative study was performed in 4 identical “mood rooms” of the Restaurant of the Future, located in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Subjects were seated in one of the four rooms with either no flowers (1), scentless flowers (2), or scenting flowers (3 & 4) and evaluated pictures of other people’s faces on a number of positive and negative aspects. In rooms with flowers, the ‘positive’ characteristics of the people on the pictures were judged to be more positive, and the ‘negative’ aspects were judged to be less negative. The influence of scent is less clear. In the presence of fragrant flowers the people on the pictures were judged to be significantly more open and less stressed and self-contained than in the presence of scentless flowers. The use of the affective projection test seems to be a effective indirect method to demonstrate the positive influences of flowers on mood.

References:

Baron RA (1981) The role of olfaction in human social behavior: effects of a pleasant scent on attraction and social perception. Personality and social Pychology Bulletin, 7, 611-617.

Kirk-Smith MD & Booth DA (1992) Effects of natural and synthetic odorants on mood and perception of other people. Chemical Senses, 24, 849-850.Herz RS (2002) influences of odor on mood and affective cognition. In: Olfaction, taste and cognition, 160-177.