A question of scent: lavender aroma promotes interpersonal trust

Abstract

A previous study has shown that the degree of trust into others might be biased by inducing either a more “inclusive” or a more “exclusive” cognitive-control mode. Here, we investigated whether the degree of interpersonal trust can be biased by environmental factors, such as odors, that are likely to impact cognitive-control states. Arousing olfactory fragrances (e.g., peppermint) are supposed to induce a more exclusive, and calming olfactory fragrances (e.g., lavender) a more inclusive state. Participants performed the Trust Game, which provides an index of interpersonal trust by assessing the money units one participant (the trustor) transfers to another participant (the trustee), while being exposed to either peppermint or lavender aroma. All participants played the role of trustor. As expected, participants transferred significantly more money to the alleged trustee in the lavender as compared to the peppermint and control (no aroma) conditions. This observation might have various serious implications for a broad range of situations in which interpersonal trust is an essential element, such as cooperation (e.g., mixed-motives situations), bargaining and negotiation, consumer behavior, and group performance.

Interpersonal trust: an event-based account

“…Available evidence suggests that arousing fragrances, like peppermint, induce a more exclusive processing mode while calming scents, like lavender, induce a more integrative mode (e.g., Herz, 2009 ). Accordingly, Sellaro et al ( 2014b ) had participants play a Trust Game while being exposed to the scent of peppermint or lavender. As predicted, trustors transferred significantly more money to trustees in the lavender as compared to the peppermint and a control condition.…”

Editorial: Adaptive Hot Cognition: How Emotion Drives Information Processing and Cognition Steers Affective Processing

“…In contrast to this, however, they observed that increasing serotonin availability actually increased the rejection of very unfair offers, which suggests that the effects of acute vs. prolonged boosting of serotonin may have opposite effects on social cognition. Sellaro et al (2015) also used a game setting to study the interaction between emotion and cognition. Participants in their study were exposed to social exclusion or ostracism, by observing someone else getting socially excluded.…”

“…Once again, it turns out that our decisions are often not rationally taken at all and this study shows that the food we eat can alter the way we think about charity and foster helping behavior. In a third study, two of the authors of the previous study performed an experiment investigating the effect of an environmental factor (an arousing “peppermint” vs. a calming “lavender” olfactory fragrance) on social interactions while performing the Trust Game (Sellaro et al, 2015). In this game, participants can transfer money to an alleged trustee in order to index interpersonal trust.…”

Olfactory Cues of Restaurant Wait Staff Modulate Patrons’ Dining Experiences and Behavior

“…Ambient scents have been shown to affect interpersonal trust, prosocial behaviors, and social communications [29,38]. For example, compared to a "no scent" condition, exposure to lavender scent can increase interpersonal trust, as measured by the amount of money one participant (the trustor) transfers to another participant (the trustee) during the "Trust Game" [38]. Body odors and fragrances worn by one another have also been found to modulate interpersonal behaviors and social communications [39][40][41].…”