scholarly journals Scent of a Woman—Or Man: Odors Influence Person Knowledge

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 955
Author(s):  
Nicole Hovis ◽  
Paul Sheehe ◽  
Theresa White

First impressions of social traits are regularly, rapidly, and readily determined from limited information about another individual. Relatively little is known about the way that olfactory information, particularly from scents that are not body odors, alters a first impression. Can the attributes of an odorant be conferred onto a person associated with that scent? To explore this, 101 participants were asked to form an impression of a hypothetical person based on the following stimuli: A gender-neutral silhouette, a list of six personal characteristics, and one of five odorants. Participants then rated the likelihood that the hypothetical person possessed each of 51 personality traits that were determined a priori as falling into six attribute categories. Participants also directly rated all odorants for the six categories and intensity. A T-test showed that ratings of the hypothetical person were less disparate from the odor that was presented during impression formation than from other odors. ANOVA revealed that the effects were heterogeneous, with odorants varying in their effectiveness in associating the hypothetical person with categories. The present data suggest that a hypothetical person can be imbued with the specific attributes of an odor and that some odors are better at contributing to impressions than others.

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Lubker ◽  
Jack C. Watson ◽  
Amanda J. Visek ◽  
John R. Geer

Research has revealed that dress and build can impact others’ perceptions of personality, knowledge, competence, and effectiveness (Hash, Munna, Vogel, & Bason, 2003; Lennon, 1986). This study investigated athletes’ first impression formation of performance enhancement consultants (PECs) and its influence on athletes’ perceptions of their knowledge, ability, and personality characteristics. Participants (N = 86) rated 11 pictures of PECs on personality traits, sport knowledge, and likeliness of seeking services. Results revealed that build and dress were most influential on PEC ratings. PECs with a lean build and academic clothing were rated higher on personality traits PECs than other groups. PECs with a lean build and athletic clothing were rated higher on sport knowledge and more likely to be sought for services than PECs with a large build and academic clothing.


Author(s):  
David Weibel ◽  
Daniel Stricker ◽  
Bartholomäus Wissmath ◽  
Fred W. Mast

Like in the real world, the first impression a person leaves in a computer-mediated environment depends on his or her online appearance. The present study manipulates an avatar’s pupil size, eyeblink frequency, and the viewing angle to investigate whether nonverbal visual characteristics are responsible for the impression made. We assessed how participants (N = 56) evaluate these avatars in terms of different attributes. The findings show that avatars with large pupils and slow eye blink frequency are perceived as more sociable and more attractive. Compared to avatars seen in full frontal view or from above, avatars seen from below were rated as most sociable, self-confident, and attractive. Moreover, avatars’ pupil size and eyeblink frequency escape the viewer’s conscious perception but still influence how people evaluate them. The findings have wide-ranging applied implications for avatar design.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Samuel ◽  
John D. Ranseen

Previous studies have indicated a consistent profile of basic personality traits correlated with adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (e.g., Ranseen, Campbell, & Baer, 1998; Nigg et al., 2002). In particular, research has found that low scores of the Conscientiousness trait and high scores on Neuroticism have been correlated with ADHD symptomatology. However, to date there is limited information concerning the range of effect resulting from medication treatment for adult ADHD. During an 18 month period, 60 adults were diagnosed with ADHD based on strict, DSM-IV criteria at an outpatient clinic. This evaluation included a battery of neuropsychological tests and a measure of general personality (i.e., the NEO PI-R). Eleven of these participants returned to complete the battery a second time. The pre-post comparisons revealed significant changes following sustained stimulant treatment on both the neuropsychological and self-report measures. These individuals also displayed significant changes on two domains of the NEO PI-R. They showed a significant decrease on the domain of Neuroticism, indicating that now see themselves as less prone to experience negative emotional states such as anxiety and depression. Additionally, they also reported a significant increase on their scores on the domain of conscientiousness. This increase suggests that they see themselves as more organized and dependable.


Author(s):  
Yubing Zheng ◽  
Yang Ma ◽  
Nan Li ◽  
Jianchuan Cheng

In recent years, the increasing rate of road crashes involving cyclists with a disproportionate overrepresentation in injury statistics has become a major concern in road safety and public health. However, much remains unknown about factors contributing to cyclists’ high crash rates, especially those related to personal characteristics. This study aims to explore the influence of cyclist personality traits and cycling behaviors on their road safety outcomes using a mediated model combining these constructs. A total of 628 cyclists completed an online questionnaire consisting of questions related to cycling anger, impulsiveness, normlessness, sensation seeking, risky cycling behaviors, and involvement in crash-related conditions in the past year. After the psychometric properties of the employed scales were examined, the relationships among the tested constructs were investigated using structural equation modeling. The results showed that cyclists’ crash risks were directly predicted by risky cycling behaviors and cycling anger, and the effects of cycling anger, impulsiveness, as well as normlessness on crash risks, were mediated by cycling behaviors. The current findings provide insight into the importance of personality traits in impacting cycling safety and could facilitate the development of evidence-based prevention and promotion strategies targeting cyclists in China.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 4127
Author(s):  
Will Farlessyost ◽  
Kelsey-Ryan Grant ◽  
Sara R. Davis ◽  
David Feil-Seifer ◽  
Emily M. Hand

First impressions make up an integral part of our interactions with other humans by providing an instantaneous judgment of the trustworthiness, dominance and attractiveness of an individual prior to engaging in any other form of interaction. Unfortunately, this can lead to unintentional bias in situations that have serious consequences, whether it be in judicial proceedings, career advancement, or politics. The ability to automatically recognize social traits presents a number of highly useful applications: from minimizing bias in social interactions to providing insight into how our own facial attributes are interpreted by others. However, while first impressions are well-studied in the field of psychology, automated methods for predicting social traits are largely non-existent. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of two automated approaches—multi-label classification (MLC) and multi-output regression (MOR)—for first impression recognition from faces. We demonstrate that both approaches are able to predict social traits with better than chance accuracy, but there is still significant room for improvement. We evaluate ethical concerns and detail application areas for future work in this direction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edgar Centeno ◽  
Jesus Cambra-Fierro ◽  
Rosario Vazquez-Carrasco ◽  
Susan J. Hart ◽  
Keith Dinnie

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the largely unexplored conceptualisation of the brand-as-a-person metaphor in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by examining its potential relation with the SME owner-manager, the pathways to its creation and development and the intuitive nature of this relationship.Design/methodology/approachA grounded theory approach was used, and data were collected through a set of 36 semi-structured interviews with 30 SME owner-managers in various sectors in Mexico.FindingsThe results indicate that SME owner-managers intuitively humanise their brands. The study revealed four pathways to develop the brand-as-a-person metaphor in the SME context: through personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, all suggesting that SMEs’ brand-as-a-person metaphors are largely an extension of their owner-managers.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper presents a theoretical framework that illustrates the four pathways to the creation and development of brand-as-a-person that are derived from the brand’s relationship with the SME owner-manager. The results of cross-industry semi-structured interviews are limited to a single culture context.Practical implicationsSME owner-managers should first undertake an introspective personal assessment of their intuitive and conscious decision-making, as SME owner-managers often make decisions in an intuitive way. The results suggest that they should act in a more conscious, responsible and rational way when formulating their brand strategies.Originality/valueThis is the first study to clarify the profound influence of SME owner-managers’ personal characteristics, including personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, on the brand-as-a-person metaphor. This study also confirms the intuitive learning strategy formulation of SME owner-managers’ branding practices and SMEs’ need for a more rational approach to branding.


1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1362-1362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Carmel ◽  
Seymour M. Glick

Three groups of physicians were identified based on their compassionate behavior. Associations with personal characteristics indicate that physicians with high self-esteem are more likely than those with low self-esteem to behave in congruence with their attitudes towards people.


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