The Effects of Perfume Use on Perceptions of Attractiveness and Competence
Different scents are found anywhere and everywhere you go and everything and anything you do. Scents can range from something smelling so pleasant that you feel like you could eat it, to scents that smell so disgusting that you can’t even stand to be around it. In our society, we try to hide bodily odors that could be perceived as offensive. Ways we cover these odors are mouthwashes, deodorants, perfumes, and colognes. This article is on a study that examines that reality of whether or not a woman wearing perfume makes them more attractive.
There are many ways to attribute characteristics to people; by the way they look, dress, talk, act, and even the noticeable scents to them. According to Levine and McBurney, they believe that the more an odor departs from normative expectations, the more likely the odor will trigger attributional analyses. An example would be if perfume exceeds the range considered appropriate for the situation, a negative attribution may result. In this study, Levine and McBurney tested the effect of norm violations in perfume use and the respondents’ perceptions. In order to do this, they looked at how applying no perfume to applying more than average would affect the wearer’s social and physical attractivenss and competence.
This study was conducted at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in Honolulu. Before the study started, data was collected from women attending the university to figure out which perfumes they used the most when on campus and how much was applied. Local retailers provided samples of the three most popular perfumes. The women that were wearing the perfume in the study would interview different people. After the interview, the participant recorded their view of the interviewers’ social and physical attractiveness, as well as their competence. There were four women that were used. They were similar in height, weight, hair, and skin color. They each dressed the same wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. They wore make up and did not wear any distracting or attention-getting jewelry.
There were 238 university students who participated in the study. The interviewers approached different people individually outside of the university libraries and asked if they could interview them for an interviewing class regarding their library usage habits. The four women had specific instructions in how to approach those they were going to interview. They were to stand approximately two to three feet from the interviewer. They also had to tell the interviewer that since this was for a class, they had to ask follow up questions assessing the interviewers’ performance.
Data showed that the quantity of perfume applied was related to perceptions of both social attraction and competence in a negative manner. Positive perceptions were highest in the "no perfume" condition, and steadily decreased until they were lowest in the "high perfume" condition. Men and women's responses were similar except for the finding that men's ratings of physical attractiveness peaked in the "low perfume" condition, while the women respondents' scores generally fell more directly from the "no perfume" condition to the "high perfume" condition.
There are many ways to attribute characteristics to people; by the way they look, dress, talk, act, and even the noticeable scents to them. According to Levine and McBurney, they believe that the more an odor departs from normative expectations, the more likely the odor will trigger attributional analyses. An example would be if perfume exceeds the range considered appropriate for the situation, a negative attribution may result. In this study, Levine and McBurney tested the effect of norm violations in perfume use and the respondents’ perceptions. In order to do this, they looked at how applying no perfume to applying more than average would affect the wearer’s social and physical attractivenss and competence.
This study was conducted at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in Honolulu. Before the study started, data was collected from women attending the university to figure out which perfumes they used the most when on campus and how much was applied. Local retailers provided samples of the three most popular perfumes. The women that were wearing the perfume in the study would interview different people. After the interview, the participant recorded their view of the interviewers’ social and physical attractiveness, as well as their competence. There were four women that were used. They were similar in height, weight, hair, and skin color. They each dressed the same wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. They wore make up and did not wear any distracting or attention-getting jewelry.
There were 238 university students who participated in the study. The interviewers approached different people individually outside of the university libraries and asked if they could interview them for an interviewing class regarding their library usage habits. The four women had specific instructions in how to approach those they were going to interview. They were to stand approximately two to three feet from the interviewer. They also had to tell the interviewer that since this was for a class, they had to ask follow up questions assessing the interviewers’ performance.
Data showed that the quantity of perfume applied was related to perceptions of both social attraction and competence in a negative manner. Positive perceptions were highest in the "no perfume" condition, and steadily decreased until they were lowest in the "high perfume" condition. Men and women's responses were similar except for the finding that men's ratings of physical attractiveness peaked in the "low perfume" condition, while the women respondents' scores generally fell more directly from the "no perfume" condition to the "high perfume" condition.