Good Smells Promote Good Behavior

Scents in our homes may be affecting our kids’ behavior, if we extrapolate the information from a new study on the relationship between ethical behavior and smell.

When in a clean-smelling environment, people tend to be more generous and fair, which may give you some ideas for your parenting strategy.

The new study, “The Smell of Virtue“, by a BYU professor, looked at the effects of spritzing citrus-scented Windex (no comment) in the air while they were engaged in various tasks. The participants said they didn’t notice the smell, but those in rooms which were spritzed were more likely to agree to volunteer at charitable organizations, donate money, and to be fairer in trust games.

Katie Liljenquist, assistant professor of organizational leadership at BYU’s Marriott School of Management, authored the study, and said that she saw implications for both workplaces and retail stores.

“Companies often employ heavy-handed interventions to regulate conduct, but they can be costly or oppressive. This is a very simple, unobtrusive way to promote ethical behavior.” – Liljenquist

For the fairness experiment, participants received $12 (allegedly sent by an anonymous partner in another room) and had to decide how much of it to either keep or return to their partners. Those in clean-scented rooms returned a significantly higher share of the money ($5.33 vs. $2.81 for the control group).

In another experiment, people were asked if they would like to donate money to a cause, and 22% of those in the scented room agreed, compared to only 6% in the control group.

“Basically, our study shows that morality and cleanliness can go hand-in-hand. Researchers have known for years that scents play an active role in reviving positive or negative experiences. Now, our research can offer more insight into the links between people’s charitable actions and their surroundings.” – Adam Galinsky of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, co-author

I hope you’re not spraying citrus-scented Windex in your kids’ rooms, but perhaps some essential oil of lemon in a spray bottle, or subtle incense, could get those kids to finish their homework and keep their rooms clean. (Or maybe when they are throwing a fit, spray them down with something that smells good, like we do with cats?)

Image: juhansonin at Flickr