Have you considered scenting your work space, your school, your place or worship or your gymnasium?
The question is not ‘why’, but ‘why not’.
Read on….
Rachel S. Herz, Brown University writing for Scientific American: “A growing body of literature shows that positive mood is linked to an increase in productivity, performance and the tendency to help others, while negative mood reduces prosocial behavior. Notably, prosocial behavior and productivity are also enhanced in the presence of pleasant ambient odors. For example, people exposed to the smells of baking cookies or roasting coffee were more inclined to help a stranger than people not exposed to an odor manipulation. People who worked in the presence of a pleasant smelling air freshener also reported higher self-efficacy, set higher goals and were more likely to employ efficient work strategies than participants who worked in a no-odor condition. Pleasant ambient odors have also been found to enhance vigilance during a tedious task and improve performance on anagram and word completion tests. Conversely, the presence of a malodor reduced participants¿ subjective judgments and lowered their tolerance for frustration. Participants in these studies also reported concordant mood changes. Thus, the observed behavioral responses are due to the effect that the ambient odors has on peoples mood.
So there you have it, odors influence mood, work performance, and many other forms of behavior via their learned associations and particularly their learned emotional associations.”
Read the full piece at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-scents-affect-peoples
