And I'm feeling good: effect of emotional sweat and perfume on others' physiology, verbal responses, and creativity

Emotions can be communicated in social contexts through chemosignals contained in human body odors. The transmission of positive emotions via these signals has received little interest in past research focused mainly on negative emotional transmission. Furthermore, how the use of perfumed products might modulate this transmission remains poorly understood. To investigate human positive chemical communication, we explored the autonomic, verbal, and behavioral responses of receivers exposed to body odors of donors having undergone a within-subject positive or neutral mood induction procedure. These responses were compared with those obtained after exposure to the same body odors with added fragrance. Our findings suggest that positive emotions can be transmitted through body odor. They not only induced modifications at the physiological (heart rate) and verbal levels (perceived intensity and familiarity) but also at the behavioral level, with an improved performance on creativity tasks. Perfume did not modulate the physiological effects and had a synergistic effect on the positive body odor ratings (increased perceived differences between the neutral and positive body odor).

Automated summary

Emotions can be transmitted through body odor in social contexts. Previous research has focused more on the transmission of negative emotions and paid less attention to positive emotions. The use of perfumed products does not seem to have a significant impact on the transmission of body odor, but it can enhance the ratings of positive body odor.