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The Times of India
The Times of India
Lifestyle
TIMESOFINDIA.COM

Here's how humans develop relationships based on scents

Humans believe that they are not constantly smelling each other. Despite the best efforts, it's a known fact that everyone has a pleasant and unpalatable scent, and if it is like other land mammals, one's unique aroma may mean something to the other fellow humans.

Some of these are self-explanatory, such as the stench of someone who hasn't bathed in a month or the distinct voice of a baby claiming they didn't fill their diaper.

What research suggests

Scientists who have been studying human olfaction, or the sense of smell, wonder if molecules released from a human's skin are subconsciously lodged in the noses and brains of those around.

Many factors influence who people become friends with, including how, when, and where they meet. However, the researchers suggest that one thing that humans pick on the most is how they smell.

In a recent study, researchers examined pairs of friends whose friendships "clicked" right away and discovered how each person had body odour. In fact, one was closer to the friend than anticipated.

Scientists studying friendships discovered that friends and strangers share more than just age and hobbies, but also genetics, brain activity, and appearance patterns.

Science of smell

Olfaction is the smell sensation caused by the detection of odorous substances aerosolised in the environment. Olfaction, like vision, taste, hearing, and balance, is a unique sense. Humans can detect odours using the components of the olfactory system.

Olfactory communication is found in all animals, and recent research has revealed that humans possess this communication trait as well. This type of communication occurs subconsciously and frequently influences one's attraction to another.

An olfaction researcher at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science, was curious whether certain friendships, the kind that seem to form instantly, had an olfactory component.

The researcher recruited 20 pairs of "click friends," both of whom portrayed their friendship as such. They were then put on a diet that is commonly used in human body odour research. For a few days, they were not allowed to eat foods that affect body odour, such as onions and garlic and were asked to take off their aftershave and deodorant. They had to bathe with the lab-supplied odourless soap, wear a lab-supplied T-shirt and sleep in it so it smells nice and stinky before handing it over to the scientists for review.

They were curious to see if the respective smells of friends were more like each other than those of strangers. This could imply that the smell was one of the first things they noticed about each other at the start of their relationship.

While there are many reasons why friends may smell similar, it is tough to predict whether the smell or the foundation of the relationship came first.

To examine the same, the researchers invited 132 strangers to participate in a mirroring game. Following that, they completed questionnaires to determine whether they felt a connection with their partners.

Surprisingly, the similarity of their scents predicted that the two had a positive relationship 71% of the time. This finding implies that smelling similar odours produces pleasant feelings. It can be one thing of interest along with where they grew up and if they like science fiction or sports.

Read also: How each zodiac sign acts as a friend

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