Whats your personality smell like?

Well now here is an interesting little ‘fact’ – did you know people can guess your personality by smelling your t-shirt?

A 2011 study by the Institute of Psychology at the University of Wroclaw in Poland took a sample group of students asking them to sniff t-shirts worn by other participants; as well as to watch a video of an individual’s going about general days’ business. The goal of the study was to investigate the relationship between body odour and the big five personality dimensions and dominance.

Without knowing whose shirt belongs to whom, nor who the person is that they are viewing in the video; amazingly participants accurately identified by smell personality traits common to the shirt owner, and where able to identify from the video most likely who was the wearer of the sample shirt.

“The main finding of the presented study is that for a few personality traits, the correlation between self-assessed personality of odour donors and judgments based on their body odour was above chance level.” [Sorokowska, A. Sorokowski, P. & Szmajke, A.]

But not all personality traits where so easy to smell. Interestingly the personality traits of neuroticism, extraversion and dominance where the most easily identified through odour, the more open minded, agreeable, easy going, willing to explore new experiences and shall we say consciousness personality dominance in participants where less easily smelt.

I wonder why this so? The research goes on to suggest as we know emotions stimulate hormone development within our bodies and body odour is also subject to hormone production…so watch this theory!

UPDATE: Saturday May 13, 2017

Had a great chat this morning on Better Living with Sally Obermeder, listen to the discussion here.

UPDATE: Tuesday July 25, 2017

Had a great chat this morning on The Stir Radio Northern Beaches with Inn Nicholas about this topic, listen to the discussion here.