Experiments by Israeli researchers recently showed that people with similar body odors were more likely to immediately hook up and become friends.
Revealing experiences
When we meet someone for the first time, sometimes we feel a strange closeness. Previous research having shown that humans tend to to sniff out unconsciously (for example, by raising their hand to their nose following shaking hands), Inbal Ravreby and his colleagues from theInstitute Weizmann wondered if such a phenomenon was linked to our body odor.
In the context of work published in the journal Science Advancesthe scientists recruited 20 pairs of same-sex friends (50% men and 50% women), who said they had hit it off from their first meeting.
A device capable of distinguishing the different chemical components of odors, an electronic nose was used to analyze the t-shirts worn by each of the participants. The device revealed more similar body odors among proven friend pairs than in those who had been randomly formed by mixing the participants. This was confirmed by a later experiment in which an independent group of 25 subjects were asked to smell these same textiles.
The team then recruited 17 people who had never met before and used the electronic nose to analyze their body odors. Subjects were asked to take turns playing a game with other participants of the same gender, without the ability to communicate verbally. Afterward, pairs with similar scent profiles were more likely to report feeling closeness during play.
“Other mammals also use smell to decide who is friend or foe”
« Since previous work has shown that we tend to become friends with people of the same age, ethnicity, education level, religion, physical appearance, personality and values, these results are quite logical. “, valued Ravreby. « Knowing that other mammals also use smell to decide who is friend or foe, such as dogs sniffing each other’s behinds when they meet in a park. »
When it comes to romantic relationships, it seems heterosexual people are on the contrary attracted to members of the opposite sex who smell different from their own. A study had thus suggested that women were more attracted to men with body odor linked to a different immune profile, likely to generate healthier offspring.
