Weird Fact About Smell (Post 2)

According to an article, humans can smell fear and it is contagious.  The findings were published in the journal Psychological Science suggest that humans can communicate via smell just like other animals.  In an experiment, sweat from under the armpits of 10 men while they watched either frightening scenes from a horror movie (The Shining) or repulsive clips from the television show "Jackass" was collected.  Next, researchers asked 36 women to take a visual test while they unknowingly inhaled the men's sweat.  When they smelt the "fear sweat," they opened their eyes in a scared expression.  When they smelt the "disgusted sweat,"  they scrunched their faces in a repulsed grimace.  These findings suggest that humans can communicate some emotion by smell.

Personally, my sense of smell is my best sense.  I have hearing issues and my eye sight is average, but my family jokes that I can smell something from a mile away.  When I was little I could smell if my sister went in her diaper from across the house.  I am very interested in the idea that scent can express emotion.  That changes the way I feel a lot of things.  I think this explains why sometimes I smell things they make me feel a certain way, such as when I smell cookies I am happy and think of Christmas.  It is a weird explanation but I would like to explore more into the idea.


https://www.livescience.com/24578-humans-smell-fear.html