You can smell happiness. It’s true. According to new research published in Psychological Science, humans communicate positive emotions through sweat.
It’s been long known that we can communicate fear and disgust through chemical compounds in our sweat, but until now no studies had been done for positive emotions.
“Our study shows that being exposed to sweat produced under happiness induces a simulacrum of happiness in receivers, and induces a contagion of the emotional state,” said psychological scientist Gün Semin of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and the study’s senior researcher. “This suggests that somebody who is happy will infuse others in their vicinity with happiness. In a way, happiness sweat is somewhat like smiling—it is infectious.”
Semin and the researchers studied sweat taken from people in a happy state to see if it would influence behaviors, perceptions, and emotions of others exposed to the sweat. The participants did not smoke or take any medications and had no diagnosed psychological disorders. They were banned from drinking alcohol, eating smelly food, exercising excessively, and participating in sexual activities.
In the end, the researchers found that men and women responded positively to chemosignals in sweat through a series of tests and measures.
“This is another step in our general model on the communicative function of human sweat, and we are continuing to refine it to understand the neurological effects that human sweat has on recipients of these chemical compounds,” Semin said.
So think happy thoughts to make your sweat smell good to others. Also, use deodorant to be on the safe side.
And in related news: Scientists have developed a perfume that smells better the more you sweat.
(Image: Vox Efx/Creative Commons)
