There is wide-ranging literature on the emotional effects of odors but, so far, little focus on scents that evoke nostalgia and their psychological functions. This study examines the effects of nostalgia-induced scents, more specifically what are the psychological implications of scents from childhood that evoke nostalgia. The test participants sampled five childhood scents, rating each scent as to the extent to which they were familiar and elicited nostalgia and positive emotions. The study found that one of the tested childhood scents, bubblegum, was considered the most familiar but also the most nostalgic, eliciting higher self-esteem, social connection, optimism, and inspiration. Our research findings on olfaction contribute to the existing small body of experimental research on olfactory nostalgia and facilitate the understanding of the psychological implications, triggers and affective response linked with nostalgia-induced scents.
References
[1]
Akoglu, H. (2018). User’s Guide to Correlation Coefficients. Turkish Journal of Emergency Medicine, 18, 91-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjem.2018.08.001
[2]
Barrett, F. S., Grimm, K. J., Robins, R. W., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., & Janata, P. (2010). Music-Evoked Nostalgia: Affect, Memory, and Personality. Emotion, 10, 390-403. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019006
[3]
Cheung, W. Y., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Hepper, E. G., Arndt, J., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2013). Back to the Future: Nostalgia Increases Optimism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 1484-1496. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213499187
[4]
Chrea, C., Delplanque, S., Grandjean, D., Cayeux, I., Le Calvé, B., Margot, C., Velazco, M. I., Sander, D., & Scherer, R. K. (2007). The Emotional Power of Odors: Identifying the Dimensions Referring to Feelings Produced by Odors. SPISE 2007: Proceedings, Ho Chi Minh City, 26-27 July 2007, 43-49. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjn052
[5]
Chu, S., & Downes, J. J. (2000). Odor-Evoked Autobiographical Memories: Psychological Investigations of Proustian Phenomena. Chemical Senses, 25, 111-116. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/25.1.111
[6]
Chu, S., & Downes, J. J. (2002). Proust Nose Best: Odors Are Better Cues of Autobiographical Memory. Memory and Cognition, 30, 511-518. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03194952
[7]
Cohen, J., Cohen, P., West, S. G., & Aiken, L. S. (2002). Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
[8]
Corder, G. W., & Foreman, D. I. (2009). Nonparametric Statistics for Non-Statisticians. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118165881
[9]
Ferdenzi, C., Delplanque, S., Barbosa, P., Court, K., Guinard, J., Guo, T., Carig, Schirmer, S. R., Porcherot, C., Cayeux, I., Sander, D., & Grandjean, D. (2013). Affective Semantic Space of Scents. Towards a Universal Scale to Measure Self-Reported Odor-Related Feelings. Food Quality and Preferences, 30, 128-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2013.04.010
[10]
Field, A. (2013). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS: And Sex and Drugs and Rock “n” Roll (4th ed.). London: SAGE.
[11]
Herz, R. S. (1996). A Comparison of Olfactory, Visual and Tactile Cues for Emotional and Non-Emotional Associated Memories. Chemical Senses, 21, 614-615.
[12]
Herz, R. S. (1998b). An Examination of Objective and Subjective Measures of Experience Associated to Odors, Music and Paintings. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 16, 137-152. https://doi.org/10.2190/C43T-CJR2-9LPD-R0PB
[13]
Herz, R. S., & Cupchik, G. C. (1995). The Emotional Distinctiveness of Odor-Evoked Memories. Chemical Senses, 20, 517-528. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/20.5.517
[14]
Herz, R. S., & Engen, T. (1996). Odor Memory: Review and Analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 3, 300-313. https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03210754 https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210754
[15]
Herz, R. S., Schankler, C., & Beland, S. (2004). Olfaction, Emotion and Associative Learning: Effects on Motivated Behavior. Motivation and Emotion, 28, 363-383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-004-2389-x
[16]
Hurz, R. S., & Cupchik, G. C. (1992). An Experimental Characterization of Odor Evoked Memories in Humans. Chemical Senses, 17, 519-528. https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/17.5.519
[17]
Laird, D. A. (1935). What Can You Do with Your Nose? The Scientific Monthly, 41, 126-130.
[18]
Petratou, E., Perzikianidis, C., & Stalikas, A. (2019). The Greek Version of the Southampton Nostalgia Scale: Psychometric Properties in Young Adults and Associations with Life Satisfaction, Positive and Negative Emotions, Time Perspective and Wellbeing. Journal of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences, 13, 1.
[19]
Ramaekers, M. G., Boesveldt, S., Lakemond, C. M. M., van Boekel, M. A. J. S., & Luning, P. A. (2014). Odors: Appetizing or Satiating? Development of Appetite during Odor Exposure over Time. International Journal of Obesity, 38, 650-656. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2013.143
[20]
Reid, C. A., Green, J. D., Wildschut, T., & Sedikides, C. (2015). Scent-Evoked Nostalgia. Memory, 23, 157-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2013.876048
[21]
Routledge, C., Arndt, J., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2008). A Blast from the Past: The Terror Management Function of Nostalgia. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 132-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.11.001
[22]
Royet, J.-P., Zald, D., Versace, R., Costes, N., Lavenne, F., Koenig, O., & Gervais, R. (2000). Emotional Responses to Pleasant and Unpleasant Olfactory, Visual, and Auditory Stimuli: A Positron Emission Tomography Study. The Journal of Neuroscience, 20, 7752-7759. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.20-20-07752.2000
[23]
Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C. (2006). Affect and the Self. In J. P. Forgas (Ed.), Affect in Social Thinking and Behavior: Frontiers in Social Psychology (pp. 197-215). New York: Psychology Press.
[24]
Sedikides, C., Wildschut, T., Arndt, J., & Routledge, C. (2008). Nostalgia Past, Present, Future. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 304-307. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2008.00595.x
[25]
Soudry, Y., Lemogne, C., Malinvaud, D., Laccourreye, O., Consoli, S.-M., & Bonfils, P. (2011). Olfactory System and Emotion: Common Substrates. European Annals of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Disease, 128, 18-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anorl.2010.09.007
[26]
Thode, H. J. (2002). Testing for Normality. New York: Marcel Dekker. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780203910894
[27]
Torre, M. A. (2008). Integrated Perspectives: Aromatherapy and the Use of Scents in Psychotherapy. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 39, 35-37. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6163.2003.tb00672.x
[28]
Willander, J., & Larsson, M. (2006). Smell Your Way Back to Childhood: Autobiographical Odor Memory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 13, 240-244. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193837
