Effect of a Perfume on Prosocial Behavior of Pedestrians

Abstract

Several studies have shown that perfumes encourage prosocial behavior of people from whom help is requested in the street. Implicit requests for help were studied. On a pedestrian walk, a woman confederate, with or without a heavy perfume, walked by the subject while dropping a packet of paper handkerchiefs or a glove apparently without noticing. Results show that the confederate was warned more often when wearing a perfume.