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environment
The smell of citrus makes you act more cleanly.
A 2005 study found that people who were exposed to a lemon scent kept their environment significantly cleaner.
In a controlled lab setting, subjects worked on tasks in either a neutral-smelling or lemon-scented room. Those in the scented room spent more time organizing their desk and cleaning up after their meal. The scent served as a non-conscious prime for clean, organized behavior.
Your environment writes the script for your habits.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Holland et al., 2005, Smells like clean spirit
- What the check found
- The paper exists and accurately reports the results described, though the reliability of these priming effects remains a subject of active debate in experimental psychology.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.