17:00 - 18:00
Tue-P
Room: Foyer Conde De Cantanhede
Body odor disgust sensitivity predicts odor valence ratings
Poster presentation
Marta Zakrzewska, Jonas Olofsson
Gösta Ekmans Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Stockholm University
Disgust sensitivity to body odors reflect individual differences in disease avoidance and may be a key aspect underlying some social attitudes. The body odor disgust sensitivity scale (BODS) provides a rapid and valid assessment of individual differences. Previous work indicated that BODS was positively related with ratings of disgust, but not intensity, to sweat biosamples (Liuzza et al., 2017). However, little is yet known about how individual differences in BODS might correlate with odor perception. Here, we investigated how BODS corresponds to perceptual ratings of positively and negatively valenced odors. We aggregated data from 4 experiments (total n=197) that were conducted in our laboratory, and where valence and intensity ratings were collected. Unpleasant odors included valeric acid (sweat-like), butyric acid (vomit-like) and skatole (fecal), odors which may provide disease cues. Pleasant odors included those associated with hygiene (e.g. lilac; a common fragrance in soap). Using Bayesian multilevel modelling we show that individuals with higher BODS levels perceived pleasant smells as more valenced overall: unpleasant smells were rated as more unpleasant, but pleasant smells were rated as more pleasant. Furthermore, we investigated whether overall BODS score or scores one of the two subsets of the scale (i.e. odor source is oneself, vs. someone else) were best at predicting valence ratings. Interestingly, the disgust sensitivity to odors coming from internal sources (e.g. one's own sweat) was the best predictor of odor valence. In sum, high BODS is associated with more extreme odor valence ratings. The monitoring of one’s own body odor might have relevance for understanding the role of olfaction and disease avoidance, but more research is needed. This research was supported by the Swedish Research Council (2016:02018) to J.K.O.